Exploring community satisfaction, identification and reciprocity norm for customer value co-creation: insights from virtual brand communities

Purpose User value co-creation behaviors are crucial for the sustainable development of Virtual Brand Communities. This research, grounded in social exchange theory, investigates the impact of community satisfaction and identification on customer value co-creation behaviors and further explores how the reciprocity norm moderates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Our research data were collected from users across multiple brand communities, totaling 481 survey responses. Structural equation modeling was performed to test the research hypotheses. Findings These results provide in-depth insights into the nexus between user-community relationships and customer value co-creation behaviors. While community satisfaction and identification positively influence co-creation, their effects vary across different value co-creation behaviors. Notably, the reciprocity norm within the community dampens the relationship between community satisfaction and value co-creation behaviors. Originality/value Unlike previous studies focusing on customer value co-creation behaviors, our research emphasizes social exchange, unveiling the mechanisms behind customer value co-creation. Our findings not only enrich the body of knowledge on customer value co-creation but also deepen our understanding of online collective behavior and knowledge sharing, offering valuable insights for the development of virtual communities.