Internet Research

Customer citizenship behavior in social networking sites: the role of relationship quality, identification,
and service attributes
Shih-Hao Wu Stephen Chi-Tsun Huang Ching-Yi Daphne Tsai Pei-Yi Lin
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To cite this document:
Shih-Hao Wu Stephen Chi-Tsun Huang Ching-Yi Daphne Tsai Pei-Yi Lin , (2017)," Customer citizenship behavior in social
networking sites: the role of relationship quality, identification, and service attributes ", Internet Research, Vol. 27 Iss 2 pp. -
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 Customer citizenship behavior in social networking sites: the role of relationship quality,
identification, and service attributes

1. Introduction

Social networking sites (SNS) have become part of the daily lives of consumers and are

important marketing channels for service firms (Boyd and Ellison, 2007; Dutta, 2010; Cheung

et al., 2015). According to the 2013 Gartner report, a high rate of 74% of consumers relying
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on suggestions found in virtual communities (i.e., corporate SNS) for purchasing decisions.

People express opinions, build relationships, discuss brand experiences and preferences, and

influence others who are on their trust list through SNS (Araujo and Neijens, 2012; Xu et al.,

2012). As such, an increasing number of organizations utilize consumer interactions through

SNS to enlarge the effects of their marketing strategies, further to increase profits (Araujo

and Neijens, 2012). That explains why more than half of the Fortune 500 corporations

maintain active SNS to communicate with consumers and to encourage the interactions

among their SNS users (Dutta, 2010).

Researchers recognize user participation as a critical element in the success of SNS, and

categorize it into active and passive behaviors that are viewed as two essential components of

SNS (Pagani et al., 2011). Users show active behaviors by voluntarily producing content,

such as posting information, answering questions, sharing experiences, or making

recommendations on SNS. Passive behaviors refer to viewing on SNS. Posting enables

viewing, which eventually motivates more posting (Pagani et al., 2011). Thus, encouraging
 SNS users to perform active or voluntary behaviors is crucial for business firms. Researchers

incorporate customer citizenship behaviors (CCB) to define such voluntary behaviors as

extra-role work that “are not required for the successful production and/or delivery of the

service but that, in the aggregate, help the service organization overall” (Groth, 2005, p.11).

The extraordinary value of CCB for service firms is widely acknowledged in, for example,
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cost saving, efficiency enhancing, satisfaction increasing, and profit generating (Gruen et al.,

2000; Yi et al., 2011). However, studies on factors triggering CCB on SNS remain scant.

Extant studies on CCB mainly focus on traditional brick-and-mortar settings (e.g.,

Bartikowski and Walsh, 2011; Bove et al., 2009). Among the few exceptions, Pagani et al.

(2011) provides significant contributions on clarifying the relationship between consumer

personality (an individual-level factor) and their SNS participation behavior. However, an

individual’s behaviors are not only triggered by internal factors or coming from within the

person, but also by external factors (Lewin, 1951) such as incentives offered by service firms

to encourage desirable consumer behaviors. Solely focusing on individual-level factors might

neglect important insights. As such, building upon relationship marketing (RM) and social

identity theory, this study aims to answer the following research question of how the

exogenous or firm-level factors (relational bonds and relationship quality toward corporate

SNS) and the endogenous or individual-level factor (identification) trigger CCB on SNS.

Moreover, researchers posit that the same factors in services with different attributes might
 generate distinct impacts (Hsieh and Hiang, 2004). To increase the explanatory power of the

results, this study examines the proposed framework in two various service settings (Brown

et al., 1994).

This study contributes to extant literature in three ways, (1) to incorporate both the firm

(external)- and individual (internal)- levels of factors into a single framework to explain how
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these factors affect CCB on SNS, (2) to empirically scrutinize the relative impacts of

relational bonds, relationship quality, identification on SNS users’ voluntary behaviors, (3) to

examine the proposed framework in two settings with distinct service attributes to enhance

the robustness of the findings. A structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data

collected from 316 and 318 of Starbucks and 7-Eleven Facebook members respectively.

The analysis results provide several insights that can help firms understand how to better

encourage SNS users’ voluntary behaviors.

This paper is structured as follows. Section 2 defines and describes the key constructs

and the relationships among them. Section 3 reports the research methodology, and the

empirical results and findings are discussed in Section 4. Last, section 5 concludes with

theoretical and managerial implications, as well as the recommendations for future research.

2. Literature review

2.1 Customer Citizenship Behaviors (CCB)

Although prior studies recognize consumers as important human resources of service firms
 and expect them to perform extra work, understanding of CCB remains inconsistent (Bove et

al., 2009; Yi et al., 2011). First of all, prior studies have discussed consumer voluntary

behaviors (CVBs), i.e. CCB, prosocial behavior, information sharing, and participation,

extensively. However, few studies have discussed the differences between CCB and the other

CVBs. Table 1 depicts the definition, differences and literature sources of the above
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mentioned CVBs.

-----------------------------------------------
Table 1 is about here

-----------------------------------------------

Among these CVBs, participation is good for both the customer self and for the firm,

thus participation, to some degree, can be classified as “for-self” behavior. On the other hand,

CCB, prosocial behavior, and information sharing are extra-role “for-others” behaviors.

Among these “for-others” CVBs, CCB is simply beneficial for both fellow customers and the

firm, whereas other CVBs like information sharing and prosocial behavior sometimes may

hinder the interest of the specific firm. As such, for the sake of firms, CCB is the most critical

extra-role/ for-others behavior the firms should enhance. The following paragraphs describe

these CVBs in details, and the differences between the other three CVBs and CCB.

CCB Extending from the study of Organ (1988) on organizational citizenship behavior

(OCB), Groth (2005) defines CCB as consumer’s voluntary, discretionary extra-role behavior,

compared to customer’s required, expected in-role behavior. These extra-role behaviors are
 conducive to effective organizational functioning in some way. Accordingly, this study

extends the above definition of CCB to the SNS as the active behaviors (e.g., WOM and

helping others) performed by customers of a specific firm which benefit the firm in some way.

