An Empirical Study On The Influence Of Virtual Brand Community Value Perception On Brand Loyalty

According to CNNIC the33th China Internet network development state statistical report, as of December2013, China’s Internet population has reached618million, Internet penetration was45.8%, and the increment of Internet users in full-year2013was53.6million, penetration rate increase of3.7%. With the continuous development of the Internet, the ways consumers get information are more diverse, which provide enterprises much more brand communication. Among many brand management strategy based on network, the virtual brand community is an effective choice for the enterprise to strengthen communication with customers, and further enhance consumer loyalty. With the help of virtual brand community, members can obtain real-time information about the brand product, a wide range of communication and knowledge sharing, also can adjust the mood to enjoy the fun, friendship, even to gain respect, meet, etc. Currently, the study for aspects of the brand community is becoming more and more deeply, but for perceived value of membership in the process of participating in the community and its influence on brand loyalty are relatively less, it is necessary to carry on the related research on perceived value, brand trust, trust, community participation, brand loyalty and so on, to explore the relationship between them, and then to provide useful rules to community members, brand community operators, brand enterprise, to realize the value of their needs.The core issue of this study is how the perceived values of virtual brand community members impact on brand loyalty. In order to achieve the research purpose, first of all, I classified the perceived value in to different aspects; Secondly, analyzed the perceived value’s influence to brand community trust and brand trust, introduced virtual brand community participation as regulating variable to research the influence of community trust on brand trust, the influence of brand trust on brand loyalty. And then established the research framework about the ment of "perceived value, brand trust, brand loyalty" to analysis the influence of perceived value on brand loyalty.Through empirical research, this paper concludes that the four perceived values have direct positive influences on community trust and brand trust; Perceived value and emotional value perception function have direct positive influences on brand loyalty; Community trust has a direct effect on brand trust and brand trust has a direct positive influence on brand loyalty; Community trust has partial intermediary effect between perceived values and brand trust, and brand trust also has partial intermediary role between perceived values (functional value and emotional value perception) and brand loyalty directly; And with the improvement of user participation, the stronger the community trust the stronger brand trust. Finally, combining with the papers of empirical research results, I respectively provides management implications and Suggestions for consumers, the community operation, brand owners.