Factors Influencing Consumer Opinion-Giving Intentions in Online Brand Communities: An Empirical Study

Establishing an online brand community is currently an important brand management tool for enterprises. In the management process of online brand communities, the opinions provided by consumers can both drive product innovation and provide insights to other consumers. This study selected factors that can enhance consumers' opinion-giving intentions from two aspects: brand-related and community-related. This study takes China's largest online brand community "Xiaomi Community" as the research object, and collects 335 questionnaires from Xiaomi Community users for hypothesis testing. After hypothesis testing, this study found that brand psychological ownership, brand trust, brand identification, perceived community support, and perceived social interaction can positively influence consumers' opinion-giving intentions.


Introduction
In the current information society with communications and information technology as the core, all aspects of the economy, business, and life are affected by technologies based on information systems (Elia et al., 2020;Martínez-López et al., 2016).The development of information and communication technology has promoted the expansion of the online community phenomenon.The platforms on which online community platforms are based have evolved from applications that simply serve transactions to conversational spaces where consumers share their consumption experiences (Martínez-López et al., 2016).O'Reilly (2005) states that the concept of community represents a category of websites and applications in which user participation drives value creation.At present, many enterprises invest a lot of costs in the construction of online brand communities.To fully utilize the value of online brand communities, community organizations should use online brand communities as an innovative tool (Elia et al., 2020;Merhabi et al., 2021).Innovation comes from the creation and dissemination of knowledge.Online brand communities allow companies to listen to consumers' feedback on product use or product innovation proposals, which are all sources of knowledge for corporate innovation (Lejealle et al., 2022).In addition to being of great significance to companies in brand management and innovation, consumers' opinions and intentions also help and guide other consumers to quickly understand product information and consumption experience (Bao & Yang, 2022).Understanding the factors that can positively influence consumers to provide their own opinions is crucial to conpanies and consumers (Anaya-Sánchez et al., 2020;Roy et al., 2017).Chan et al (2022) focused on the quality of comments in the online brand community and suggested that future research should focus on platform design and management related to users' posting opinions in the community.However, current research on the factors that influence members' opinions does not fully consider the characteristics of online brand communities.Some studies regard opinion giving by members in online brand communities as a type of participation and thus introduce it into the model as a moderating variable rather than a dependent variable (Demiray & Burnaz, 2019;Mousavi & Roper, 2023).This study combines the characteristics of online brand communities to hypothesize and test factors that can influence consumers' opinion-giving intentions from two aspects: brand-related and community-related.

Literature Review and Hypothese Development
Current research has paid attention to the fact that members of online brand communities have different membership roles due to different types of participation behaviors.Some researchers divide members who actively participate in online brand community interactions and those who do not actively participate in online brand community interactions into posters and lurkers.Since posters identify more with the community and the brand, brand managers and consumers have higher expectations for posters (Mousavi & Roper, 2023).Some researchers assign members who are highly involved in product-related communication in online brand communities a social identity as opinion leaders.Corresponding to opinion seekers, opinion leaders play a key role in communication and dissemination of product knowledge in the community (Demiray & Burnaz, 2019).Researchers have also distinguished the roles of members in online brand communities based on their level of participation and mastery of professional knowledge (Lejealle et al., 2022).Members with in-depth product knowledge are considered experts and can provide knowledge to new members.Some researchers distinguish the behavior of members in online brand communities into knowledge contribution behavior and knowledge seeking behavior based on the feedback loop process of knowledge sharing.Correspondingly, those who participate in knowledge contribution behavior are regarded as knowledge contributors (Chia-An Tsai & Kang, 2019).This study identifies active community participants who contribute knowledge and opinions in online brand communities as opinion leaders.Opinion leaders create value for the online brand community as well as opinion communicators, but the difference is that opinion leaders need to produce content, not just click and forward it.Opinion leaders are members of the online brand community who share brand expertise and experience and respond to information seekers' questions (Hussain et al., 2018).Opinion leaders are important members of the online community because they can use expertise to influence other members (Alexandrov et al., 2013).Opinion leaders' content output is a currency of exchange, and opinion leaders who see themselves as getting value from the brand community tend to give back through their content contributions (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004).When combining the characteristics of online brand communities to analyze the antecedents that influence consumer opinion-giving intentions, we consider both brand-related factors and communityrelated factors.

