Social Capital, Sense of Virtual Community, and Network Group Behavior: An Empirical Study based on Virtual Community Users

Abstract

Existing studies on the relationship between social capital and group behavior generally use social capital theory to explain and analyze the causes of group behavior in traditional community. However, the uniqueness of group behaviors in the network scenario determines that the influences of social capital on network group behavior are different from those on actual group behavior to a certain extent. Therefore, systematic explanations are necessary for the exploration of the action mechanism of network group behavior at the social capital level. To explore influencing factors of network group behavior and thereby obtain corresponding solutions, the study constructed a hypothesis model of social capital-sense of virtual community-network group behavior on the basis of social capital theory. The relationship among social capital, sense of virtual community, and network group behavior was verified by structural equation model using the investigation data of 408 active users from three famous interest-type virtual communities (Tianya Community, Mop Community, and Baidu Tieba) obtained from March 2017 to April 2017. Results show that social capital not only directly influences network group behavior but also indirectly influences network group behavior through the mediation of sense of virtual community. The members of virtual community groups who have high social capitals actively participate in group behaviors. The improvement of group members with regard to participation in group behaviors is mainly benefited from mutual trust, commitment, and interaction among group members. Group members? participation in group behaviors is further enhanced through the perceived sense of membership, immersion, and influence. Therefore, the influencing mechanism of social capital and sense of virtual community on network group behavior is disclosed to a certain extent. Conclusions in this study provide interventions for virtual community managers who aim to enhance the internal management of virtual community in order to encourage positive network group behaviors for further improvement in organizational effectiveness.