Building upon the Service Triangle concept, Figure 1a shows how we define CCB in this

study.

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Figure 1a about here

---------------------------------------------------------

Prosocial Similar to CCB, pro-social behavior also refers to the active helping

behavior of an organization’s customers directed to others. However, different from CCB,

prosocial behavior may be inconsistent with the organizational objectives (Anderson et al.,

2010; Bove et al., 2009; Brief and Motowildo, 1986). Thus, in this study, we propose that

CCB is a pro-social behavior, however, not all pro-social behaviors are CCB. According to

Bove et al. (2009), functionality to the organization is a key differentiator of CCB from

prosocial behaviors. To make it clear, Figure 1b depicts the similarity and difference between

CCB and prosocial behaviors in which customer A telling customer B about the lower price

offered by service firm Y (compared to the price offered by firm X) is a prosocial behavior,

whereas it is not a CCB behavior from the point of firm X because it does not generate any

benefit for firm X (Bove et al., 2009; Organ, 1988).

---------------------------------------------------------
 Figure 1b about here

---------------------------------------------------------

Information sharing Information sharing has been viewed as an important helping

behavior which occurs to respond to posts requesting assistance in online communities (Chu,

2009; Raban and Rafaeli, 2007). In other words, information sharing is provided “when

questions pertain to issues that have already been considered and problems for which
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solutions exist” (Chu, 2009, p.281). This is the key to differentiate information sharing from

CCB in which CCB is not limited to a requested problem with solutions. In this study, other

than giving hands to other SNS users, CCB also can be spreading good words about the

organization or recommending the service to friends and relatives.

Participation Participation has been discussed extensively in different contexts with

different definitions which increases the complexity of this construct. In this paper, we

incorporate the study of Bendapudi and Leone (2003), Dong and colleagues (2008), Fang and

colleagues (2008), and Yen and colleagues (2004) on participation and define participation as

the degree to which the customer is involved, by providing actions or resources, in the

production and delivery of a service. These participation actions or resources provided by

customers can be active and passive, and align with the study of Bettencourt (1997)

proposing customer participation as acting like organizational consultant to help with the

delivery or quality of a service. As such, the difference between participation and CCB is that

participation is the actions or resources provided by customers during the production or

 delivery processes that relate to the service and further benefit the firm, whereas CCB refers

to customer extra-role behaviors that benefit the firm but are not directly related to the

production or delivery of the service.

Second, researchers have neither reached a consensus regarding the dimensions of CCB.

Bettencourt (1997) proposes three dimensions of CCB based on the roles played by
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customers and includes loyalty (customer as promoter), cooperation (as human resource), and

participation (as organizational consultant). Groth (2005) also classifies CCB into three

dimensions, namely, making recommendations, providing feedback to the organization, and

helping other customers. Among these classifications, word of mouth (WOM) and consumer

interaction are the two commonly used dimensions (Bailey et al., 2001; Rosenbaum and

Massiah, 2007). These two voluntary behaviors generate values for firms leveraging an SNS

platform because such behaviors are easier to be performed online than offline. As such, this

study incorporates WOM (recommendation) and customer interaction (helping other SNS

users) to represent CCB.

2.2 Antecedents of CCB

Encouraging customers to crossover their offline participation to online interactions may be

the first challenge that service firms need to overcome when dealing with CCB on SNS.

Motivation theory is commonly used to explain human behaviors, for instance, new

technology acceptance in the information system field (Fagan et al., 2008). Motivations are
 the forces that shape the desires of members or their readiness to undertake certain behaviors

(Tang et al., 2016). Evidence shows that two types of motivations, namely, intrinsic and

extrinsic, influence individuals (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Intrinsic motivation refers to the

interesting or enjoyable feeling perceived by a person from performing a task, whereas

extrinsic motivation is the desired outcome to which a behavior leads (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
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Researchers apply extrinsic and intrinsic motivations in related subjects and provide

suggestions accordingly. Igbaria et al. (1995) discuss the extrinsic motivation that influences

the consequences of computer usage. Other studies focus on intrinsic motivation, which

refers to the inherent enjoyment or interest raised within an individual, to model the driving

factors for certain consumer behaviors (Lee et al., 2005). Under the SNS context, service

firms encourage CCB by fulfilling the extrinsic needs of consumers. Extrinsic rewards

offered by service firms are friendships with consumers or special discounts to members.

Such practices align with the concept of relational bonds suggested by past studies in

motivating consumers to behave in a certain manner (Gwinner et al., 1998, Lin et al., 2003).

Consumers may perform CCB to fulfill their intrinsic need of being in the identified group

(corporate SNS) and CCB makes them happy. Thus, in the current study, relational bonds and

identification are incorporated as initiators driving consumers to perform CCB on corporate

SNS.

Relational bonds Marketing orientation has shifted to a long-term relational strategy

 (Berry, 1983), and has transformed building and retaining relationships with customers into a

critical task for service firms. Berry and Parasuraman (1991) posit that service firms trigger

desirable customer behaviors within a relationship by offering three different incentives or

relational bonds financially, socially, and structurally. These bonds encourage customers to

enter into a relationship and to engage in a relational exchange (Hsieh et al., 2005). As such,
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service firms can motivate consumers to perform CCB on SNS by initiating relational bonds.

Financial bonds refer to information and activities released by business firms that

communicate pricing incentives for customers of the firm, such as membership discounts and

gifts for loyalty cardholders. Such economic rewards are extrinsic motivations which are

effective incentives in leading individuals to act in a favorable way for organizations (Tang et

al., 2016). Financial bonds include time and search cost savings. Saving money through

discounts or obtaining free rewards from sellers is a key motivation for customers to engage in

relational exchanges (Gwinner et al., 1998). Social bonds refer to the psychosocial benefit

provided by service firms through social interaction or friendship to develop closer customer

relationship (Chen and Chiu, 2009; Gwinner et al., 1998). Such bonds are keys to relationship

marketing because of the highly social nature of service encounters (Czepiel, 1990). In an

online context that lacks face-to-face contact, SNS becomes important as a platform for social

bond initiation and formation. Through SNS, people can communicate and gain mutual

understanding with service providers and other customers (Chen and Chiu, 2009). Structural
 bonds refer to value-adding benefits provided by service firms to their target customers that are

either not available elsewhere or are difficult to obtain once the relationship is terminated

(Hsieh et al., 2005). The communication attribute of SNS makes the valuable information

provision a key structural bond issued by service firms (Chen and Chiu, 2009). Service firms

attract consumers to their corporate SNS and encourage participation in the SNS by initiating
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relational bonds.

