The impact of a sense of virtual community on online community: does online privacy concern matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between a sense of virtual community (SOVC), community satisfaction, community involvement, community commitment and alternative attractiveness in the online fan community context.Design/methodology/approachThis study ga...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Internet research 2021-03, Vol.31 (2), p.519-539
Main Authors: Kim, Jihye, Kim, Hyung-Min, Kim, Minseong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Community
Community Attitudes
Community Involvement
Community Relations
Computer privacy
Geography
Holistic Approach
Human Relations
Influence
Interpersonal Relationship
Literature Reviews
Multivariate statistical analysis
Perceptions
Privacy
Reliability analysis
Reliability aspects
Sense of Community
Virtual communities
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Summary:PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between a sense of virtual community (SOVC), community satisfaction, community involvement, community commitment and alternative attractiveness in the online fan community context.Design/methodology/approachThis study gathered and empirically analyzed data from 277 members of the online Super Junior fan community with frequency, reliability, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 and AMOS 24.0.FindingsThe findings of SEM indicated that community satisfaction was significantly influenced by the four dimensions of SOVC, while community involvement was significantly affected by membership and fulfillment of needs. Also, community commitment and alternative attractiveness were significantly impacted by community satisfaction and community involvement. Lastly, privacy concern moderated the paths from influence to community satisfaction and from community satisfaction to community commitment, respectively.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study should help online fan community administrators to reduce members' perception of alternative attractiveness (other fan communities) and to understand how privacy concern influences members' attitudes toward the online community.Originality/valueIn light of the findings, a greater understanding of the determinants of community commitment and alternative attractiveness along with privacy concern is critical in retaining virtual fan communities' members over the long-term.
ISSN:1066-2243
2054-5657
DOI:10.1108/INTR-01-2020-0015