Melanie Wiese and Husain Salilul Akareem
This two-country comparative study’s purpose is to investigate antecedents to, and the consequences of a sense of belonging to a firm’s Facebook community.
Abstract
Purpose
This two-country comparative study’s purpose is to investigate antecedents to, and the consequences of a sense of belonging to a firm’s Facebook community.
Design/methodology/approach
The model was grounded in the theory of sense of community and tested through structural equation modelling. Consumer panels were used via online surveys.
Findings
Of the three antecedents hypothesised to influence an individual’s sense of belonging, enjoyment is a very strong predictor in both countries; while the credibility of posts was also a significant predictor for Australia, but not for South Africa. The findings also show no direct relationship between a sense of belonging and continuing behaviour. However, for both countries, there is a strong relationship between a sense of belonging and the involvement with firm offerings in Facebook; and that involvement is significant for the intention to continue engaging with firms through this social media environment.
Research limitations/implications
The findings support the framing of the study, in the sense of community theory and enhance researchers’ understanding of the role of a sense of belonging in moving visitors from simply clicking “like” to a deeper sense of engagement with the firm’s social media community and the flow-on effect to managerial relevant outcomes.
Originality/value
The model is developed from the theory of sense of belonging, thus providing a fresh perspective to this research context. Additionally, there is limited research into the psycho-social antecedents and the outcomes of consumers’ sense of belonging to a firm’s Facebook community.
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Keywords
Husain Salilul Akareem, Melanie Wiese and Wafa Hammedi
Despite having inadequate resources, highly impoverished patients tend to seek and share health information over social media groups to improve each other’s well-being. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite having inadequate resources, highly impoverished patients tend to seek and share health information over social media groups to improve each other’s well-being. This study aims to focus on access to health-care information for such patients and aims to provide an understanding of how online health-care communities (OHCs), as transformative service mediators, can be platforms for patients with chronic and nonchronic health conditions to share their experiences in a base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) context.
Design/methodology/approach
A large-scale survey among 658 respondents was conducted in a very low-income country. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
A model of patients’ experience sharing (PES), motivations and consequences for health-care services are introduced and tested. The result supports the PES model for patients with chronic health conditions, showing that utilitarian, hedonic and social value dimensions directly influence PES and indirectly influence patients’ continuance intention with OHCs and patient efforts. However, a mediating effect of PES was found only between the value dimensions and patients’ efforts. A negative moderation effect of medical mistrust was found in the relationship between utilitarian value and PES for both chronic and nonchronic patient groups.
Originality/value
This study is a pioneering attempt to develop and test a PES model in a BOP market.