Understanding Participant Loyalty Intentions in Virtual Communities

Abstract

[[abstract]]This study proposes a conceptual model based on expectation confirmation theory with extended antecedent variables (human assets, technical assets, and complementary assets) to examine the impact of virtual communities’ assets on member satisfaction and perception of usefulness. The members of JavaWorld@TW, a representative professional community in Taiwan, were chosen to participate in the survey, and 235 usable responses were collected in three months. Partial Least Square(PLS) regression were used to test the model, the findings show that satisfaction is the strongest predictor of revisiting, following perceived usefulness. Furthermore, higher confirmation of human assets, technical assets, and complementary assets are accompanied with higher positive satisfaction and perceived usefulness which influence the intention to revisit. We also advanced to explore the difference within groups, weak-tie members and strong-tie members were separated for further examination. The difference in the behavioral models of weak-tie and strong-tie, particularly in the revisit context, shed light on the importance of development related theories that can be applied to shape the post-use behavior of specific groups. Implications are proposed in the final section