Beware the community type: engagement and growth in core vs. open online communities
2024 (engelsk)Inngår i: Small Business Economics, ISSN 0921-898X, E-ISSN 1573-0913, Vol. 62, s. 1383-1407Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Published
Abstract [en]
Entrepreneurs can benefit from the communities they build. Therefore, many entrepreneurs create online communities that allow self-selected stakeholders, such as customers, crowd investors, or enthusiasts, to interact with the venture and other like-minded individuals. However, research on how entrepreneurs can successfully engage community members and grow such online communities is only slowly emerging. In particular, it is unclear if, how much, and which content entrepreneurs should contribute to foster engagement in different types of communities and which role these community types play in the community’s overall growth. Based on a longitudinal case study in the video game industry, we first theorize and show that—depending on the community type—both too much and too little entrepreneur-provided content fails to leverage community engagement potential and that different communities require more or less diverging content. We then theorize and show that community growth is largely driven by engagement in open communities, such as those hosted on social media. We outline the implications this has for entrepreneurs, our understanding of online communities, and entrepreneurial communities more generally.
sted, utgiver, år, opplag, sider
Springer, 2024. Vol. 62, s. 1383-1407
Emneord [en]
Brand community, Digital entrepreneurship, Governance, M13, M15, Online community, Social media, User engagement
HSV kategori
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-214770DOI: 10.1007/s11187-023-00821-yISI: 001067574300001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85171558170OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-214770DiVA, id: diva2:1801888
Prosjekter
Reaping the benefits of digitalization for stakeholder management: Making open stakeholder management work
Forskningsfinansiär
Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation, MMW 2018.00562023-10-032023-10-032024-06-19bibliografisk kontrollert