A Study On The Customer Citizenship Behavior In Virtual Communities Of Consumption

The main target of marketing is to build and maintain a sustained customer relationship in both traditional environment and internet environment. Compared with traditional environment, internet produces direct interactive opportunity which shortens the distance between customers and enterprises. Meanwhile, it brings about the difficulty in cultivating customer loyalty because customers are easily distracted in internet environment.Virtual community is currently considered as an effective tool to build and maintain good customer relationship in internet environment. Many enterprises have set up their own consumption virtual community or entered other third-party consumption virtual communities to strengthen their relationship with customers. However, as a kind of internet application of Web2.0Technology, consumption virtual communities are open and self-organized, which make it difficult for enterprises to regulate customers’participation behaviors in the community. Therefore, so far, most enterprises have not found an effective way to manage customer relationships in their virtual community practice.In the field of theoretical research, the current studies on customer behaviors in virtual communities have mainly focused on customer participation behaviors, e-WOM and knowledge sharing behaviors. Though these studies provide some theoretical support for enterprises in their virtual community management practice, the above three concepts are either too broad, including all kinds of customer behaviors in the community, or too narrow, only reflecting specific customer behaviors. So, from the enterprises’perspective of customer relationship management, the existing studies have not yet found a suitable starting point. Customer citizenship behaviors are voluntary and discretionary behaviors of individual customers and in the aggregate benefit to the enterprise. Such a kind of behaviors can give light to enterprises’virtual community customer relationship management practice. But at present, the concept of customer citizenship behavior has not capture the attention of scholars in the research field of customer behaviors in virtual communities. At the same time, extant studies on customer citizenship behaviors also neglected the environment of virtual community. Under this background, this dissertation takes customer citizenship behavior in virtual community as a core subject based on previous research in customer citizenship behavior, e-WOM and knowledge sharing. To fulfill this task, three stages of research work are conducted. Firstly, this dissertation defines the concept of customer citizenship behavior in virtual community and develops its measurement scale. On the basis of literature review and interviews, the customer citizenship behavior in virtual community can be defined as those voluntary and active behaviors which benefit the virtual community by its members. This dissertation divides customer citizenship behavior in virtual community into two types, CCBO and CCBI, according to the different subjects they benefit directly. CCBO refers to the behaviors direct and benefit immediately to the community and CCBI refers to the behaviors direct and benefit immediately to other community members and benefit indirectly to the community. Seven dimensions of customer citizenship behavior in virtual community are identified, among which four dimensions are classified into CCBO including advocacy, feedback, tolerance and policing, and the rest three dimensions are classified into CCBI including helping response, sharing and support. Using the data of virtual community visitors, the scale proves good reliability and validity.Secondly, based on research in Social Exchange Theory, Relationship Marketing Theory and Self-Determination Theory, this paper builds up a theoretical model and test the moderating effects of self-efficacy. The factors that influence CCBO are community satisfaction, community trust and perceived community support. The factors that predict CCBI are motivations of reciprocity, reputation, interest and altruism. Empirical study shows that community satisfaction has the most significant effect on CCBO, followed by perceived community support. Community trust has no significant effect on CCBO. In motivations for CCBI, reciprocity proves the most significant effect followed by interest and altruism. Reputation has no significant effect on CCBI. Furthermore, self-efficacy moderates the effects between community satisfaction and CCBO and perceived community support and CCBO. No moderating effects on community trust and CCBO can be found. Self-efficacy also moderates the relationship between reciprocity, reputation, interest, altruism and CCBI. But the moderating effects on reputation and CCBI proved to be negative.Thirdly, the influence of customer citizenship behavior in virtual community on members’stickiness intention is investigated and empirically tested. The result shows CCBO and CCBI both have significant effects on members’stickiness intention to virtual community.The innovations of this dissertation are:(1) According to the literature review and qualitative interviews, the dissertation defines the concept of customer citizenship behavior in consumption virtual communities and develops a reliable and valid multi-dimension scale using the data of Internet consumers.(2) Based on Social Exchange Theory, Relationship Marketing Theory and Self-Determination Theory, CCBO and CCBI are identified and their antecedents are tested.(3) Based on Self-Determination Theory, the moderating effects of self-efficacy are tested. In addition, the influence of CCBO and CCBI on stickiness intention is identified and tested.