Abstract

This research explores consumers’ hedonic and utilitarian motivations for using an online brand community and relates them to two types of community usage behavior: browsing and participation. The effects on variables closely linked to business performance (purchase intentions, website revisit intention, brand loyalty) are also examined. Analysis of data collected from 358 members of different online brand communities reveals that utilitarian motivations relate more strongly to participation in the online brand community. Whereas community members with high levels of participation do not show purchase intentions or loyalty toward the brand, community members with higher levels of browsing do. For practitioners, the finding that participation in the brand community does not necessarily result in increased purchase intention and loyalty toward the brand is critical.