Title: Exploring the role and significance of consumer relationship quality and participation within online fashion brand communities

Authors: Myriam Caratù; Daniella Ryding; Erqi Li; Gianpaolo Vignali

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma – UNINT, Via Cristoforo Colombo, 200, 00147 Rome (RM), Italy ' Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Sackville Street, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK ' Department of Administration, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Golden Jewellery Building, 12th Floor, Block A, Salt Road, Yantian District, Shenzhen City, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518081, China ' Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Sackville Street, Manchester, UK

Abstract: This study contributes towards the online value co-creation debate, by examining key theories within the relationship marketing literature for building online brand communities in a fashion context (Chae and Ko, 2016; Vargo and Lusch, 2004; Üçok Hughes et al., 2016). To this end, this research plugs an important gap for the highly lucrative global and digital fashion industry. In the empirical research, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with millennials who interact regularly with luxury fashion brands online. A thematic analysis approach is adopted to discover common threads and similarities in behaviour. Data reveals that online brand communities facilitate customer engagement through quality interactive relationships amongst luxury fashion consumers. On this basis, the authors provide recommendations for luxury retailers on how to maximise business performance by enhancing online customer interactions. Originality of the paper lies on the revision and validation of a model (Hajli et al., 2017) that depicts the iterative process between virtual brand community participation, qualities of online relationships, loyalty and branding co-creation.

Keywords: luxury fashion; millennials; online brand community; relationship quality; social media; value co-creation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTTC.2023.129694

International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, 2023 Vol.20 No.1, pp.32 - 62

Received: 20 May 2020
Accepted: 14 Jul 2020
Published online: 21 Mar 2023 *