Brand engagement and community user behaviors in online interest communities: exploring a moderated mediation model

Purpose As fertile soil for product promotion, online interest communities have gradually come into brands' view. However, existing research does not clarify whether brand engagement in consumer interaction is beneficial to the development of online interest communities. This study attempts to investigate the effects of brand engagement on the online interest community operation. Design/methodology/approach The authors propose a model that delineated the influence of brand engagement on consumers' citizenship behavior in the online interest community from the commitment-trust perspective. Scenario-based experiments were conducted and 536 data were collected by simple random sampling. Findings Results shows that a stronger perception of brand engagement has a positive influence on the relationship (trust and commitment) between the community and its users, which further influences online community citizenship behavior (feedback, advocacy and tolerance) of both posters and lurkers, especially for the posters. Although relationships are more complex, brand engagement activates the development of online interest communities to some extent. Originality/value This original study contributes to the commitment-trust theory by examining the impact of brand engagement on citizenship behavior via community commitment and trust in the online interest community context. In addition, this study compares the moderating effect of posters vs lurkers on the relationship between brand engagement and citizenship behavior in the online interest community.