Exploring the impact of brand community identification on Facebook: Firm-directed and self-directed drivers

The interaction between consumers and brands has become more dynamic and powerful through online brand communities. Although brand communities commonly use Facebook as virtual platform, yet little is known about potential antecedents of identification. This paper presents two new concepts as antecedents named firm-directed and self-directed drivers by expanding the social identity approach to Facebook in the context of brand community identification. Specifically, this study explores the impact of drivers on community members' WOM communication and purchase intention for a new product through brand community identification and commitment. An exploratory research has been conducted to understand the brand community drivers, followed by a quantitative study to reveal the relationships in the proposed research model. The findings demonstrate how differing levels of opinion leadership or opinion seeking can shift attitude toward brand community on Facebook by highlighting the role of firm-directed and self-directed drivers in identification.