Electronic Word-of-Mouth in B2C Virtual Communities: An Empirical Study from CTrip.com

Abstract

Virtual communities (VCs) have developed rapidly, with more and more people participating in them to exchange information and opinions. A virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks. A business-to-consumer virtual community (B2CVC) is a commercial group that creates a trustworthy environment intended to motivate consumers to be more willing to buy from an online store. B2CVCs create a social atmosphere through information contribution such as recommendations, reviews, and ratings of buyers and sellers. Although the importance of B2CVCs has been recognized, few studies have been conducted to examine members' word-of-mouth behavior within these communities.

This study proposes a model of involvement, statistics, trust, “stickiness,” and word-of-mouth in a B2CVC and explores the relationships among these elements based on empirical data. The objectives are threefold: (i) to empirically test a B2CVC model that integrates measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors; (ii) to better understand the nature of these relationships, specifically through word-of-mouth as a measure of revenue generation; and (iii) to better understand the role of stickiness of B2CVC in CRM marketing.

The model incorporates three key elements concerning community members: (i) their beliefs, measured in terms of their involvement assessment; (ii) their attitudes, measured in terms of their satisfaction and trust; and, (iii) their behavior, measured in terms of site stickiness and their word-of-mouth. Involvement is considered the motivation for consumers to participate in a virtual community. For B2CVC members, information searching and posting have been proposed as the main purpose for their involvement. Satisfaction has been reviewed as an important indicator of a member's overall community evaluation, and conceptualized by different levels of member interactions with their VC. The formation and expansion of a VC depends on the willingness of members to share information and services. Researchers have found that trust is a core component facilitating the anonymous interaction in VCs and e-commerce, and therefore trust-building in VCs has been a common research topic. It is clear that the success of a B2CVC depends on the stickiness of its members to enhance purchasing potential. Opinions communicated and information exchanged between members may represent a type of written word-of-mouth. Therefore, word-of-mouth is one of the primary factors driving the diffusion of B2CVCs across the Internet.

Figure 1 presents the research model and hypotheses. The model was tested through the implementation of an online survey of CTrip Travel VC members. A total of 243 collected questionnaires was reduced to 204 usable questionnaires through an empirical process of data cleaning. The study's hypotheses examined the extent to which involvement, satisfaction, and trust influence B2CVC stickiness and members' word-of-mouth. Structural Equation Modeling tested the hypotheses in the analysis, and the structural model fit indices were within accepted thresholds: χ²/df was 2.76, NFI was .904, IFI was .931, CFI was .930, and RMSEA was .017. Results indicated that involvement has a significant influence on satisfaction (p<0.001, β=0.809). The proportion of variance in satisfaction explained by members' involvement was over half (adjusted R²=0.654), reflecting a strong association. The effect of involvement on trust was also statistically significant (p<0.001, β=0.751), with 57 percent of the variance in trust explained by involvement (adjusted R²=0.563). When the construct “stickiness” was treated as a dependent variable, the proportion of variance explained by the variables of trust and satisfaction was relatively low (adjusted R²=0.331). Satisfaction did have a significant influence on stickiness, with β=0.514. However, unexpectedly, the influence of trust was not even significant (p=0.231, t=1.197), rejecting that proposed hypothesis. The importance of stickiness in the model was more significant because of its effect on e-WOM with β=0.920 (p0.001). Here, the measures of Stickiness explain over eighty of the variance in e-WOM (Adjusted R²=0.846). Overall, the results of the study supported the hypothesized relationships between members' involvement in a B2CVC and their satisfaction with and trust of it. However, trust, as a traditional measure in behavioral models, has no significant influence on stickiness in the B2CVC environment.

This study contributes to the growing body of literature on B2CVCs, specifically addressing gaps in the academic research by integrating measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in one model. The results provide additional insights to behavioral factors in a B2CVC environment, helping to sort out relationships between traditional measures and relatively new measures. For practitioners, the identification of factors, such as member involvement, that strongly influence B2CVC member satisfaction can help focus technological resources in key areas. Global e-marketers can develop marketing strategies directly targeting B2CVC members. In the global tourism business, they can target Chinese members of a B2CVC by providing special discounts for active community members or developing early adopter programs to encourage stickiness in the community. Future studies are called for, and more sophisticated modeling, to expand the measurement of B2CVC member behavior and to conduct experiments across industries, communities, and cultures.