Identification According to the social identity theory, identification fulfills the need of an

individual for social identity and self-definition (Mael and Ashforth, 1992). Individuals tend to

identify with an organization that has attributes similar to their internalized self-concept. Such

identification leads to an increased commitment to actions that support the organization

(Cornwell and Coote, 2005). Similarly, Chu and Chan (2009) propose that people contribute

their valuable knowledge only when “the recipient is recognized as a group-mate, and the

contribution is conducive to their mutual welfare” (p.503). In service marketing,

consumer-company identification (CCI) is an identification factor that attracts considerable

attention from researchers (Ahearne et al., 2005; Pérez et al., 2009). Bhattacharya and Sen

(2003) proposes that “…some of the strongest consumer-company relationships are based on

consumers' identification with the companies that help them satisfy one or more key

self-definitional needs” (p.77). CCI is active, selective, and volitional on the part of the

consumer. This concept is derived from within an individual, which refers to the cognitive
 state of self-categorization existing between consumers and organizations (Bergami and

Bagozzi, 2000). People with higher CCI are more psychologically attached to and care more

about the company, which motivates them to act favorably to the company (Bhattacharya and

Sen, 2003). Consumers are motivated to participate in corporate SNS under their own volition

to fulfill an internal need. This study suggests that CCI is an intrinsic motivation derived from
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the basic need of an individual for social identity and self-definition.

Factors from different subject levels generate diverse impact on consequences and

should be treated differently (e.g., Iacobucci and Ostrom, 1996; Palmatier et al., 2007). Such

a claim is especially salient in this study when online and offline transactions are involved.

Other than CCI, which mainly takes place offline, consumers may need to identify with a

corporate SNS prior to their participation online. Within a virtual community, basic

psychological needs are fulfilled to learn new community roles and to answer the question,

“Who am I?” through the feeling of belonging (Bressler and Grantham, 2000). In other words,

individuals form attachments to virtual communities, such as corporate SNS and frequent

visits to these sites, or even addiction to SNS (Shen and Chiou, 2009). As such, identification

towards a corporate SNS is believed to be an important antecedent when discussing consumer

online behaviors.

SNS Relationship quality In the highly competitive SNS environment, maintaining a

long-term relationship with users is important for SNS providers to enhance their profitability
 (Kim and Min, 2015). According to relationship marketing (RM), the relationship between

two exchange partners influences consumer behavior (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). When

relationship quality (RQ), measured through satisfaction or trust, is high, individuals are more

inclined to act favorably towards their exchange party or perform CCB (Bove et al., 2009;

Groth, 2005). Prior studies propose that the quality of a relationship has an influence over
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consumer behavior or relational consequences (Hsieh et al., 2005; Lin et al., 2003). The

overall strength of a relationship is measured by RQ because customers rely on the relationship

to reduce any uncertainty within the exchange process (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999). A

higher order construct, RQ comprises several distinct but related dimensions (Hennig-Thurau

et al., 2002). Consistent with prior studies (Crosby et al., 1990; Hsieh and Hiang, 2004), this

study adopts satisfaction and trust as core components of RQ, and evaluates their relationship

with relational bonds and CCB under the SNS context.

Satisfaction refers to “customers’ cognitive and affective evaluation based on their

personal experiences across all service episodes within the relationship” (Storbacka et al.,

1994, p.25). The extent to which customers are satisfied with the offerings provided by a

service firm influences the relationship between customers and the firm as well as affects future

behaviors of the customers (Dorsch et al., 1998). Trust is “the willingness to rely on an

exchange partner in whom one has confidence” (Moorman et al., 1993, p. 82), and the

appraisal of the benevolence of an exchange partner (Anderson and Weitz, 1992). Trust is a
 type of psychological benefit that creates a feeling of security or reduced anxiety for customers

who have developed a relationship with a provider (Gwinner et al., 1998). In the current

research, RQ refers to the closeness of the relationship between users and the corporate SNS

measured by the extent to which users satisfy and trust the sites.

2.3 Relationships of the constructs

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Relational bonds and SNS RQ Literature indicates that relationships are strengthened

when consumers receive more benefits from a service firm (Lin et al., 2003). In other words,

as consumers perceive the benefits provided by a corporate SNS, they are more willingly to

access the site, thereby fortifying the relationship between the site and the users. Relationship

bonds reduce risks within exchange relationships and form the cornerstone of trust (Smith,

1998). The empirical results of Chen and Chiu (2009) indicate a strong and positive effect of

financial and structural bonds on online customer satisfaction. Lin et al (2003) provides

significant evidence on the effect generated by these two bonds on trust based on an online

context. In practice, firms establish virtual communities for users to share software and tips

online while enhancing social bonds with their customers (Strauss and Frost, 2001). Such

social connections are viewed as an important benefit that help customers strengthen their RQ

with communities and increase their willingness to access the sites to perform voluntary work.

Extending these arguments to the current study on SNS, we hypothesize,

H1a: The financial bond has a positive impact on consumer’s SNS RQ.
 H1b: The social bond has a positive impact on consumer’s SNS RQ.

H1c: The structural bond has a positive impact on consumer’s SNS RQ.

