The moderating role of perceived company effort in mitigating customer misconduct within Online Brand Communities (OBC)

ABSTRACT

This research examines the impact of the misbehavior acts on social media (i.e., online other customer misbehavior) on the online brand community engagement of consumers witnessing these acts. In addition, it examines the moderating influence of perceived company efforts on the path between other customer misbehavior and the attitude toward the company. Data were collected from (N = 317) university students who follow their Jordanian telecommunication service provider Facebook page. Structural equation modelling revealed a good model fit and that online other-customer misbehavior negatively influenced online brand community engagement. Furthermore, customer’s attitude toward the company also influenced online brand community engagement while mediating its path with online other customer misbehavior. The results also showed that perceived company effort has a moderating effect on the relationship between online other-customer misbehavior and online brand community engagement where the higher the consumer perception of perceived company effort, the lower the impact of other customer misbehavior acts on consumer attitudes towards the service provider.

KEYWORDS:

• Other customer
• misbehavior
• community
• engagement
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).