| Description |
Social learning is an important part of consumers' lives. A major limitation of previous research in consumer social learning is the lack of attention to the effects of relationships built among participants on the learning process in online communities. Within a thread in an online forum, when a post is made referring to a previous post, a connection is built between the posts, indicating the opportunity for the continuation of the learning process. We construct a conceptual framework of reference relationships in ongoing threads. We propose that four key constructs related to the reference relationships between posts are associated with the continuation of the social learning process within threads, including engagement, sociality, advanced levels of learning, and existence and strength of ties between posters. We investigated 19 threads with 580 posts in a diabetes online community using both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Results provide substantial evidence that reference relationships in an ongoing thread are significantly positively associated with posters' engagement in the community and in the ongoing thread, advanced learning steps and sociality demonstrated in the content of posts in the ongoing thread, and ties in other threads. Our study suggests important implications for marketers in facilitating consumers' social learning process in online communities. Specifically, we suggest that by investigating posts made in reference relationships, marketers may identify the topics in which posters have interest and the influentials who disseminate and generate knowledge in online communities. |
