Brand loyalty in online brand communities in Malaysia: A Uses and Gratifications perspective

Abstract

This study examines the online communities’ gratifications of social media usage and to understand how their perceived values within an online brand page environment can affect brand loyalty. In addition to the content-oriented and relationship-oriented aspects of uses and gratifications of online brand communities, this study also includes economic value to the existing model considering online promotions and rewards may encourage consumer brand engagement and subsequently lead to brand loyalty. The data collected via snowball sampling method consisted of the responses of 150 respondents who are in one or more online brand communities of different brands in Malaysia. The result shows that functional value and hedonic value are the most important motivators to drive brand loyalty in online brand communities. The result implies that the brand loyalty in online brand communities in Malaysia depends on the functionality and pleasant sensations experienced from the brand fan page. The result suggests that brand page should deliver informative, rich and customised information contents to fulfil the satisfaction of online communities. This study provides insight on social media users’ perceived values that drive their satisfaction and loyalty towards the brand via the fan page, which in turn helps brand marketing practitioners in Malaysia to understand on how these perceived values may influence the brand loyalty of online communities, particularly from the perspective of the Uses and Gratifications theory.