Introduction

Conceptual Background

Research Context

Research Methods

Findings

Discussion

References

Abstract

Seriously engaged consumers create and manage online communities dedicated to brands or consumption activities, but this type of engagement remains under-examined. This study explores the contextual triggers and individual drivers of serious engagement in online communities and explains how seriously engaged consumers navigate the intersection between work and play that characterizes serious engagement. We draw from qualitative data spanning over a decade on the trajectory of four seriously engaged consumers who created and/or managed an online brand community for players of Microsoft’s Xbox. Three contextual triggers (market-specific practices, marketplace shifts, sociotechnical advancements), when aligned with individual drivers (relevant skills and expertise, entrepreneurial vision, personal commitment), motivate consumers who have been engaged with a brand or consumption activity to deepen their engagement, becoming managers of or launching an online brand community. Consumers can navigate the in-between space of serious leisure through knowledge development or searching for personal fulfillment and/or external recognition. These findings support several contributions to the literature on consumer engagement: demonstrating the vital role seriously engaged consumers play in online community development; drawing attention to contextual triggers and individual drivers of consumer engagement that have not been addressed in prior research; and exploring how consumers navigate the in-between space arising from serious engagement in online communities, finding routes that can lead to deeper engagement in the community itself or redirect it to alternative targets.

Introduction

Engagement in online brand communities involves interactions among community members and between members and the brand (Brodie et al. 2013). Highly engaged consumers are more likely to consider their engagement not only as mere play or an end in itself, but also as a serious commitment to achieving a desired identity or positions within a group (Grayson 1999; Taylor 2006) — that is, they take it seriously. Hence, we propose the concept of serious engagement to refer to the incorporation of skills, knowledge, and responsibilities into the activities of creating and managing online brand communities. Serious engagement involves specific interactions, such as moderating discussions among community members and solving managerial and technical problems. Because serious engagement combines aspects of work and play (two domains frequently experienced as opposed to each other), it is fertile ground for tension. Prior research has shown that consumer engagement in online communities may range from relatively low to extremely high levels (Brodie et al. 2013). Kozinets (1999), for instance, explains that consumer identification with an online community varies depending on two interrelated interests consumers may have: (1) in consumption activities and (2) in developing relations with other participants.