CCI and SNS RQ Although the link between CCI and SNS RQ has not been addressed

directly, literature has provided various results regarding such relationship. Bhattacharya et al

(1995) proposes that when the identification with a firm becomes greater, people tend to be
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more satisfied with the offerings of the firm, or in this case, the corporate SNS. Moreover,

Voci (2006) suggests that individual identification towards a group affects the trust in

group-related subjects. In other words, when CCI is established, tolerance towards the firm

and firm-related subjects becomes greater as well. In adopting such concept to the current

study, consumers will be more satisfied or trust more easily the SNS. This behavior leads to a

closer relationship between consumers and SNS. Moreover, according to the spillover effect,

the identification customers have toward a service firm generates positive emotions which may

influence the level of trust they have with SNS (Balachander and Ghose 2003). Hence, we

propose,

H2: CCI has a positive impact on SNS RQ.

SNS RQ and CCB The nature of CCB implies the surrender of resources on the part of

customers, such as time and effort, to the firm, which increases feelings of vulnerability.

Customers believe their sacrifice will gain appropriate returns from the firm, which increases

willingness to perform CCB (Bove et al., 2009; Livnat, 2004). Prior studies support such
 concept and reveal that RQ is positively related to CCB. Groth (2005) and Bettencourt (1997)

argue that consumers are more inclined to perform CCB when they are satisfied. Similarly,

Bove et al. (2009) posits that trust is an essential driver for consumers to engage in CCB.

Evidence shows that such relationship remains consistent in an online environment (Liang et

al., 2008; Mukherjee and Nath, 2007). SNS users who trust or are satisfied with a corporate
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SNS are more likely to develop favorable attitudes toward the site, which increases their

favorable behaviors such as performing CCB or usage level (Kim and Min, 2015). Hence, we

propose,

H3: SNS RQ has a positive impact on individuals’ CCB.

CCI and SNS identification The offline interaction experience of individuals with a service

firm is an important source for the formation of their attitude towards the same firm in a

virtual setting. Consumers tend to base their offline attitudes to infer what they might

experience online when dealing with the same firm (Kuan and Bock, 2007). Consumers who

have a positive offline attitude towards a firm are more inclined to have a positive feeling

towards the online operations of the same firm (Yamagishi and Yamagishi, 1994). In order to

join a firm’s SNS, individuals must be aware of the existence of the firm and identify with it to

some extent. As such, consumers with higher CCI may elicit a sense of oneness with the firm

and adopt the perspectives and goals of the firm as their own. These consumers are anticipated

to form higher identification toward the SNS of the firm (Ellemers et al., 2004). Accordingly,
 we hypothesize,

H4: CCI relates positively to customers’ SNS identification.

SNS identification and CCB Feelings of identification or belongingness toward a corporate

SNS influence consumer behaviors (Algesheimer et al., 2005). Behaviors benefit the

community when members highly identify with the community (Carlson et al., 2008).
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Empirical evidence shows that identification with a brand community leads to positive results,

such as community engagement, participation, and recommendation behaviors (Algesheimer

et al., 2005). For instance, members of several computer communities not only help each other

enhance their computer skills, but also advocate products to non-members (Muniz and

O’Guinn, 2001). Extending these arguments to the current study, we propose the following,

H5: SNS identification relates positively to individuals’ CCB.

RQ and SNS identification Mael and Ashforth (1992) posits that the satisfaction levels of

individuals strongly influence their identification towards a specific object. Bhattacharya and

Sen (2003) suggest that customers establish a relationship with a firm only when they perceive

its trustworthiness. Hence, trust is a key element in the formation of identification. Moreover,

Keh and Xie (2009) empirically shows the positive relationship between trust and

identification, which further supports this argument. Accordingly, we postulate,

H6: Customer SNS RQ relates positively to SNS identification

Our proposed framework is illustrated in Figure 1.

 -----------------------------------------------
Figure 2 is about here
-----------------------------------------------

2.4 Moderation effect

An important task of managers is to allocate wisely limited resources to generate most profits.

In service marketing, service attribute (or service type) is a critical moderator that

significantly influences the relationships among different constructs (Hsieh et al., 2005).
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Hence, this study encompasses the moderation effect of service attribute and examines the

impact such effect generates on the efforts of service firms (relational bonds) invested to

enhance SNS RQ. Researchers classify services on a continuum of search, experience, and

credence attributes based on the degree of information asymmetry (Ostrom and Iacobucci,

1995). Search service refers to the services that allow consumers to acquire full information

on the service before purchase, whereas experience services are those services that consumers

can only evaluate after consumption. Credence services are dominated by attributes that

consumers cannot verify even after consumption. This study adopts search and experience

services and examines the moderation effects these two different services have on the

proposed model under the SNS context.

Past studies suggest that the way firms of different service attributes interact with

customers online vary, which indicates that motivations driving customer behaviors differ

(Hsieh et al., 2005). For instance, financial bonds are more attractive to customers in search

services than in experience services because search services tend to be high in standardization
 (Guiltinan, 1987). Such attribute makes it possible for consumers to acquire full knowledge

before purchase (Klein 1998). Therefore, price becomes an important driver of competitive

advantage in search service (Brush and Artz, 1999). In experience service, the uncertainty of

individuals can be reduced through the sharing of experiences of other customers (Klein,

1998) or the customized information provided by service firms. Online platforms, such as
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Facebook, make such sharing easier, more influential, and more widespread. Hence, we

propose,

H7a: The impact of financial bond on SNS RQ is greater in search service than that of in

experience service.

H7b: The impact of social bond on SNS RQ is greater in experience service than that of

in search service.

H7c: The impact of structural bond on SNS RQ is greater in experience service than that

of in search service.

3. Methodology

3.1 Sample and data collection

We conducted a quantitative study with the Facebook members in Taiwan to test the proposed

framework. The statistic shows that Facebook has approximately 1.44 billion monthly active

users each month (SocialBankers, 2015). Such huge membership base has increased the

importance of Facebook in the profit generation of firms. Moreover, the fast growing
 membership of Facebook in Taiwan has made it one of the most successful stories in Asia (Su,

2010). In 2014, the penetration rate of Facebook in Taiwan was reported to be higher than in

any other market in the world (Taipei Times, 2014). Out of the 23.47 million of total Taiwan

population, 15 million are active Facebook users, indicating that one out of approximately

two people have registered with Facebook (Taiwan Today, 2015). As such, Taiwan Facebook
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has been viewed as a promising opportunity for firms, particularly for companies aiming to

enter the Greater China market afterward. Having the same language and culture as China,

Taiwan offers unique opportunities that provide significant insights for the future growth of

the Chinese market (Su, 2010). Business firms are aware of such attractiveness and have

increasingly structured corporate Facebook pages to interact with fans. Thus, Taiwan

Facebook is a suitable and representative setting for SNS investigation.

