Antecedents of Community Engagement in Online Loyalty Programs

Engagement is a concept which is currently proving to be of enormous interest in both academic as well as business fields. In addition to providing further insights into the notion, or more specifically into community engagement, the current work is pioneering in applying the concept to the analysis of online loyalty programs (OLP), considered as brand communities. The research pinpoint the main antecedents and seeking to gain a greater understanding of how OLP work, knowledge of which remains scarce. Findings show that program identification, program satisfaction, and consumer perceived benefits of OLP are antecedents of community engagement. Among the typology of perceived benefits, hedonic and social symbolic benefits prove significant.