The Role of Virtual Communities in the Customization of e-Services
| Autor: | Adéla Zichová, Bill Karakostas, Dimitris Kardaras |
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| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking. 2:35-51 |
| ISSN: | 1942-9029 1942-9010 |
| DOI: | 10.4018/jvcsn.2010010103 |
| Popis: | Virtual communities are groups of people with similar interests who meet online and together act as a learning environment, place for social support, or as bodies for influencing public opinion. In this paper, the authors identify characteristics of a virtual community that influence its members to customize e- services provided to or received by the virtual community. The authors propose a theoretical framework of factors influencing service customization in a virtual community that has been validated with two case studies conducted in health-focused virtual communities. The findings confirm that the quality of the learning environment, social support, and the virtual communityA¢â‚¬â„¢s ability to influence public opinion, positively contribute to the perceived usefulness and active participation in the community by its members. In turn, these factors were found to have a positive influence on customization of e-services by the members, based on the communityA¢â‚¬â„¢s suggestion. The research also suggests several areas of focus to enhance e-service customization through virtual communities. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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