Abstract
Interest into the effects of social influence on members of online communities is growing but there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of influential members in online communities on responses to strategy change within the wider community. We explore social influence in responses to strategy change through content analysis of forum posts before and after a change in strategy. Acceptance or non-acceptance of strategy change and subsequent positive and negative behavioural responses online are dependent on individual factors. The details of these behavioural responses to a change in strategy are tabulated and included in a conceptual model to inform decision-makers. Strategy change precipitates a reduction in social influence effects. Non-acceptance of strategy change is associated with competitor advertisement, inflammatory behaviour, offensive behaviour and complaints. This negative behaviour has important ramifications for acceptance of strategy change within the wider community and impacts on the viability of setting up online forums.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 357-375 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Journal of Strategic Marketing |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 20 Feb 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Bibliographical note
This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Journal of strategic marketing on (2014), available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0965254X.2013.876081Keywords
- content analysis
- internet forums
- market research
- online communities
- social influence
- social networks