Brand-related Factors
When considering brand-related factors, according to the literature review, the role of brand trust has received researchers' attention (Anaya-Sánchez et al., 2020;Mousavi & Roper, 2023;Becerra & Badrinarayanan, 2013).Brand trust is the basis for consumers' willingness to express their opinions because brand trust can counteract consumers' perceived risks and uncertainties (Anaya-Sánchez et al., 2020;Mousavi & Roper, 2023).After consumers express opinions related to the brand, especially positive opinions, whether the brand is reliable or not is related to their own reputation, so brand trust is a prerequisite (Becerra & Badrinarayanan, 2013).The higher the degree of trust consumers have in products/services, the more likely they are to spread positive word-of-mouth about the brand.One of the behavioral manifestations is to provide opinions about consumer experiences or product reviews (Phan et al., 2020).When consumers believe that a brand is reliable and meets consumer expectations, they will combine their own knowledge and consumption experience to provide opinions that can influence the decisions of other consumers (Anaya-Sánchez et al., 2020).Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis: H1: Brand trust positively influences opinion-giving intentions in online brand communities.Brand psychological ownership is an influencing factor that emerges in researchers' vision around brands in online brand communities.When the sense of ownership of the brand community is stimulated, brand consumers will get a sense of control and empowerment, and then produce beneficial behavior for the community (Kumar, 2021).Brand psychological ownership (BPO) refers to a psychology in which customers regard a brand or a part of a brand as a self-expansion (Kumar & Nayak, 2019).When consumers have a sense of psychological ownership of a brand, they will participate in the process of co-design and innovation of brand products by giving their own opinions (Sembada, 2018).In the current marketing literature, we can find the positive impact of consumers' psychological ownership on consumers' active consumption participation behavior (Kirk et al., 2015;Sembada, 2018).Psychological brand ownership can improve the quality of online brand community members' contributions to the community (Kumar & Nayak, 2019).Psychological ownership of the brand is positively correlated with members' satisfaction and willingness to contribute to the content (J. Lee & Suh, 2015;Sembada, 2018).Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis: H2: Brand psychological ownership positively influences opinion-giving intentions in online brand communities.Starting from brand-related factors, we also noticed the role of brand identification from previous research.Online brand communities can give messengers a sense of belonging and enhance their social identity (Lee et al., 2020).Brand identification refers to personal emotional dependence on the brand and the consistency of personal lifestyle and brand values (Underwood et al., 2001).Brand identification is an important concept to measure the relationship and attitude of consumers towards brands.In the context of online brand communities, consumers' needs for self-expression can be met.Consumers share information they find valuable to help them express themselves.Brand identification prompts them to post information about the product to express their self-image and their own personality (Febrian & Ahluwalia, 2021).H3: Brand identification positively influences opinion-giving intentions in online brand communities.

