| Summary: | Strengthening consumers’ intention to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on online brand community platforms benefits both companies and consumers. For companies, it supports customer relationship management, feedback collection, and understanding consumer needs. For consumers, it offers consumption advice, fulfils social needs, and enhances self-worth. However, consumers are often less willing to engage in eWOM on online brand community platforms because their needs are not fully met, platforms lacking user experience and user friendliness. Current research often overlooks the specific characteristics of online brand community platforms. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the factors that enhance user experience while maintaining a clear understanding of platform-specific features. Using purposive sampling methods, this study collected and analyzed questionnaire data from 335 respondents within one of China’s largest brand communities. This study is quantitative research that uses the partial least squares method as the basis to examine the direct relationships between independent and dependent variables, as well as the moderating effects of information-seeking intention, opinion-passing intention, and opinion-giving intention on these relationships. Following data collection and analysis, this study found that several factors positively influence consumers’ intention to engage in eWOM. Technical factors include perceived personalization and system interactivity; social factors include perceived social interaction and community support; and brand-related factors include brand trust and psychological ownership. Additionally, information quality significantly impacts eWOM engagement when consumers have a high intention to seek information, while brand identification plays a key role when consumers strongly intend to share opinions. This study offers comprehensive recommendations for developers of online brand community platforms. Beyond ensuring strong system interactivity and personalization, it is crucial to support community managers in addressing consumers’ psychological and social needs. From an academic standpoint, the study proposes an integrated framework centered on consumers’ eWOM engagement intention, incorporating platform-specific characteristics and extending previous research by introducing relevant moderating variables.
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