Exploring the motivations to participate in an online brand community: a study of 7-11-year-old children

Thomas, Robert James, White, Gareth Reginald Thomas and Samuel, Anthony ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4483-4600 2021. Exploring the motivations to participate in an online brand community: a study of 7-11-year-old children. European Journal of Marketing 55 (8) , pp. 2308-2343. 10.1108/EJM-09-2019-0730

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Abstract

Purpose - Research is limited when it comes to understanding what motivates 7–11-year-old children to participate in online brand communities (OBCs). Prior research has concentrated on prescriptive product categories (games and gaming), predominantly adolescent groups and the social aspects of community engagement, and actual behaviour within communities, rather than the motivations to participate with the OBC. This has ultimately limited what has been gleaned, both theoretically and managerially, from this important segment. Design - An interpretive, longitudinal position is adopted, employing a sample of 261 children (113 male and 148 female) from across the UK, utilising event-based diaries over a 12-month period, generating 2,224 entries. Findings - Data indicate that children are motivated to participate in a brand community for four reasons: to support and ameliorate pre-purchase anxieties, resolve interpersonal conflicts, exact social dominance in terms of product ownership and perceptions of product knowledge and to actively engage in digitalised pester power. The study also reveals that certain motivational aspects, such as conflict resolution and exacting dominance, are gender specific. Research limitations/implications - Knowledge of children’s motivation to engage with OBCs is important for marketers and brand managers alike as the data reveal markedly different stimuli when compared to known adult behaviours in the field. Given the nature of the study, scope exists for significant future research Practical Implications - The study reveals behaviours that will assist brand managers in further understanding the complex and untraditional relationships that children have with brands and OBCs. Originality/value - This study makes a novel examination of a hitherto little-explored segment of consumers. In doing so, it uncovers theoretical and practical characteristics of child consumers that contemporary, adult-focused literature does not recognise. The paper makes an additional contribution to theory by positing four new behavioural categories relating to community engagement – Dependers, Defusers, Demanders and Dominators – and four new motivational factors which are fundamentally different from adult taxonomies – Social Hegemony, Parental Persuasion, Dilemma Solving and Conflict Resolution.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Emerald
ISSN:	0309-0566
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 March 2021
Date of Acceptance:	22 February 2021
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 02:59
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/139146

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