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Abstract
All over the internet, various types of “virtual communities” are developing and gaining widespread popularity among users. The virtual communities increasingly serve as an online avenue, where users congregate and interact with other like-minded peers. Recent studies have shown that virtual communities have been recognized as a type of reference group for online users, where they not only share information but also develop online friendships. This thesis looks at consumer participation in online discussion forums in Malaysia and examines the antecedents and consequences of their participation behaviors. As an early study into this area in Malaysia, it explores the antecedents for online participation from social and psychological perspectives and investigates their implications on marketing-related variables. In addition, this research also compares the antecedents and consequences of online participation between novice and experienced users. The research undertaken is based on data collected from members of Malaysian-hosted online forums through web-surveys. Twelve forums agreed to participate in this study. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique was used to analyze the data collected, while cluster analysis was performed in order to group respondents based on their experience level. Results confirm that virtual communities, particularly product-related online discussion forums are indeed an influential reference point for Malaysian Internet users. Novices make up the majority of its members, compared to experienced users. They are also more prone to trust and be influenced by the forums than experienced users, which could eventually result in novices purchasing online, making repeat purchases and spreading word-of-mouth. As for experienced users, participation in online forums results only in online purchases. Trust in the forum does not seem to play an important role for these participants to proceed with purchase-related behaviors. This thesis contributes to the present body of knowledge by highlighting the importance of virtual communities from a marketing perspective. Perceptions about products and retailers can be developed simply based on the content of a forum, and this could potentially affect a brand or company's image well before a particular product is even purchased or consumed.