The Influence Of Social Exclusion On Willingness To Join Socially-oriented Virtual Brand Communities

Social exclusion is a common phenomenon in which individuals are rejected,not accepted or ignored by other groups,and are commonly seen in life.Social exclusion affects the individual's social connection,threatens the individual's basic needs,and thus affects the individual's physical,psychological,cognitive,and behavioral patterns.Scholars have pointed out in their research that social exclusion affects individuals' sense of belonging,making them concentrate their attention on information including social acceptance,in order to reconnect social collectedness.Individuals will be more willing to join groups that can accept themselves,thereby establishing new social connections to compensate for the threatened sense of belonging.Based on previous theories and research,this paper believes that the impact of social exclusion on need to belong will also heighten consumers ' willingness to join the socially-oriented virtual brand communities.The heightened need to belong of excluded individuals will encourage them to join the socially-oriented virtual brand communities,based on the social connectedness and interpersonal interaction which brand virtual communities offer.The reference groups will affect the individual's attitude towards the brands,and at the same time,the individual will show different degrees of belonging to different reference groups.Therefore,this paper believes that the reference groups moderate the impact of social exclusion on the willingness to join socially-oriented virtual brand communitys.This paper confirms five hypotheses through two experiments.Social exclusion will increase the individual's need to belong,thereby increasing their willingness to join the socially-oriented virtual brand communities.The reference groups moderate this process.In the context of social exclusion,individuals will increase their willingness to join the socially-oriented virtual brand communities associated with member groups,aspiration groups,and neutral groups.While for brands associated with dissociative groups,individuals who experience social exclusion(vs social acceptance)did not show significant differences in willingness to join socially-oriented virtual brand communities.This study has certain implications for the construction and marketing of virtual brand communities.