Influence of WOM and content type on online engagement in consumption communities. The information flow from discussion forums to Facebook
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0246 |
| Published date | 09 April 2018 |
| Date | 09 April 2018 |
| Pages | 161-175 |
| Author | Tri D. Le |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Influence of WOM and content
type on online engagement in
consumption communities
The information flow from discussion
forums to Facebook
Tri D. Le
International University, VNU-HCM, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of word-of-mouth (WOM) types, WOM
valence, content types and discussion topics of user posts on online engagement in two channels of a
consumption community. The posts are composed by users on the discussion forum and shared to the
Facebook channel of the consumption community by the administrators.
Design/methodology/approach –The data for this study were obtained froma popular car consumption
communityin Vietnam. A total of 505 userposts on the discussion forum weremanually coded and assignedto
WOM types,valence and content characteristics. The onlineengagement metrics weremeasured by the number
of views and replies on the discussion forum, and the number of likes,comments and shares on Facebook.
Findings –The results indicate that the WOM types and valence have a significant impact on online
engagement and the popularity of posts on Facebook is associated with the number of views on a discussion
forum. Thecontent type and discussiontopic partially influence somefactors of the online engagementmetrics.
Practical implications –The findings are helpful for consumption community administrators to
understand and manage their users’engagement. Moreover, it indirectly supports brands and companies,
since the consumption communities also include sub-communities of particular brands and marketers
cooperate with consumption communities for their social media marketing strategies.
Originality/value –This research contributes to the literature of online engagement in two aspects.
First, this study examines the impact of WOM types and valence. Second, this is the first study investigating
the effects of posts by users within an information flow from a discussion forum to Facebook.
Keywords Social media, Facebook, Word-of-mouth, Online engagement, Consumption community,
Discussion forum
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The emergence of internet-based communication platforms has provided channels for
consumers to globally connect and communicate with other people in consumption communities
about brands, consumption experiences and community activities (Cova, 1997; Kozinets, 1999;
Pai and Tsai, 2016). Brand communities, which are established and hosted by brand-own
companies, have been recently investigated in a wide range of research (e.g. Brodie et al., 2013;
De Vries and Carlson, 2014; Dessart et al., 2015; McAlexander et al., 2002; Veloutsou and
Moutinho, 2009). Besides, the consumption communities are popular in the contexts of many
products as well as services industries, for example, tourism (e.g. Pai and Tsai, 2016; Wang and
Fesenmaier, 2004), restaurant (e.g. Pai and Tsai, 2016; Zhang et al., 2010) or car industry
(e.g. Algesheimer et al., 2005). An online consumption community is a virtual platform for
“a community of interests”whichforms groups ofpeople who have similar interests regarding
a product or service, and through these communities consumers can obtain information Online Information Review
Vol. 42 No. 2, 2018
pp. 161-175
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0246
Received 1 September 2016
Revised 9 April 2017
Accepted 9 May 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
This paper forms part of a special section on Information flow and Wom in Social Media and
Online Communities.
161
Influence of
WOM and
content type
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