Modeling the Effect of Social Media Based Brand Communities on Value Creation Practices, Brand Trust and Loyalty

The aim of this study was to identify the model of the effect of brand communities based on social media on value creation practices, brand trust and brand loyalty. The statistical population consisted of all members of sport brand communities of social media in Mazandaran province and 115 subjects were selected as the sample. For data collection, Brand Communities (Laroche et al., 2012) Questionnaires was used after its validity and reliability were confirmed. The results showed a positive and significant relationship between brand communities and brand trust and social networks, social interaction, perception management and brand application. There was a positive and moderate relationship between brand trust and brand loyalty. Path analysis test showed that brand communities directly influenced value creation practices. Social interaction and perception management directly and positively affected brand trust but social networks and brand application had no significant effects on brand trust. The section of total effect indicated that brand trust had a positive and direct effect (β = 0.60) on brand loyalty. The endogenous variable R-square indicated that %36 of variance in brand loyalty could be explained by exogenous variables. Finally, all fit indexes showed a good fit of the model.