TMCnet News
EFFECT OF NETWORK EMBEDDEDNESS ON BRAND-RELATED BEHAVIOR INTENTIONS: MEDIATING EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP [Social Behavior and Personality (New Zealand)](Social Behavior and Personality (New Zealand) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Based on social exchange theory, we examined the relationship between network embeddedness and the brand-related behavior intentions of community members from the perspective of psychological ownership. The results indicated that network embeddedness (structural and relational embeddedness) positively impacts psychological ownership, while psychological ownership positively impacts brand-related behavior intentions (protecting relevant brands and repelling competitive brands) and mediates the effects of network embeddedness on such intentions. Theoretical and practical implications in this study are discussed. Keywords: network embeddedness, relational embeddedness, structural embeddedness, psychological ownership, protecting relevant brands, repelling competitive brands. The advent of microblogs, blogs, and online social network media has spurred an increasing number of enterprises to regard the online brand community as a new marketing tool for cultivating consumer-brand relationships. Brand community is a specialized, nongeographically bound community based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand (Muñiz & O'Guinn, 2001). The interactive relationships of the members of a brand community affect brand-related behavior intention or consumer behavior. The promoting effect of the brand community on the consumer-brand relationship has been demonstrated by scholars. For instance, Köhler, Rohm, de Ruyter, and Wetzels (2011) reported that the social relationships among community members can positively influence consumer behavior. Algesheimer, Dholakia, and Hermann (2005) suggested that community identification and community participation can promote the consumer-brand relationship. Mathwick, Wiertz, and de Ruyter (2008) argued that the values consumers obtain in the community can positively affect the consumer-brand relationship. Nevertheless, these researchers have all referred to the microlevel to explain the effect of the social network relationships of community members (Lee, Lee, Taylor, & Lee, 2011), especially from the perspectives of relationship quality and relationship interaction. However, several network relationships are related to the macrolevel among community members aside from those of the microlevel. Therefore, there has been a gap in the research undertaken to explore the behaviors of community members from the macro perspective of the network structure of the brand community. Do community members in different positions have different psychological perceptions? What behavioral consequences are triggered among community members with different psychological feelings? What mechanisms exist among these relevant factors? We believe that answering these questions is meaningful for guiding how marketers promote the consumer-brand relationship through a virtual brand community. Network embeddedness (NE) was originally applied to describe the economic and social structure of the market, and can explain some phenomena related to modern social and economic activities (Hsueh, Lin, & Li, 2010). In view of this aspect, in this study we combined the analysis method of social networks and considered the network embeddedness of community members as a starting point to explore the effect of the network relationships among community members on brand-related behavior intention. According to Feeley, Moon, Kozey, and Slowe (2010), NE directly determines behavior performance through several mediators. Those people with high NE gradually take on leadership roles with the consciousness of "master" and have a strong sense of belonging, identification, and self-efficacy because of their frequent social contact, abundant information and resources, and control power in the community (Köhler et al., 2011). The consciousness of the "master" is to regard the community as "mine" or "ours," namely, a type of psychological ownership (PO; Pierce, Kostova, & Dirks, 2003). According to social exchange theory, these individuals are more willing than others to contribute to the community (Pierce et al., 2003). Therefore, in the current study we considered PO as a mediator to explore the relationship between NE and brand-related behavior intentions. Research Hypotheses NE and PO. Social network embeddedness includes relational embeddedness (RE) and structural embeddedness (SE; Granovetter, 1985). RE is characterized by the mode and strength of interpersonal connections as well as the relationship quality among group members. It refers to the fact that individuals try to reinforce mutual trust and love and enhance the understanding of common interests through their powerful social relationships. Granovetter applied interaction frequency, intimacy, duration, and degree of reciprocity to measure the degree of relational embeddedness. Ownership is invariably defined in the context of social interaction, and ownership beliefs tend to be formed in social relationships. RE reflects an interpersonal relationship formed between an individual and others through interaction. The key role of RE includes self-identity, that is, a better understanding of the self, in addition to interpersonal intimacy (Moran, 2005). Interpersonal relationships are closely related to PO and can evolve into PO of the organization to which the people belong by combining with self-identity. In the online brand community, certain types of RE may be formed among members through interaction for a period of time. They gradually get to know each other and eventually acquire a self-identity. RE meets the needs of self-efficacy, space request, and self-identity for members of a virtual brand community, which, in turn, affects their awareness of PO of the