Although administrators of online communities (OCs) may focus on improving their OCs through upgrading technology and enhancing the usability of their OCs to attract additional users, the level of OC participation may be associated with social motives. The purpose of this study is to understand how social motivations (that is, network externalities and social norms) affect members committed to OCs. This study tests the hypotheses on data collected from 396 undergraduate students. Data analyses show that network externalities and social norms directly influence social interaction ties, which subsequently results in commitment toward a community. Social norms also directly influence relationship commitments to a community. The results provide insights into how social motivations lead to commitment to an OC, reminding OC administrators to encourage member commitment to the OC from the perspective of social motivations.
Online communities (OCs) are an important resource for people with various interests, goals, and needs (Kim, Park, & Jin, 2008). In contrast to participants of a physical community, who physically gather at the same place and time, OC members are not physically colocated; thus, technology is used as the primary method of communication (Chu, 2009). However, regardless of whether the location is online or physical, a community is primarily based on a mutual interest among the participants. Because Internet media are used increasingly to share ideas and communicate, the global number of OCs has risen rapidly in recent years (Smedberg, 2008). Thus, the growth of online social networking sites, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (Rizavi, Ali, & Rizavi, 2011), has created a new world of communication (Cheung, Chiu, & Lee, 2011). Despite significant growth in the number of OCs, OC administrators have difficulty obtaining member commitment (Gupta & Kim, 2007). Relatively few communities retain sustained, active use among existing members.
Member commitment to the OC is vital for administrators (Gupta, Kim, & Shin, 2010). Therefore, from a managerial perspective, OC administrators aim to encourage active member participation, create greater site stickiness (Misra, Mukherjee, & Peterson, 2008), and develop member commitment to the OC. Accordingly, researchers have investigated how to retain OC members. For example, one researcher suggested that social interaction ties influence people’s intentions to remain in a professional OC, where members share an interest and expertise in a specific topic (Chen, 2007). However, antecedents that influence social interaction ties in OCs should be explored.
Although a previous study indicated that social norms and network externalities motivate the adoption and valuation of communication technology, such as e-mail and instant messaging (Dickinger, Arami, & Meyer, 2008), comprehension of the influence of network externalities and social norms on member participation and commitment to an OC remains limited. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine how encouraging active interaction between current members develops commitment to an OC. This study integrates social motivations as the antecedents to social interaction ties, and examines the links among network externalities, social norms, social interaction ties, member trust, and intention to commit to OCs.