摘要

虛拟社区 (virtual community, VC) 今年来发展迅速，越来 越多的人参与到虛拟社区中交换信息和分享观点。虛拟社区是 通过计算机布告板和网络进行非面对面的知识和语言交流的ᅳ 种大众集合体0 B2C 电子商务网站虛拟社区则是商业性的虛拟 社 区，通 过培养信任环境来促进 消 费者在该网 站 的 购 买 行为。 B2CVC 通过信息交流，如推荐、评论、买者与 卖者评級等, 来建立社会性的氛围0 目前，虽然学术界已经认识到 B2CVC 的重要性，但是关于社区成员的 口碑传播行为的研究还不充 分。

本研究提出 了一个理论模型，探讨在 B2C 网站社区中参与 度、满意度、信任度、枯度和口碑传播之间的关系。本研究的 目的有드个:1、通过整合信念、态度和行为的測量来实T；正检 骚B2C 网站社区模型 ； 2、更好地理解各因素对口碑传播的影 响关系 ； 3、更好地理解B2C 网站社区縣度在 CRM 营销中的 作用。

研究模型包含以下要素: 1、社区成员的信念变量，通过参 与度来测量; 2、社区成员的态度变量，通过满意度和信任度 来测量; 以及3、社区成员的行为变量，通过网站度和口播 传播意愿来測量。参与度是消费者在虛拟社区的参与动机。对 于社区成员 来说，信息的査找和发布是他们参与到社区的主要 目的。满意度是成员对社区整体评价的重要指标，反映了成员 与社区的交互程度。虛拟社区的形成与发展依靠成员分享信息 和服务的 自愿程度。研究者已经发现信任是從进匿名交互的矢 键，因此构建信任被看作是虛扭社区的重要研究课题。此外， 虛拟社区的成功依靠成员的枯度来提高购买潜力0 社区成员间 的观点 交流和信 息 交换代表ᅳ种“ 写 作 式”的 口 碑传播。因 此 口 碑传播是推动 B2C 虛扭社区在죠联 网 上护散的主要 因 素之一0 研究模型及假设如图 ᅳ所示0

本研究通过实任调査中国携程旅游网虛拟社区成员来验습模 型。数据收集过程中共发放243 份问卷，其中有致问卷204 粉0 通过实 1：正数据验证了参与度、满意度和信任度影响枯度和 口碑传播之间的假设关系。结构方程模型 (SEM) 方法用来进 行数据分析。模型 的拟合指数结果为 X2/df 是 2.76, NFI 是 .904, IFI 是.931, CFI 是.930, 以及 RMSEA 是.017。结果表明， 参与度对满意度具有显著的影响(/?<0.001， y9=0.809)o 参与度 可以解释满意度的方差比例超过 50%, ■调整 R2 为 0.654o 参与 度对信任度具有显著影响(/7<0.001，산 =0.751)，解释率为 57%， 调整R2 为 0,563ᄋ 此外, 满意度对雞度的影响显著 (산예.51 4)，但是信任度对»度的影响并不显著(=0.231，产1.197)0 參 度对 口碑传播的影响 호著，且解释率超过 80%, 鋼整 R2 为 0.8460 总之，研究结果支持 了大部分的研究假设，但是信任度 显著影响枯度的假设没有得到 支持。

本研究丰富了电子商务网站虛拟社区的学术研究成果，深入 探讨了在 B2C 电子商务环境下的用户信念、态度和行为等因 素0 研究成果有助于实践者进行更有针对性的资源开发和市场 开拓0 网络营销人a可以针对B2C 网站社区来有针对性地制定 营销策略，如对于国际旅游业务，营销人员可以针对中国的 B2C 网站社区用户开展营销活动，如为活跃的用户提供特殊折 扣以及为루期参与者提高社区翻度定制营销计划等0 未来的研 究应该拓展社区成员行为的研究，并在不同的行业、社区和文 化背景下开展研究o

Keywords:

• Virtual community
• Involvement
• Satisfaction
• Stickiness
• Word-of-mouth

键齊：:

• 虛拟社区
• 参与
• 满意度
• 枯合度
• 口碑