Virtual communities: A marketing perspective

Kristine de Valck (1) , Gerrit H. van Bruggen , Berendt Wierenga

1 GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC

Increasingly, consumers interact through the Internet to share their knowledge, experiences, and opinions. Consequently, 'word-of-mouse' has become a significant market force that influences consumer decision-making. On the basis of extensive quantitative and qualitative research, the authors sketch how consumers make use of virtual communities as social and information networks, and how this affects their decision-making processes. We present three studies that address (i) determinants and effects of virtual community influence on the consumer decision process; (ii) virtual community participation patterns; and (iii) discussion practices of the most active community members. Key implications for managers, marketers, and market researchers are discussed.

Keywords: Consumer decision process; Interpersonal influence; Marketing; Netnography; Virtual communities of consumption; Virtual community members; Virtual community participation; Word-of-mouth

Kristine de Valck, Gerrit H. van Bruggen, Berendt Wierenga. Virtual communities: A marketing perspective. Decision Support Systems, 2009, Vol.47, n°3, pp.185-203. ⟨10.1016/j.dss.2009.02.008⟩. ⟨hal-00458421⟩