Journal Press India^®

Author Details ( * ) denotes Corresponding author

The paper is aimed to explore the youngster’s attitude towards online social communities which is now emerging as an ideal platform for getting meaningful consumer insight worldwide. The survey was administered over 120 post-graduate students of Delhi University. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to test the stated hypothesis. Factor analysis explained 45 percent variance among the variables. The ß coefficients for Social trustworthiness (ß=.012) and Privacy concern (ß=.082) were statistically found significant in determining overall rating of virtual social communities. The overall internal consistency of the data was checked by applying Cronbach’s alpha which demonstrated the value (0.69) within the acceptable limit. For researchers and practitioner, the paper provides a conceptual and theoretical framework to understand the key factors in acceptance of virtual communities which is pivotal in making strategic decisions to improve e-commerce in India.

Keywords

Virtual Communities, Factor Analysis, Perceived Hedonic Benefits, Social Motivation

1. Bickart, B. & Schindler, R. M. (2001). Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 15, 31-40.
2. Cha,J.,(2008), “ Shopping on social networking websites; attitudes towards real vs virtual items”, Journal of Interactive Marketing,Vol.1
3. Chang, Y.P.,Zhu, d.Hong (2011), “ Understanding social networking sites adoption in China: A comparison of pre-adoption and post-adoption” ,Computers in Human Behavior,Vol.27,pp.1840-1848
4. Cheung, C. M. K., Lee, M. K. O. & Rabjohn, N. (2008). The impact of electronic word of-mouth: The adoption of online opinions in online customer communities. Internet Research, 18, 229-247.
5. Dennis,C.,Merrilees,B. & Wright,L.T. (2007), “ E- consumer behavior”, European Journal of Marketing,Vol. 43,No. 9/10, pp.1121-1139
6. Ellison,N.B., Stenfield, C. and Lampe,C.(2006), “ Spatially bounded online social networks and the social capital:the role of Facebook” Available in the
7. proceedings of annual conference of International Conference on System Sciences,Germany www. msu.edu
8. Goldsmith, R. E. & Horowitz, D. (2006). Measuring motivations for online opinion seeking. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 6, 1-16.
9. Mishra,S. (2010) “Participation of youth in social networking sites in India”, International Journal of Business Innovation and Research,Vol.4, No.4,pp 358 275
10. Shang, R., Chen, Y. & Liao, H. (2006). The value of participation in virtual consumer communities on brand loyalty. Internet Research, 16, 398-418.
11. Somali,S.A.,Gholami,R. & Clegg,B.,(2009),“An investigation into the acceptance of online banking in Saudi Arabia”, Technovation 29,pp 129-141
12. Wilson, E. J. & Sherrell, D.L. (1993). Sources effect in communication and persuasion research: A Meta analysis of effect size. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 21, 101-112