Effect of social support on customer satisfaction and citizenship behavior in online brand communities: The moderating role of support source

Outline

• Abstract
• Keywords
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Conceptual Background and Hypotheses
• 2.1. Ccb
• 2.2. Social Support
• 2.3. Conceptual Model
• 2.4. Hypotheses
• 3. Methodology
• 3.1. Data Collection
• 3.2. Measurement
• 4. Results
• 4.1. Measurement Model
• 4.2. Structural Model
• 4.3. Moderating Analysis
• 5. Discussion
• 6. Conclusions, Implications, and Limitation
• Acknowledgements
• References

6. Conclusions, implications, and limitation

Based on S-O-R, this study finds that informational and emotional support significantly affects CCB through customer satisfaction with firms in online brand communities. Moreover, informational and emotional support from firms and other customers exert different effects on customer satisfaction.

Regarding theoretical implications, the present study first tests the influence of social support on CCB in online brand communities. Previous studies have investigated the impact of social support on CCB in traditional service situations and the impact of social support on member’s citizenship behavior toward online communities. However, knowledge of how social support in online brand communities influences CCB toward the firm that owns the brand is limited. The present study is one of the first to empirically investigate the relationship between social support and CCB in online brand communities. The results confirm that emotional and informational support influence CCB through customer satisfaction with the firm. Second, the present study also demonstrates that customer satisfaction is involved in the relationship between social support and CCB, which reveals the psychological mechanism of the influence of social support on CCB in online brand communities. A previous study demonstrates that social support significantly affects CCB in a service establishment (Rosenbaum and Massiah, 2007); however it did not reveal the psychological reaction of customers. Third, previous research offers no comparative analysis about the influence of different social support sources on CCB. This study finds that informational and emotional social support from firms and other customers exert different influences on customer satisfaction. The conclusion provides additional insights into the influence of social support on customer reaction.

Regarding practical implications, the findings demonstrate that CCB can be shaped by social support in online brand communities and provide companies with a deep understanding of how social support drives CCB in online brand communities. First, companies should give attention to the role of online brand communities in driving CCB. Online brand communities are emerging with the development of social media technology in recent years. However, some companies have failed to understand the importance of online brand communities. Some companies have built online brand communities to go with the trend; however, they do not make good use of it. Customers’ helping other customers in online brand communities can relieve companies the stress of pre-sales and post-sales. Customers’ recommendations can help companies promote products. Customers’ feedback can help companies improve service quality and new product development. This study proves that social support in online brand communities can drive CCB. Hence, companies should strive to use online brand communities to drive CCB. Second, companies should actively provide timely informational support in online brand communities. This study indicates that informational support from firms positively affects customer satisfaction, whereas emotional support from firms does not. The prime importance for companies is to fully use their own advantage in terms of product knowledge to offer real solutions to customers’ problems. Third, companies should promote customers’ mutual support in online brand communities.

This study indicates that informational and emotional support affects CCB through customer satisfaction. Companies can pursue measures to encourage customers to join online brand communities and actively offer informational and emotional support to others with product problems.

Although this study reveals some meaningful conclusions, some limitations need to be addressed in future research. First, the object of the study focuses on official online brand communities that are built by firms. Social support comes from online brand communities built by customers, and the third party should be addressed in future research. Second, the present study explores the psychological mechanism between social support and CCB from the perspective of customer satisfaction. Other psychological variables can be measured in future research. Third, the present study tests only the moderating effect of the support source. Future research can examine other moderators and control variables, such as different emotions with products before seeking social support and demographic variables.