community. Hypothesis 1: RE will have a positive influence on PO in an online brand community. SE refers to the position which the individual holds in the organization of the social network (Granovetter, 1985). A common assumption in social network theory is that the individual can obtain useful information and social support by embedding in the social structure, which affects their interpretation of society. A person closer to the network center is more likely than is someone on the edge the network, to obtain tangible or intangible resources and find a strategic position in the network, easily gaining contact with key figures (Feeley et al., 2010). Therefore, individuals in the center of a network have more influence or control (informal power) than those on the edge of the network. In the virtual brand community, a member in the community center occupying a key position can better access information and better control the direction of community development than can someone on the edge of the network. Since PO is affected not only by the ownership of property or other legal ownership but also by the control of the target, individuals in the network center are usually competent influencers of others in the network. Their self-efficacy and self-identity may be affected by their sense of PO of the brand community. Hypothesis 2: SE will have a positive influence on PO in an online brand community. When individuals find that their needs, such as self-efficacy, self-identity, and sense of space, are met through ownership or PO, their responsibility is triggered, which includes their willingness to spend more time and energy on the organization, protect and care for the organization, take risks for the organization, and make sacrifices for the organization (Pierce et al., 2003). Marcelo and Casamassima (2011) reported that the stronger the community members' sense of belonging, the more loyal they are to the community and the more willing they are to spread positive word of mouth. Therefore, when community members obtain more PO of the community, they are more likely to embed in the environments related to the brand and perform behaviors to protect the relevant brand than if they did not have PO. At the same time, to make their favorite brand develop better than other brands, sometimes they may perform some negative behavior tendencies and repel competitive brands. That is, they refuse to buy those brands or join their community. Hypothesis 3a: PO will have a positive influence on members' intention to protect the relevant brand. Hypothesis 3b: PO will have a positive influence on members' intention to repel competitive brands. Social exchange theory indicates that social relationships between people can be regarded as a set of exchange processes of tangible and intangible resources (Pierce et al., 2003). When the resources of one party reach a certain saturation limit, exchange motivation will be produced. RE forms a social mechanism and coordinates and maintains social relations. It is a powerful social connection, and the social network with this connection powerfully affects the economic behavior of individuals. For instance, individuals with high RE are more willing to share information, to perform economic behavior in favor of society, and to avoid opportunistic undertakings (Chien, Chen, & Hsu, 2012). Moran (2005) argued that the social network structure and the network location of people affect all of their social behaviors and related consequences. Members in the center of the network induce exchange motivation, desire for citizenship behaviors, and perform behaviors in favor of relevant brands or brand communities as soon as the resources they gain from the community reach the saturation limit. Community members obtain certain network relationships and strengthen the network connection with others by participating in community activities. Accordingly, as interpersonal love, trust, and intimacy increase, the feeling of "home" appears, and self-identity is generated. Self-efficacy is likewise met by occupying the center position of the network and earning the community resources. PO consciousness probably buffers the effect of the network embeddedness on procommunity behaviors. Hypothesis 4a: PO will mediate the effect of RE on the intention to protect the relevant brand. Hypothesis 4b: PO will mediate the effect of RE on the intention to repel competitive brands. Hypothesis 5a: PO will mediate the effect of SE on the intention to protect the relevant brand. Hypothesis 5b: PO will mediate the effect of SE on the intention to repel competitive brands. Method Participants and Procedure We selected the online brand community of Meizu as the survey group. This community comprises more than 100,000 members, who use it as a communication platform. We collected data using the online survey from a professional website. A questionnaire link was posted in the community, or questionnaires were directly sent to members through website functions "join my friends" and "send messages." A total of 410 valid questionnaires were collected, and 69.5% (285 individuals) of the respondents were men. Of the respondents, 72.8% were under 35 years of age, indicating the dominant presence of young people in online brand communities. Measures All of the scales were adapted from those in previous literature. The RE scale was derived from Chien et al. (2012) and includes four items; "I frequently contact with other community members," "I have good relationships with community members," "The relationship between me and other members can be defined as mutually satisfying," and "I maintain long-term relationships with community members." SE is reflected only by network centrality and is based on the scale of Antia and Frazier (2001), and also includes four items; "I am a key figure in the community," "I have contact with many members of the community," "I am an active member in the community," and "I am located in the central position