Firms with different service attributes may interact with online fans in a distinct manner,

which further engenders different customer behaviors (Hsieh et al., 2005). The present study

considers such variation and includes firms with search and experience attributes to identify

the moderation effect that the service type has on the proposed framework. 7-Eleven and

Starbucks, which are the research targets, have 1,913,256 and 1,757,573 fans, respectively

(Socialbakers, 2015). 7-Eleven and Starbucks are ranked first and second, respectively,

among Facebook brands for 2015. The huge user base indicates that 7-Eleven and Starbucks

can properly represent Facebook in Taiwan. In the present study, 7- Eleven falls into the
 category of search attribute, because it offers products with full information that can be

acquired prior to purchase (Klein, 1998). The aim of Starbucks is to provide “a distinctive

customer experience for their customers” (Verhoef et al., 2009). Therefore, Starbucks

represents the experience category.

A pre-test was first conducted to evaluate for appropriateness and validity of the survey
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items. Results showed the Cronbach’s α for all items in the questionnaire exceeded the

recommended level (0.7) proposed by Nunally (1978). Therefore, all items were retained in the

final survey conducted through convenience and snowball sampling methods from April 13 to

28, 2010 in Taiwan. Two screening questions were employed: (1) Are you a member of the

Starbucks (7-Eleven) Facebook group? (2) Have you ever purchased any products or services

from Starbucks (7-Eleven)? Respondents without this purchasing experience were discarded

Respondents completed the questionnaire online, with 700 questionnaires completed (350

for each retailer). Questionnaires with missing data, 34 and 32 from Starbucks and 7-Eleven,

respectively, were eliminated, leaving 316 (90.29%) and 318 (90.86%) final surveys. The

demographics of the respondents were similar for both firms. The majority of the respondents

were college students (51.6% vs. 49.7% for Starbucks and 7-Eleven respectively), female

(63.9% vs. 73.3%), under 26 (59.2% vs. 57.2%), and with a monthly disposable income of less

than US$334 (56% vs. 61%)

3.2 Measures
 Twenty-six items were drawn directly from past studies or were modified to fit the current

context. Responses used a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5

(Strongly Agree). The three dimensions of relational bonds, which were adopted from Berry

(1995), Beatty et al. (1996), Lin et al. (2003), and Gwinner et al. (1998), contained three items

for each dimension. The measures for SNS RQ were derived from Chiou et al. (2002) and
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Roberts et al. (2003). As for CCI and SNS identification, three items per construct were

adopted from Homburg, Wieseke, and Hoyer (2009). Finally, the four items used to measure

CCB were obtained from Groth (2005).

Following the suggestion of Anderson and Gerbing (1988), this study employs a two-step

modeling approach. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that the measurement

models for both Starbucks (χ2(168) = 426.70, χ2/df = 2.54＜3.0, GFI = 0.88, RMR= 0.046;

RMSEA = 0.073, CFI= 0.98, NFI =0.98, IFI =0.98) and 7-Eleven (χ2(168) = 421.31, χ2/df = 2.51

＜3.0, GFI = 0.88, RMR= 0.050; RMSEA = 0.071, CFI= 0.98, NFI =0.98, IFI =0.98) reached

an acceptable level. The composite reliabilities of measures exceeded the recommended

threshold of 0.7, which indicated acceptable internal reliability (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). The

average variance extracted (AVE) for the majority of the measures, except for financial bonds

of the 7-Eleven group, were all greater than 0.5, suggesting convergent validity (Bagozzi and

Yi, 1988). A comparison between the AVE of the constructs and the inter-construct squared

correlations likewise supported discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Table 2
 reports the inter-construct correlation matrix and descriptive statistics, whereas Table 3

contains details on the measurement model

-----------------------------------------------
Table 2 and Table 3 are about here
-----------------------------------------------

4. Data analysis and results

We used LISREL 8.7 to test our hypotheses. The results revealed an adequate fit to the data for
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all sample (χ2(156) = 559.57, GFI = 0.91, AGFI =0.89, CFI= 0.99, NNFI =0.98, RMSEA =

0.066, RMR= 0.045). The paths were all statistically significant, except the one from

structural bond to SNS RQ (See Table 4 for details). For the relationship between relational

bonds and SNS RQ, the coefficients for financial bond (β = 0.39, t = 4.93) and social bond (β

= 0.17, t = 2.91) were both statistically significant, and supported H1a and H1b. However, the

coefficients for structural bond (β = 0.13, t = 1.86) were not, which led to the rejection of H1c.

Consistent with expectations, CCI exhibited significant effects on SNS RQ (β = 0.36, t =

10.53). Thus, H2 was supported. The effect of SNS RQ (β = 0.56, t = 7.56) on CCB was

similarly statistically significant, which supported H3. The effect from CCI (β =0.26, t =6.25)

to SNS identification was significant as well, lending support for H4. As for the link from

SNS identification (β = 0.35, t = 4.74) to CCB, the result was significant and supported H5.

Finally, SNS RQ (β = 0.69, t = 16.02) was statistically significantly related to SNS

identification. Thus H6 is supported.

