• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.17-35
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• 2010

As the internet has been used widely, many online communities have been appeared. Initially, many users used online communities for communication and information sharing. Recently, users start using online communities for building, maintaining, and extending social networks which they did in offline environments previously. The importance of online community is considered by many scholars and also companies to use it strategically. Therefore many studies have focused on exploring characteristics of online communities. Most of them have emphasized the importance of online community. Few study focuses on dynamics within online community. By using social network analysis (SNA), this study tries to explore dynamics of online community. Specially, By measuring the centrality of online community and tracing its changes, this study investigates how the relationships among participants in online communities have been changed over the time. Findings of this study indicate that, as participants has joined in an online community over the time, an opinion leader is appeared, and her/his power is changed.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.15-29
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• 2013

Today's technology enables consumers to trade millions of dollars, conduct online banking, access entertainment, and do countless other activities at the click of a button. Online social networks (OSN) have become a cultural phenomenon that allows for individualistic consumerism. Consumers are increasingly utilizing OSN to share ideas, build communities, and contact fellow consumers who are similar to themselves. The relevance of online communities to the music is immense especially because musicians are now using social media to build global audiences. Not only is information about music and performance disseminated online, but musical commodities are sold and traded online. Online music communities allow consumers to elect and create new identities online through the purchase of subcultural commodities. Given the growing economic importance of online music communities it is important to get a holistic view of subcultural communities online. This study utilized content analysis of online music community websites using the Netnography methodology as developed by Kozinet for data collection to analyze consumers' purchasing and consumption behavior of subcultural commodities online as related to the formation of subcultural identities. Findings showed that subcultural items are predominantly purchased online, especially digital music, and there is a need for more custom craft items. The authors presented a new conceptual taxonomy of online subcultural consumer classifications based on online behavior patterns.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.415-432
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• 2021

The growth of social media has enabled firms to create virtual organizations (online communities) in which value can be co-created with members. Yet, current typologies of firm-sponsored online communities focus either on the firm or participants, and not the interaction between them. This paper provides a systematic review of the online community literature from 2000 to 2018 to develop an understanding of the types of firm-sponsored online communities and the co-creation of value within them. Four types of sponsored online communities are found. These can be differentiated based on the output for the sponsoring firm and the level of self-organization of the communities. This study contributes to the discussion of value co-creation by (i) shedding light on differences among firm-sponsored online community types based on the level and nature of interaction within an online community; and (ii) examining the perceived value co-created through community interactive experiences.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.208-217
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• 2014

This study focuses on analyzing a subset of consumer activities (especially social medium) in their wedding preparation. The focus of this study is on wedding online communities and understanding the impact of communities on selective behavior for information-acceptance. Data was compiled based on female consumers in their 20s and 30s who actively participate in online community forums. It included female consumers preparing for their weddings and individuals interested in weddings. A total of 211 questionnaires were collected from January $10^{th}$ to $23^{rd}$ in 2012. The online communities were identified from Naver, Yahoo, and online search portals; subsequently, they were rank-sorted based on number of members, visitors, and forum posts. We identified four different characteristic based on the findings from the analysis of on-line wedding communities. The characteristic of these communities were divided into sharing experience, functionality of the webpage, informativeness, and interactivity; consequently, use of these online communities is based on trust and significant personal relationships between the members online. Out of the four different community characteristics, sharing experience was found to have a greater impact for the selective behavior of wedding dresses and information- acceptance than the functionality of the webpage, interactivity, and informativeness. We conclude that trust in information provided by members with marriage process experience is the foremost important factor in the behavior of individual consumers wit iexplore.exe -extoff hout marriage process experience. Therefore, the impact of these online communities catering to would-be brides is based on the trust of posters and how well it is articulated.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.418-443
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• 2023

Many organizations facilitate a host of online knowledge sharing communities to assist internal knowledge sharing and operation. The permeable boundaries and voluntary structures of online communities allow individuals to span community boundaries and affect member resources and structures. Although much research has been done on members' knowledge contribution in online communities, relatively little is known about how a member's contribution to a community is shaped by the cross-level interactions of member's external boundary spanning and the community's environmental scanning or membership fluidity. Drawing from the theoretical lens of boundary spanning and the external view of online communities, we take a multi-level approach in the analysis of the activities of 1,992 members of 126 communities internal to a global company. We find that a member's external boundary spanning activity (e.g., external knowledge acquisition via reading posts) has a positive effect, though at a decreasing rate, on subsequent internal knowledge contribution (e.g., posting replies in the member's home community). This positive effect is stronger in communities that are more active in environmental scanning or have fluid membership and weaker in communities that are less active in environmental scanning or have stable membership.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.65 no.7
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• pp.101-117
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• 2015

