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While the historical focus of customer value research has been on transactional values, it is important to also understand the non-transactional values co-created by customer online engagement behaviors. However, online engagement research in tourism has focused almost exclusively on experience sharing behaviors via online review websites. This research is purposed to develop a multi-dimensional measure of non-transactional values created via online brand community members' engagement behaviors. Focusing on Marriott Bonvoy Insider Brand Community members, scale development procedures were used to identify four dimensions of non-transactional value: influential-experience value, C-to-B innovation value, relational value, and functional value. The scale achieves good validity and reliability. Relationships with both antecedents (e.g., internal and external motivations) and consequences (e.g., brand attachment and brand loyalty) were examined to assess nomological validity. Tourism researchers and managers can employ this scale to diagnose the non-transactional values co-created by customer online engagement behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a common experience-based emotion, awe can easily arise within consumers who are immersed in an online brand community. On the basis of the awe prototype theory, this paper developed a research model involving community management authority, professionalism of opinion leaders, participation time, awe, and customer engagement at the organizational and individual levels of an online brand community. The study then targeted a mobile online brand community, obtaining 409 valid data points using a questionnaire survey platform (wjx.cn). The data were analyzed using a structural equation model, revealing that the management authority and the professionalism of opinion leaders positively affect community members' awe, and this awe positively affects community engagement behaviors. Community members' participation time negatively moderates the influence of management authority on awe; namely, longer participation time weakens such influence. In addition, community members' participation time lowers the effect of opinion leaders' professionalism on their awe, though not significantly. This research advances the study of online communities while also providing practical insights to managers and opinion leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While athletes in the 21st century have strategically leveraged technology and social media to disseminate their powerful truths (e.g., narratives) and to use as tools for organization, empowerment, and the disruption of hegemonic norms, sports fans have also found refuge on the internet and in cyberspace—namely, within online brand communities (OBCs). In this study, we draw from critical race theory (CRT) to interrogate cyber racism against Black male athletes in the http://TexAgs.com OBC. The primary purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory collective case study of fan-generated discourse about Michael Bennett, Mike Evans, Myles Garrett, and Von Miller. Content analysis was used to examine and uncover the racially charged language directed toward these athletes. Three salient, interrelated themes were (1) good Aggie versus bad Aggie dichotomy, (2) dumb/misguided, and (3) thug. In line with the counter-narrative/storytelling tenet of CRT, we present Michael Bennett's (2018) personal narrative from his book to directly counter the racialized discourse about his peers and him on TexAgs. Based on the findings, we conclude with implications for sport communication and social justice in both the public sphere and cyberspaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary marketers build online brand communities to communicate with the organization’s social surroundings, yet there is a lack of understanding of how brand legitimization unfolds in these platforms. To understand how legitimacy is constructed and contested every day, the current study adopts a practice-theoretical lens and discourse analysis to investigate two online communities. The contribution of the study is twofold: First, the insights from the discursive praxis, online community posts, comments and reactions illustrate the connections between multiple levels of legitimization discourse. Second, this study builds a theoretical framework for legitimization practice. Individual perceptions, judgements of the texts and actions on them in the online community intertwine with the organizational and societal context shaping the legitimacy of the brand in the community and beyond. This practice supports or challenges the brand as an institution and may legitimize or delegitimize the brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet has impacted the tourism sector and tourists substantially. Yet, very little information is known about how tourism organisations are using the second generation of the Internet, Web 2.0, and its various social media platforms in relation to their marketing activities. This article explores ways in which events, as an integral part of the tourism sector, are using Web 2.0 tools to build their online brand communities. While the qualitative analysis highlights benefits for events, it also identifies the risks and challenges that events face in using Web 2.0. These include the capacity to resource this aspect of marketing and the ability to protect their brand from the advent of counter- and alter-brand communities when online brand community building activities are not fully effective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]