-----------------------------------------------
Table 4 is about here
 -----------------------------------------------

To test the moderating effect, we examined the data of Starbucks and 7-Eleven

individually. The results showed an adequate fit to the data for both groups (χ2(156) = 387.51,

χ2/df = 2.48 ＜ 3.0 and χ2(156) = 383.16, χ2/df = 2.46 ＜ 3.0 for Starbucks and 7-Eleven

respectively). Other fit indices suggested that the model achieved an acceptable fit to the data

(GFI = 0.89; CFI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.070; RMR = 0.046 for Starbucks; and GFI = 0.89; CFI =
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0.98; RMSEA = 0.068; RMR = 0.051 for 7-Eleven). The paths for Starbucks were all

statistically significant, while most of the paths for 7-Eleven were significant as well (also see

Table 4 for details). The results indicated the existence of the moderating effect on the search

and experience groups and showed that the search service (β = 0.48, t = 4.04) had a higher

coefficient on the path from financial bond to SNS RQ than that of experience service (β =

0.29, t = 2.61), which supported H7a. As for the path from social bond to SNS RQ, the

coefficient for experience service (β = 0.23, t = 2.64) was significant, whereas search

experience (β = 0.16, t = 1.83) was not, which supported H7b. This result anticipated greater

impact of social bond on SNS RQ for experience service than for search service. Finally, the

coefficient of the path from structural bond to SNS RQ was significant for experience service

(β = 0.19, t = 1.96) but insignificant for search service (β = 0.06, t = 0.54). This finding

confirmed the hypothesis that structural bond had a greater impact on SNS RQ in experience

service than in search service. Thus, H7c was supported.

To examine the mediating effect, we followed Baron and Kenny’s (1986) 3-step method
 and examined the effects generated by the mediating variables (SNS RQ and SNS

identification) in the relationships between antecedents (the three relational bonds and CCI)

and CCB. The results showed that SNS RQ and SNS identification fully mediated the path

from financial bond to CCB, and partially mediated the paths from both social bond and CCI

to CCB (Table 5).

-----------------------------------------------
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Table 5 is about here

-----------------------------------------------

5. Discussion

A central aim of this study is to elucidate the antecedents of CCB within an SNS context. This

study incorporates both external (relational bonds offered by service firms) and internal

(identification generated within consumers) factors to examine how each type of factors

affects CCB on SNS. Furthermore, this study examines the moderating effect of service

attribute. The results provide support for all the hypothesized effects for Starbucks, whereas

two hypothesized effects (social and structural bond to SNS RQ) turned out to be

non-significant for 7-Eleven and ran counter to the findings of prior studies (e.g., Chen and

Chiu, 2009; Lin et al., 2003). The reasons for the non-significant effects of these two links

may be that people shop at convenience stores for the core value of convenience offered by

7-Eleven. As a result, 7-Eleven allocates relatively few resources on matters other than

associating with convenience. Extending such offline practice to their online SNS context,

7-Eleven devotes most of its efforts on offering economic-related benefits to their SNS
 participants. This view is reinforced by an examination of the Facebook activities of 7-Eleven,

which emphasize discount and promotion activities and utilize mainly one-way

communication to spread the message. Customized information is not the main concern of

7-Eleven at this point. As a result, 7-Eleven Facebook fans are not attracted to any structural

bonds.
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The search nature of convenience stores requires little interaction or participation from

Facebook fans on SNS. Consumers are not encouraged to share personal experiences on the

sites because their patronage of convenience stores focuses on fast and easy pickup of needed

products. Such a low level of relationship reduces the effect of social bond to SNS RQ.

Convenience stores need to discover effective incentives, for instance, economic attractions or

SNS identification, to encourage the return of customers and to engage in relational exchange.

Such statement is supported by significant effects from financial bond and CCI to SNS RQ

for the 7-Eleven group. This finding would later affect CCB through SNS RQ directly or

through SNS RQ to increase SNS identification and encourage CCB further.

On the other hand, people who purchase from Starbucks look for a customized and special

experience. As such, interaction with customers to form a close relationship and to encourage

further CCB is critical. Examples found at the Starbucks Facebook site show that employees

spread information regarding current activities, and try to resolve customer concerns and

complaints. Such interaction strengthens customer SNS RQ, and further encourages customers
 to perform voluntary behaviors. Evidence can also be found in experience sharing and

gratitude written by fans on the Facebook site of the firm.

Moreover, consumers are likely to perform voluntary behavior when they perceive high

relationship quality with the SNS of the firm. Such phenomenon is especially salient for firms

with experience attribute. The high interaction nature between an experience attribute firm
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and its customers has already tightened the relationship. Empirical evidence shows that the

tighter the relationship between two exchange partners, the more the two parties will

undertake behaviors benefitting each other (Chiou et al., 2002). Thus, to trigger CCB,

experience attribute firms can allocate more resources on tasks enhancing the SNS

relationship quality perceived by consumers. However, the triggering effect for search

attribute firms originates from SNS identification. The reason for this result might be the

search attribute nature that causes consumers to care more about outcomes. This finding

indicates that Facebook fans of 7-Eleven concern more about the convenience and speed

provided by the store. Therefore, when consumer needs are fulfilled as expected, their CCI

toward the offering of convenience and speedy services of 7-11 increases. However, such CCI

may only promote offline behaviors (e.g., re-purchase at the store), but not encourage

customers to spend extra time online and interact with the Facebook page of the firm.

Managers of search attribute firms need to increase customer identification towards the

corporate site to trigger CCB on SNS.

 Experience services, such as Starbucks, indicate higher online CCB. Starbucks offers

more customized services involving experiences that encourage customers to re-visit

Starbucks (Hultén, 2011), such as the “design your own coffee” activities and encouraging

employees to use customer names when announcing completed orders rather than numbers.

Such customized interactions are common for Starbucks. Experienced customers understand
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and highly value the importance of process and personalization. Hence, the relationship

between firms and customers is an intimate and strong bond that leads to CCB on SNS.

6. Conclusion

This study contributes to the literature on SNS by incorporating the RM perspectives in

examining factors initiating CCB on corporate SNS, and by adopting different types of

motivations to explore the main drivers encouraging CCB. In addition, this study belongs to

the limited studies that discuss consumer voluntary behaviors on the corporate SNS, and that

differentiate CCI (offline construct) from SNS identification (online construct) for further

examination. The results shed light on the existence of a contingency role for service attribute

on SNS, and further suggest how firms with distinct attributes can effectively allocate their

resources when encouraging CCB on SNS.