Along with the development of overall internet service, online fashion communities appeared and have started to thrive. The growth of mobile service has led to an even bigger expansion of these communities, and will wield a strong influence for the foreseeable future. The purpose of our study is to investigate the relationship between the behavior of these fashion communities and personality characteristics of the community features. For our data analysis, our study used 302 men and women, aged from their 20's and their 40's. The study results are as follows: First, some features, such as interaction, entertainment, promotion, information, and system technique, were drawn as the factors of the online fashion communities. Second, we could divide the community behavioral types into three different groups: buyer, maven, and onlooker groups. Third, all three groups showed different community characteristics. The primary concern for the buyer group was promotion while the mavens and the on-lookers were most interested in information. Fourth, they also showed different demographic characteristics in terms of gender, age, duration of membership, on-line time per visit and number of visits per week. These results show that a new strategy is necessary for online fashion communities to differentiate themselves and their marketing to consumers and their community behavioral types.

• Fashion, Industry and Education
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2016

With the emergence of online communities, the role of online communities in establishing brand equity has been greatly emphasized. In order to enhance our understanding of commitment in online brand communities, the present study attempts to investigate how three dimensions of community commitment (continuance, affective, and normative commitment) influence each component of brand equity (brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty) in the context of company-initiated online brand community. An online survey was conducted with a sample of online brand community members. The results found differential impacts of three types of community commitment on brand equity components, emphasizing the role of continuance and affective commitment. Continuance community commitment positively influenced brand awareness and brand association. Affective community commitment positively affected perceived quality, while among the three, only continuance and affective community commitment influenced the enhancement of brand loyalty. The results suggest that brand marketers need to focus on continuance and affective commitment factors in their online communities to effectively enhance brand equity possessed by consumers. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.183-200
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• 2014

Online brand communities have become a major component of marketing strategy given that these communities encourage participation and share the culture of Web 2.0 core concepts to Internet users. This study investigated the effects of social capital and knowledge quality on the success of online brand communities. A research model suggests that trust among members and the identification derived from social capital theory and knowledge quality influence individual community participation; knowledge quality also influences brand trust. In turn, community participation and brand trust develop brand loyalty. The model was empirically analyzed using structural equation modeling with data from online brand community members in Korea. The results indicate that identification and knowledge quality significantly affects brand trust and brand loyalty through community participation. This study provides a basis for developing a success model for online brand communities. Also, this study identifies a new role of knowledge quality in an online brand community context.

• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.117-122
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• 2008

As the industrialization and urbanization are advanced rapidly, the apartment housing has been in excessive supply. Also, the apartment housing that offers modern people a comfortable life has been the typical housing type in Korea. Meanwhile, people today have lost their morality and communities have been dissolved because of a sudden social change. But the lost morality can be recovered when the communities are established. As more increasing in the residents' demands, it is enlarging of residents' interests and participations in pursuit of quality of life. In this process, residents' participation has occurred of their free will not only in offline communities but also online communities. For developing of IT technology, people using internet have exceeded 75% and development of online communities in apartment housing have boundless potentialities despite in a delicate situation that is at the same time and same space. The purpose of this study is that examine the possibilities and directions of participation, as it attempts to grasp the present conditions and problems of online community. In the study, we searched the word, apartment housing, on portal site to apprehensive the status of residents' voluntary participation on online community. According to research, residents' voluntary participation on online community was divided into three frames, such as remodeling, planed resident and designing friendship. Finally we found out resident's contents of communication and structure of their participation by these frames. As a result, participation on online community helps residents who have been not take part in offline community because of limited time in spite of difficulty of lasting participation. From now on, it will have possibility to increase and revitalize new communities on the purpose.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.15 no.1 s.66
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• pp.58-67
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• 2007

The popularity of communities on the Internet has captured the attention of marketing professionals and more consumers are involved in online activities of fashion brands. The primary purpose of this research was to explain the process of how online interactivity influence members' relational market behavior. Subjects of this study were male and female members of online communities of fashion brands. Online survey data were obtained from 416 respondents. Empirical findings of this study were suggestive of two types of interaction in fashion online communities: community-customer interaction and customer-customer interaction. Fashion online community customers' relational market behavior (word of mouth and repurchase intention) was significantly influenced by both types of interactivity. The influence of interactivity on relational behavior was stronger for word of mouth intention than for repurchase intention. This study highlights the importance of interactivity in cyberspace as well as relational market behavior and contributes to e-relationship marketing strategies of fashion brands.