Understanding the sense of community and continuance intention in virtual communities: The role of commitment and type of community
Virtual communities (VCs) have become essential in current organizations and society, and so their sustainability is a topic of interest for researchers and practitioners. We focus on the sense of virtual community (SoVC) and commitment as relevant antecedents in achieving the success and maintenanc...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2019 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) |
| Repositorio: | O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/112166 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/10609/112166 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | virtual community participation intention to continue virtual learning communities virtual communities of practice communities of interest sense of virtual community commitment participació comunitària virtual intenció de continuar comunitats virtuals d'aprenentatge comunitats virtuals de pràctica comunitats d'interès sentit de comunitat virtual compromís participación comunitaria virtual intención de continuar comunidades virtuales de aprendizaje comunidades virtuales de práctica comunidades de interés sentido de comunidad virtual compromiso Online social networks Xarxes socials en línia Redes sociales en línea |
| Resumo: | Virtual communities (VCs) have become essential in current organizations and society, and so their sustainability is a topic of interest for researchers and practitioners. We focus on the sense of virtual community (SoVC) and commitment as relevant antecedents in achieving the success and maintenance of different types of VCs (communities of interest, virtual learning communities, and virtual communities of practice). Specifically, this study examines a moderated mediation model in which the type of virtual community moderates the indirect effect of a SoVC on the intention to continue through the perceived commitment of the users of the VC. The sample consists of 299 members of Virtual communities. The results showed that SoVC influenced intention to continue via commitment to VCs. Additionally, the relationship between SoVC and commitment was higher for communities of interest and virtual learning communities than for virtual communities of practice. This article contributes to previous literature by identifying the importance of participants' engagement and the contingent effect of the type of community. Implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed. |
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