Community-related Factors
As a social network between consumers and other consumers and brands, the first feature of online brand community is the consumer's identity as a community member (Qiao et al., 2021).The group established by the online brand community identity is a social category (Yeh & Choi, 2011).Community identification refers to the members of a community's recognition of the common characteristics of the community and their own importance in the community (Escalas & Bettman, 2005).Community identification encourages members in online brand communities to help other consumers by sharing useful information, which is a prosocial behavior (Qiao et al., 2021).Members' identification with the online brand community attracts them to actively contribute to the community (Kaur et al., 2020).Therefore we propose the following hypothesis: H4: Community identification positively influences opinion-giving intentions in online brand communities.
Another characteristic of online brand community as an online community is that it continues the relationship between organizations and citizen behavior in traditional communities.In traditional research on organizational citizenship behavior, organizational support theory is often applied to understand members' needs, improve the performance of organizational members, and explain citizens' voluntary behaviors (Chi et al., 2022).In recent years, it has begun to be applied by scholars in the context of online brand communities (Chi et al., 2022;Mousavi & Roper, 2023;Yang et al., 2017).Organizational support reflects the importance an organization attaches to the contributions of members and is a prerequisite for promoting members to share professional knowledge, promote organizational innovation, and help the organization achieve its goals (Le & Lei, 2019).Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis: H5: Perceived community support positively influences opinion-giving intentions in online brand communities.
The online brand community provides an effective platform for interaction between users, which creates a unique interactive experience for each other (Lusch & Nambisan, 2015).Social interaction refers to the way customers communicate with each other, bringing consumers and brands closer together emotionally, and increasing user engagement, behavior, and willingness to contribute to the community (Chang & Hsu, 2022;Kang et al., 2020).The social function of the online brand community helps to promote the contributions of members, which are manifested in the creation and distribution of content (Tep et al., 2022).The interaction between consumers helps to generate positive emotions among experienced consumers, and becomes a predictor of consumers' willingness to make brand recommendations through comments.Perceived social interaction is a prerequisite for consumers to share and exchange information strongly, which means that consumers can have more knowledge reserves as a basis for contributing to the community (Cheung et al., 2021).Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis: H6: Perceived social interaction influences opinion-giving intentions in online brand communities.

Research methodology Methodology
Under the positivist research paradigm, this study uses the quantitative research method of survey.The SmartPLS software model is used to conduct structural equation model analysis based on the partial least squares method corresponding to the research hypothesis.This study uses empirical research to examine the factors that influence consumer opinion giving in online brand communities.Questionnaire data were collected in "Xiaomi Community", one of the largest online brand communities in China, and SmartPLS software was used for path analysis and model evaluation.

Measures
When measuring brand psychological ownership, reference was made to the research conducted by (Kumar, 2021).The measurement items of brand trust BPO1, BPO2, and BPO3 respectively measure respondents' awareness of brand ownership, psychological connection with the brand, psychological closeness to the brand.According to previous research Anaya-Sánchez et al (2020); Molinillo et al (2017), the measurement items of brand trust BRT1, BRT2, and BRT3 respectively measure respondents' trust in the brand, belief in brand safety, and belief that the brand can meet their expectations.According to previous research Molinillo et al (2017); Yang et al (2017), the measurement items of perceived community support PCS1, PCS2, and PCS3 respectively measure respondents' perception that their contributions are valued, their efforts are recognized and valued.When measuring perceived social interaction, reference was made to the research conducted by researchers (Bruhn et al., 2014).PSO1, PSO2, and PSO3 respectively measure respondents' satisfaction with social interactions and believe that social interactions are of high quality and meet their social needs.As for measuring community identification, reference was made to the research conducted by researchers (Tsai & Kang, 2019).CID1, CID2, and CID3 respectively measure respondents' concern for community development, being proud of the success of the community, and feeling sad that the community has received criticism.When measuring brand identification, reference was made to the research conducted by researchers (Zhou et al., 2012).BID1, BID2, and BID3 respectively measure respondents' agreement with brand values, pride when the brand receives praise, and sad when the brand receives criticism.According to previous research Demiray & Burnaz (2019), the measurement items of opinion-giving intention OPG1, OPG2, and OPG3 respectively measure respondents' intention to provide product information to other consumers, the intention to provide consumption experience to other consumers, and the intention to give purchase suggestions.The measurement model of this study is shown in Figure 1.

Data Collection
A total of 335 valid questionnaires were collected in this survey.Among the 335 respondents, 26.9% were men and 73.1% were women as shown in Table 1.Regarding the age composition of the respondents, most of the respondents are between 18 and 30 years old, accounting for 80%.As for the education level of the respondents, most of the respondents have a bachelor's degree, accounting for 80%.The second largest number of respondents have a graduate degree or above, accounting for 11%.Table 1 Demographic Statistics