of the community." PO was measured using Van Dyne and Pierce's (2004) and Baer and Brown's (2012) scales, and included five items; "This is my brand community," "I strongly feel my ownership of this brand community," "I feel that the brand community belongs to me," "I feel that the brand community is ours," and "The majority of the community members believe that they own this brand community." According to Netemeyer and Bearden (1992), the protect the relevant brand and repel competitive brands scales each include three items; "Maintaining the brand reputation is my and other members' duty," (protect the relevant brand) and "I feel not too much affection to other competitive brands" (repel competitive brands). The Cronbach's a values of the five constructs are .813, .793, .808, .825, and .794, respectively, which indicates the satisfactory internal consistency of all constructs. All items are rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Results To test the construct validity of the survey data, we used AMOS version 20.0 software for analyzing the convergent validity and discriminant validity of each variable via confirmatory factor analysis. The average variance extracted (AVE) values of the constructs are higher than the standard value of 0.5, which indicates that the scale has the desired convergent validity. The correlation coefficients among the latent variables are less than the square root of AVE, which indicates that each variable has the desired discriminant validity. We also applied AMOS version 20.0 software to analyze the model path coefficients. First, we examined the conceptual model fit. Fit indicators were as follows: c2/df = 1.960, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .048, goodness of fit index (GFI) = .916, adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI) = .895, confirmatory fit index (CFI) = .957, normed fit index (NFI) = .915. These are within the standard scope that indicates the desirable fit of the model and its acceptability. The estimated values of the standardized path coefficient are shown in Figure 1. Thus, Hypotheses 1, 2, 3a, and 3b were supported. According to the method Baron and Kenny (1986) proposed, the mediating effect was tested through the five models shown in Table 1. Models 1, 2, and 3 are used to examine the mediating effect of Hypotheses 4a and 5a. First, Model 2 shows that RE and SE significantly affect protection of the relevant brand. Second, in Model 1 it can be seen that RE and SE positively influence PO. Third, in Model 3 it is indicated that after PO is controlled for, RE, SE, and PO significantly affect protection of the relevant brand. The coefficients of RE and SE on protection of the relevant brand are less than those in Model 2, which indicates that PO partially mediates the effect of NE (relational and SE) on protection of the relevant brand and supports Hypotheses 4a and 5a. Similar analyses of Models 1, 4, and 5 suggested that PO partially mediates the effect of RE on repelling competitive brands and completely mediates the effect of SE on repelling competitive brands (the effect of SE on repelling relevant brands became nonsignificant in Model 5) and supports Hypotheses 4b and 5b. Discussion Based on social exchange theory, in this study we examined the mechanism of the effect of network embeddedness on procommunity behaviors. Although an online brand community is a virtual organization, its existence is determined by members' participation. Similar to the conclusions of Baer and Brown (2012), we found that as the main components of the virtual community, members can acquire consciousness of PO when they obtain community experiences by participating in community activities. That is, the NE (RE and SE) positively influences the PO perception of the members. The individuals located in the center of the network would have a strong sense of belonging and ownership. The finding of Vivek and Cooley (2010) that interpersonal relationships are closely related to PO and can evolve into PO of the organization by satisfying self-identity likewise applies to the condition of the virtual brand community and RE of members and can also evolve into PO for the virtual brand community. Furthermore, this PO consciousness positively affects the brand-related behavior intentions of members, which include protection of the relevant brand and repelling competitive brands. We expanded the study of Lee et al. (2011), who argued that in the brand community, members' sense of belonging to the community affects their consumption behavior intentions that are generally reflected in purchase and communication behaviors. Lee et al. also suggested that the NE (RE and SE) of virtual community members positively affects their PO of the community, which, in turn, positively affects their procommunity behaviors (e.g., protection of the relevant brand and repelling competitive brands). In addition, according to Feeley et al.'s (2010) finding that NE directly determines behavior performance through several mediators, we introduced PO as the mediator to explain the relationship between NE and brand-related behaviors. Our findings revealed that PO has a mediating role in the relationship between NE and brand-related behavior intention. Specifically, it partially mediates the effects of RE on the intentions of protection of the relevant brand and repelling competitive brands. In addition to partially mediating the effect of SE on protection of the relevant brand, PO completely mediates the effect of SE on repelling competitive brands as well, which indicates that SE influences repelling competitive brands via the role of PO, which adds to the existing literature. Brand communities have become a tool for establishing long-term consumer-brand relationships. Thus, consumer loyalty can be promoted that is in favor of brand development. However, the prerequisite is that consumers are willing to accept the brand community. In this study we have suggested