6.1 Theoretical implications

Following the suggestion of Palmatier et al. (2006) of grouping antecedents, this study

differentiates antecedents into two groups, customer-focused (internal motivation represented

 by identification) and seller-focused (external motivation presented by relational bond) factors,

and examines their effects simultaneously on triggering CCB in the corporate SNS context.

The results confirm the necessity of differentiating factors when discussing consumer

behavior on SNS, and provide empirical support for the argument that the RM strategy and

exchange context strongly influence the effectiveness of RM efforts (Palmatier et al., 2006).
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In addition to the mediating effect of RQ (Morgan and Hunt, 1994), this study further

incorporates SNS identification and examines its effect on the relationship between CCB and

its antecedents. Findings reveal that SNS identification is a critical factor in such relationship,

and even plays a more important role than SNS RQ has for firms with search attribute. In a

virtual environment such as SNS, identification fulfills the psychological needs (Wang et al.,

2002) and is essential for cohesion building within virtual contexts (Fiol and O’Connor, 2005).

In the current study, SNS identification is a motivating factor and an essential element to

beating competitors through SNS.

Similarly, this study considers the transference of consumer attitude between online and

offline settings, which has been widely discussed in recent years. Through the incorporation

of both CCI and SNS identification, this study confirms that consumer offline identification

towards a service firm affects their identification towards the SNS of a firm. This relationship

further influences consumer online behaviors.

6.2 Managerial implications

 Although SNS RQ and SNS identification can both activate CCB on SNS, firms should

allocate their limited resources based on their service attribute. Firms with experience

attribute should build an intimate relationship with their SNS fans. The closer the relationship

perceived by fans, the higher is the possibility they would conduct CCB. Such relationship

building can be better through enhancing fan identification toward the company. Service
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firms should interact with their SNS fans by conducting various corporate identity contests

and by integrating corporate social responsibility into activities. For example, firms can

increase CCI through resolving customer concerns or problems because good service recovery

can turn unsatisfied customers into loyal ones (Hart et al., 1990).

Moreover, the results of the proposed model are different for search and experience

business formats (7-Eleven vs. Starbucks) indicating that online users’ behaviors alter under

different business formats and are impacted by service contexts. Firms need to take into

considerations of the service attributes in order to better execute their marketing strategies.

For firms with search attribute, managers are encouraged to invest more of their resources on

strengthening fan identification with corporate SNS sites. Service firms can reach this goal by

enhancing the quality of their relationship with their fans through the provision of more

special experiences on interacting with the firms or other fans on corporate SNS. As the

relationship strengthens, fan identification with the SNS site becomes stronger, which further

triggers CCB.
 Firms with either search or experience attribute should focus on enhancing customer

perceptions connected to relational bonds offered by SNS through increasing financial bonds.

Managers can focus on economic benefits by offering price and non-price incentives to

customers. For price incentives, firms should provide information on discount activities and

gifts to increase the perceived financial benefits of customers. For non-price incentives, firms
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should minimize customer search costs by posting adequate and attractive information on the

corporate page to strengthen customer RQ.

The effects of social and structural bonds are only valid on experience attribute firms.

This attribute enhances customer SNS RQ, and further increases customer willingness to

perform CCB on SNS. Hence, these firms should frequently provide customized information

and conduct customized service activities on their SNS. Managers of these firms should

encourage employees to interact with fans on SNS and resolve their concerns. Moreover,

managers should establish a user-friendly platform, and create an atmosphere that encourages

interaction among fans.

6.3 Limitations and future research

Further studies are recommended to validate our findings, although most results are consistent

with our theoretical expectations. Because of the lack of qualified participants, the inability to

include SNS with credence attributes limits our study. Majority of the Taiwan corporate

Facebook sites emerged in the past few years, and thus, are still in their early development and
 exploration stage. The membership base might not be sufficiently large. Future studies to

examine and to compare the differences among participants on all three attributes of SNS are

recommended.

This study adopts RQ (trust and satisfaction) as a mediator of the relationship between

CCB and its antecedents. Future studies should include relationship quantity (frequency and
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duration) to examine the effects of such variables on CCB. Sufficient interaction frequency and

relationship duration between the exchange parties are fundamental elements in nurturing a

strong relationship (Dagger et al., 2009). Moreover, researchers find that customers with high

involvement are more willing to participate in marketing programs offered by firms (Gordon et

al., 1998). Therefore, future studies should consider involvement as an important moderator in

the relationship between CCB and its antecedents within the SNS context.

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 Table 1 Definition of consumer voluntary behaviors.
Term Definition Sake of interest References
CCB Consumer’s voluntary, discretionary For the sake of both fellow Bettencourt,
extra-role behavior, which aim to customers and the firm. 1997;
provide help and assistance to (beneficial for the fellow Groth, 2005
others, and are conducive to customers and the firm as
effective organizational functioning. well)
Prosocial The helping behaviors of an For the sake of fellow Bove et al., 2009;
organization’s customers directed to customers Brief and
behavior others which may be inconsistent (beneficial for the fellow Motowildo, 1986;
with the organizational objectives. customers but may not be Anderson et al.,
beneficial for the firm) 2010
Information Members providing the information For the sake of fellow Davenport and
required for problem solving by customers Prusak, 1998;
sharing other organization members. (beneficial for the fellow Chu, 2009
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customers and may not be

Participation The degree to which a customer is
involved, by providing actions or
resources, in the production and
delivery of a service.
beneficial for the firm, such
as warning other customers
not to patron the shop or buy
the firm’s products, i.e. bad
WOM)
For the sake of both the Bendapudi and
customer self and the firm. Leone, 2003;
(beneficial for customer self Fang, Palmatier,
and the firm as well) and Evans, 2008;
 Table 2. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations of Constructs.
(A) Starbucks
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. CCB 3.81 0.64 0.81
2. SNS Identification 4.00 0.67 0.73 0.89
3. SNS RQ 3.88 0.58 0.78 0.73 ---
4. Financial bond 3.81 0.59 0.59 0.56 0.65 0.74
5. Social bond 3.41 0.60 0.61 0.46 0.63 0.64 0.73
6. Structural bond 3.90 0.59 0.59 0.56 0.65 0.64 0.58 0.74
7. CCI 4.14 0.61 0.64 0.64 0.64 0.39 0.37 0.47 0.85
(B) 7-Eleven
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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1. CCB 3.90 0.66 0.82