Reliability and Credibility
Before analyzing the collected data, it is necessary to ensure that the measurement tool has internal consistency to ensure that the measurement error is low (Bougie & Sekaran, 2019) .Judgments of underlying and consolidated internal consistency indicate whether a measure is reliable.The commonly used indicator is the Cronbach's coefficient alpha value.If its value is around 0.70, it is acceptable.If it is greater than 0.80, it is considered to have good reliability (Bougie & Sekaran, 2019) loading of the measurement item and the sum of squared errors.If the value is greater than 0.7, the reliability is considered satisfactory (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).As shown in Table 2, from the perspective that the Cronbach's coefficient is greater than 0.6 and the combined reliability is greater than 0.7, the measurement in this study meets the requirements for reliability.(Hair, 2009).The value of factor loadings can indicate the value of convergent validity, so it is necessary to check whether the measurement items have high loadings.At the same time, the average variance extraction (AVE) needs to be checked.The value of AVE needs to be greater than 0.5.According to Table 3 below, the measurement in this study meets both the high loading value and the AVE greater than 0.5, so this measurement has sufficient convergent validity.In order to illustrate that each latent construct is different from other constructs when measured, we introduce discriminant validity (Hair Jr et al., 2019).According to the Fornell-Luke criterion, the root-value of AVE for each latent construct should be greater than the correlations of all other latent variables (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).As shown in Table 4, this measurement meets the requirements for discriminant validity.

Results
When conducting path estimation of the structural equation model, we calculated two indicators: t value and P value.The tt value reflects the significance of the deviation of the variables in the structural equation model (Hair Jr et al., 2019).The higher the T value, the more statistically significant it is.When the T value is greater than 1.96 and the P value is less than 0.,01, the path will be significant at the 0.01 significance level (Hair et al., 2019).As shown in Table 5, significant paths in this study include: BID -> OPG, BPO -> OPG, BRT -> OPG, PCS -> OPG, and PSO -> OPG.That is to say, brand psychological ownership, brand trust, brand identification, perceived community support and perceived social interaction positively affect consumers' opinion-giving intentions in online brand communities.

Conclusion
Whether consumers have the intention to give opinions is of great significance to the longterm development of online brand communities.This study starts with the characteristics of online brand communities and summarizes the variables that can influence consumers' intention to give opinions from two aspects: brand-related and community-related.After the establishment and evaluation of the model, this study found that factors that can positively affect consumers' opinion-giving intentions include: brand psychological ownership, brand trust, brand identification, perceived community support, and perceived social interaction.
This study first provides insights for researchers interested in consumer intentions in online brand communities and provides online brand community practitioners with ideas for managing and operating communities.This study concludes that consumers' psychological ownership of brands positively influences consumers' intention to give opinions, managers of online brand communities can take measures to enhance consumers' psychological ownership of brands by involving consumers in brand activity planning and brand innovation design.This study concludes the positive impact of brand trust on consumers' opinion-giving intentions, which requires brand managers to make the product's functionality and quality meet consumer expectations to gain consumers' trust in the brand.The results of this study illustrate the positive impact of brand identification on consumer opinion-giving intentions.
Brand managers can obtain more consumer identification through the establishment of brand image and the transmission of brand values.This study concludes that perceived community support positively affects consumer opinion-giving intentions, and based on this, managers of online brand communities need to identify active members of the community and provide them with tangible or intangible rewards and support.This study examines the positive impact of perceived social interaction on consumers' opinion-giving intentions.Based on this, when operating online brand communities, attention should be paid to accurately match consumers' content publishing and content search to promote social interaction among consumers.Based on the research conclusions of this study, this study provides several perspectives that can enhance consumers' opinion-giving intentions.Future research can conduct some empirical research on how to improve consumers' brand psychological ownership, brand trust, brand identification, perceived community support, and perceived social interaction.
. Combined reliability is the relative comparison between the factor represents the amount of variance that has been explained in the model.By calculating the value of R-square, you can understand the prediction accuracy of the model.According to the rule of thumb, acceptable r-squared values are 0.75, 0.50, and 0.25 for strong, medium, and weak, respectively(Hair, 2009).As shown in Table6, the prediction accuracy of the model in this study is greater than 0, 75, indicating that most of the variance is explained in this model.