Motivation for users' knowledge-sharing behavior in virtual brand communities: a psychological ownership perspective

Abstract

PurposeUsers' knowledge sharing provides valuable resources for brand community participants and is, therefore, critical for the viability of virtual brand communities. Drawing from both self-determination theory (SDT) and psychological ownership theory, the paper aims to investigate the impact of fulfillment of three basic psychological needs on brand users' knowledge-sharing behavior and examines psychological ownership as a mediator.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data consisting of 316 valid responses were collected from users of Huawei Pollen Club Community. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the reliability and validity of measures, and hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping were used to test all hypotheses.FindingsFulfillment of the need for autonomy, relatedness and competence in a virtual brand community boosts users' psychological ownership and has a positive influence on their knowledge-sharing behavior. Furthermore, psychological ownership partially mediates the relationships between the fulfillment of psychological needs and knowledge-sharing behavior. In addition, the authors found that when users participate in more offline brand activities, the positive impact of the fulfillment of the need for relatedness on psychological ownership is strengthened, while the positive impact of the fulfillment of the need for autonomy on psychological ownership is weakened.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring the relationships between fulfilling users' three basic psychological needs and their knowledge-sharing behavior through the mediating role of psychological ownership. The authors also provide insight into how offline brand activities interact with the fulfillment of psychological needs in virtual brand communities.

Psychological ownership and knowledge behaviors during a pandemic: role of approach motivation

“…Contrary to this, Pirkkalainen et al (2018) argue that stronger feelings of psychological ownership encourage the employees to exchange knowledge, which them secures the competitive advantage and well-being of the organization. Thus, psychological ownership has a positive influence on users' knowledge-sharing behavior (Jiang et al, 2021) and a negative one with knowledge withholding. Knowledge withholding results in counterproductive behaviors (Peng & Pierce, 2015).…”

The Role of Virtual Communities on Consumer Purchase Decisions with Brand Equity as Mediating Variable

“…And this is also one of the strengths in the formation of a brand/ brand which ultimately increases the brand of the product In a study, Antonacci et al (2017) state that there was a positive influence between Virtual Communities on brand equity studied in a telecommunications company seen that the occurrence of word of mouth created Virtual Communities based on their experience using the product which in the end immediately changed the public perception that the product was a good product. A similar study was conducted by Jiang et al (2021) state that there is a significant influence between Virtual Communities on brand equity. The existence of antecedents or events that precede behavior where the birth of Virtual Communities has an effect on the brand.…”

“…The indicators are: (1) Integration in Brand Communities, consumer relations with brands, products, companies, and other consumers in the community. These relationships, can develop synergistically so as to strengthen interpersonal bonds and increase appreciation of products, brands, and marketers, so as to generate consumer loyalty (Hollebeek et al, 2017;Jiang et al, 2021). Consumer Knowledge, (Festa et al, 2016) states that consumer knowledge with a high level of product knowledge will be more confident and cause a positive relationship to updated information from a brand community.…”

Does brand community participation lead to early new product adoption? The roles of networking behavior and prior purchase experience

“…For example, consumer-consumer interaction and consumer-brand interaction may have a impact on consumers’ new adopotion ( Wang, 2021 ; Samarah et al, 2022 ). Other factors such as brand-hosted offline activities and consumer innovativeness could aslo be examined in future studies ( Seyed Esfahani and Reynolds, 2021 ; Jiang et al, 2022 ). Variables such as the frequency of interactions between managers and users in the brand community may also affect adoption rates and should therefore be explored.…”