“Net” value co-creation: The effect of interactions on consumer citizenship behavior in online travel communities

Abstract

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Online traveling community is initiated by companies, but its survival is inextricably linked to consumer citizenship behavior (e.g., out-group recommendation, in-group helping, and inward response). The majority of researches have investigated consumer behavior of brand community such as consumer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and purchase intention. A few scholars try to explore consumer behaviors beyond the purchase, like participation, which was concerned as the value co-creation. However, the value co-creation of the community should depend on consumers’ citizenship behaviors instead of their pure participation. Therefore, this study empirically examines the effect of consumer interaction on consumer psychology and citizenship behaviors of the online travel community. The findings demonstrated that consumer interaction facilitated participants’ self-identity and their perceived social support, which enhanced their community identification and thus their citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, the motivation of participation plays a moderator in this process. Specifically, symbolic motivation moderates the relationship between consumer interaction and their self-identity, while utilitarian motivation moderates the effect of consumer interaction on their perceived social support. These findings contributed to the intervention of consumer citizenship behavior in online traveling community and provide insights into the management of the online travel community from the perspective of the value co-creation.

Keywords

• consumer interaction
• self-identity
• perceived social support
• community identification
• citizenship behavior