Title: The impact of virtual communities on e-loyalty: a conceptual framework

Authors: Barbara Krumay, Roman Brandtweiner, Christoph Zauner

Addresses: WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria. ' WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria. ' WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Abstract: Regarding the success of virtual communities, several factors and prerequisites are essential. At the same time, companies are looking for factors influencing e-loyalty. In this paper, a framework (VC2E-Loy) is presented, which compares the attitudes arising in virtual communities with prerequisites of e-loyalty. First, the fundamentals of both – e-loyalty and virtual communities – are discussed. Then, attitudes and factors derived from literature are presented. The framework is created based on the factors extracted from literature. Finally, the framework is described and information on validation, open questions and further research is given.

Keywords: virtual communities; web based communities; online communities; e-loyalty; electronic loyalty; e-commerce; electronic commerce; VC2E-Loy; frameworks; attitudes; validation; open questions; internet marketing; advertising; world wide web; electronic business; e-business; digital marketing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2011.038241

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2011 Vol.6 No.3, pp.300 - 314

Published online: 26 Nov 2014 *

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