Abstract:

Based on the relationship between sense of virtual community and customer engagement in the virtual brand communities, a hybrid effect model is constructed by introducing commitment as mediator. Using the survey data from 279 community members in MI community, the theoretical model was tested empirically. After controlling for demographic variables and community status variables. The results show that in the virtual brand communities, sense of virtual community has different impacts on commitment and customer engagement, affective commitment has a positive impact on customer engagement while calculative commitment hasn't significant impact on customer engagement. At the same time, only the affective commitment has a significant mediating effect on the influence of sense of virtual community on customer engagement. The conclusions can provide a good guidance for enterprises to develop and manage member behaviors of virtual brand communities and improve their engagement level.

Key words: sense of virtual community, commitment, customer engagement, community identification, virtual brand communities