that the relationships of the social network play very important roles in the brand-related behavior intention of consumers in an online brand community. According to the two dimensions of NE, enterprises should promote members' RE and SE in the online brand community, by means such as initiating several topics to raise relevant discussions in the online brand community, increasing the frequency of interaction between members, prolonging the time of interaction, and empowering members' different access permissions in accordance with community hierarchical systems. These measures can reinforce RE and SE and contribute to the procommunity behaviors of members to benefit brands. This conclusion likewise indicates that the PO perception of members plays a very important role because it represents a sense of belonging like "home" that brings self-identity to community members when they use the focal products. Accordingly, marketers should manage attempt to create this type of experience for community members. Limitations and Future Directions There are several limitations in our study. First, we did not consider the interaction effect of SE and RE. Moran (2005) argued that an interaction between them exists. SE determines only the extent of the demanded resources people may gain, and RE establishes how much of this potential will be realized; in other words, which of those resources that are within reach will be accessed; and to what extent. RE might affect SE and vice versa. Such interaction influences individual behavior. Thus, future researchers should examine the influence of the interaction of NE variables on brand community and corporate brands. Second, we selected only the Meizu brand community as the research object and did not consider the brand communities of different industries. Finally, we adopted cross- sectional data and did not examine the longitudinal effect of NE on customer behavior tendency to brand. These factors need further investigation in future studies. References Algesheimer, R., Dholakia, U. M., & Hermann, A. (2005). The social influence of brand community: Evidence from European car clubs. Journal of Marketing, 69, 19-34. http://doi.org/bwv2qw Antia, K. D., & Frazier, G. L. (2001). The severity of contract enforcement in interfirm channel relationships. Journal of Marketing, 65, 67-81. http://doi.org/c6j753 Baer, M., & Brown, G. (2012). Blind in one eye: How psychological ownership of ideas affects the types of suggestions people adopt. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 118, 60-71. http://doi.org/rt3 Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182. http://doi.org/cwx Chien, S.-H., Chen, Y.-H., & Hsu, C.-Y. (2012). Exploring the impact of trust and relational embeddedness in e-marketplaces: An empirical study in Taiwan. Industrial Marketing Management, 41, 460-468. http://doi.org/cj22rm Feeley, T. H., Moon, S.-I., Kozey, R. S., & Slowe, A. S. (2010). An erosion model of employee turnover based on network centrality. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 38, 167-188. http://doi.org/crcm6h Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91, 481-510. http://doi.org/dbkm9k Hsueh, J.-T., Lin, N.-P., & Li, H.-C. (2010). The effects of network embeddedness on service innovation performance. The Service Industries Journal, 30, 1723-1736. http://doi.org/fhs6n7 Köhler, C. F., Rohm, A. J., de Ruyter, K., & Wetzels, M. (2011). Return on interactivity: The impact of online agents on newcomer adjustment. Journal of Marketing, 75, 93-108. http://doi.org/ fd4h7z Lee, H. J., Lee, D.-H., Taylor, C. R., & Lee, J.-H. (2011). Do online brand communities help build and maintain relationships with consumers? A network theory approach. Journal of Brand Management, 19, 213-227. http://doi.org/btn8nr Marcelo, R.-V., & Casamassima, P. (2011). The influence of belonging to virtual brand communities on consumers' affective commitment, satisfaction and word-of-mouth advertising: The ZARA Case. Online Information Review, 35, 517-542. http://doi.org/fnnrph Mathwick, C., Wiertz, C., & de Ruyter, K. (2008). Social capital production in a virtual P3 community. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 832-849. http://doi.org/fj3g57 Moran, P. (2005). Structural vs. relational embeddedness: Social capital and managerial performance. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 1129-1151. http://doi.org/bzmhv3 Muñiz, A. M., & O'Guinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 412-432. http://doi.org/c6mpvh Netemeyer, R. G., & Bearden, W. O. (1992). A comparative analysis of two models of behavioral intention. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20, 49-59. http://doi.org/fxbpcp Pierce, J. L., Kostova, T., & Dirks, K. T. (2003). The state of psychological ownership: Integrating and extending a century of research. Review of General Psychology, 7, 84-107. http://doi.org/ frzw59 Van Dyne, L., & Pierce, J. (2004). Psychological ownership and feelings of possession: Three field studies predicting employee attitudes and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 439-459. http://doi.org/dw3j6g Vivek, M., & Cooley, D. O. (2010). Antecedents and consequences of online brand community participation: A conceptual framework. Journal of Internet Commerce, 9 . http://doi.org/bffs2m JING-YU ZHANG, MING NIE, AND BING-SHENG YAN Huazhong University of Science and Technology XING-DONG WANG Jiangxi Agricultural University Jing-Yu Zhang, Ming Nie, and Bing-Sheng Yan, School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology; Xing-Dong Wang, School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Agricultural University. This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71272124, 71363028). Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to: Xing-Dong Wang, School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People's Republic of China 330045. Email: [email protected] (c) 2014 Scientific Journal Publishers Ltd |