Community Participation and Consumer-to-Consumer Helping: Does Participation in Third Party-Hosted Communities Reduce One's Likelihood of Helping?

Abstract

Third party-hosted consumer communities in general, and brand communities in particular, have been touted for their ability to generate value for firms by promoting consumer-to-consumer (C2C) helping. However, little research has examined whether consumer communities actually foster C2C helping, and who is helped. In contrast, the brand-community literature suggests community strategies may reduce the likelihood of community members helping non-community members. If so, strategies that promote third party-hosted brand or product-category communities may be counterproductive in fostering C2C helping. Should firms focus on promoting brand communities, promoting product-category communities, or both? On the basis of a hazard model analysis of 9,192 actual C2C helping events over a 25-month period, and supported by a second cross-sectional study, this article examines how participation in brand and product-category communities influences one's likelihood of helping others. We find that brand-community participation increases one's likelihood of helping fellow members while reducing the likelihood of helping members of rival brand communities. Surprisingly, product-category community participation reduces one's likelihood of helping members of brand communities. The authors discuss managerial recommendations