2. SNS Identification 4.16 0.55 0.75 0.84
3. SNS RQ 3.97 0.63 0.76 0.77 ---
4. Financial bond 3.94 0.54 0.58 0.55 0.65 0.67
5. Social bond 3.39 0.65 0.55 0.50 0.61 0.53 0.76
6. Structural bond 3.95 0.55 0.57 0.59 0.66 0.59 0.62 0.75
7. CCI 4.18 0.63 0.64 0.71 0.66 0.45 0.38 0.52 0.87
Note: Figures on diagonal indicate the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) value.
 Table 3. CFA of Measures.
Factor Composite Coefficient
Items AVE
loading reliability α
Customer citizenship behavior 0.88(0.89) 0.65(0.68) 0.88(0.89)
I would like to help other members of (firm’s name) SNS solve the
0.77(0.76)
problem of using the products or services
I will refer fellow students or coworkers to (firm’s name) SNS 0.79(0.87)
I will recommend (firm’s name) SNS to my family 0.82(0.90)
I will recommend (firm’s name) SNS to people interested in the
business’ products/services 0.83(0.76)
SNS identification 0.89(0.82) 0.80(0.70) 0.87(0.80)
I feel good to be a member of (firm’s name) SNS 0.91(0.89)
I like to tell that I am a member of (firm’s name) SNS 0.88(0.77)
b
SNS relationship quality 0.88(0.90) 0.79(0.82) 0.88(0.90)
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b
Satisfaction 0.90(0.91)
Trust b 0.87(0.90)
Customer-company identification 0.89(0.90) 0.73(0.76) 0.87(0.90)
I feel good to be a customer of (firm’s name) 0.90(0.95)
I like to tell that I am a customer of (firm’s name) 0.93(0.92)
(firm’s name) fits well to me 0.70(0.72)
Financial bond 0.78(0.71) 0.55(0.45) 0.78(0.70)
(firm’s name) SNS helps me save searching costs a 0.75(0.72)
(firm’s name) SNS provides discounts for me 0.73(0.67)
(firm’s name) SNS provides prompt service for me 0.73(0.62)
Social bond 0.78(0.81) 0.54(0.58) 0.78(0.81)
(firm’s name) SNS concerns with my needs 0.73(0.74)
(firm’s name) SNS helps me to solve my personal problems 0.77(0.78)
(firm’s name) SNS collects my opinion about products and services 0.71(0.77)
Structural bond 0.79(0.80) 0.55(0.57) 0.78(0.80)
(firm’s name) SNS offers new information about its
0.73(0.74)
products/services
(firm’s name) SNS follows the most updated market trends and
0.79(0.80)
provide new information to its members a
I can retrieve (firm's name) information from various ways (e.g.,
0.70(0.73)
YouTube and blogs)
Notes: Numbers in parentheses are for 7-11 whereas numbers outside of parentheses are for Starbucks;
a = new items;
b = Relationship quality is a higher order construct reflecting two first order constructs, satisfaction and trust, in
this study. The 3 items for satisfaction and 4 items for trust were adopted from Chiou et al. (2002) and Roberts
et al. (2003).
 Table 4. SEM Results
Hypotheses All Sample Starbucks 7-Eleven

β t-value β t-value β t-value

H1a: Financial bond → SNS RQ 0.39*** 4.93 0.29*** 2.61 0.48*** 4.04
H1b: Social bond → SNS RQ 0.17** 2.91 0.23** 2.64 0.16 1.83
H1c: Structural bond → SNS RQ 0.13 1.86 0.19* 1.96 0.06 0.54
H2: CCI → SNS RQ 0.36*** 10.53 0.37*** 7.82 0.35*** 6.91
H3: SNS RQ → CCB 0.56*** 7.56 0.69*** 7.77 0.41*** 3.21
H4: CCI → SNS identification 0.26*** 6.25 0.25*** 4.09 0.30*** 5.39
H5: SNS identification → CCB 0.35*** 4.74 0.25*** 3.00 0.47*** 3.61
H6: SNS RQ → SNS identification 0.69*** 16.02 0.67*** 10.53 0.69*** 11.95

SMC (R2)
SNS RQ 0.80 0.81 0.81
SNS identification 0.79 0.73 0.85
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CCB 0.79 0.82 0.74

Chi-Square 559.57 387.51 383.16

df 156 156 156
GFI 0.91 0.89 0.89
AGFI 0.89 0.85 0.85
CFI 0.99 0.98 0.98
NNFI 0.98 0.98 0.98
RMSEA 0.066 0.070 0.068
RMR 0.045 0.046 0.051

Notes: * p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001

 Table 5. Test for Mediating Effects (Baron & Kenny Steps)
Paths Model 1 Model 2 +3
β t-value β t-value
H1a: Financial bond → SNS RQ 0.41 5.00
H1b: Social bond → SNS RQ 0.14 2.23
H1c: Structural bond → SNS RQ 0.15 2.02
H2: CCI → SNS RQ 0.35 10.10
H3: SNS RQ → CCB 0.43 4.15
H4: CCI → SNS identification 0.25 6.25
H5: SNS identification → CCB 0.34 4.22
H6: SNS RQ → SNS identification 0.70 16.27

Financial Bond → CCB 0.26** 2.69 -0.03 -0.35

Social Bond → CCB 0.27** 3.88 0.20** 3.37
Structural Bond → CCB 0.04 0.47 -0.07 -1.03
CCI → CCB 0.41** 10.28 0.10** 2.11
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SMC (R2)
SNS RQ 0.79
SNS identification 0.79
CCB 0.67 0.79

Chi-Square 398.05 544.99

df 94 152
GFI 0.92 0.92
AGFI 0.89 0.88
CFI 0.98 0.99
NNFI 0.97 0.98
RMSEA 0.074 0.067
RMR 0.047 0.044