IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v158y2023ics0148296323000486.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is social capital always “Capital”?: Measuring and leveraging social capital in online user communities for in-group diffusion

Author

Listed:
  • Pyo, Tae-Hyung
  • Tamrakar, Chanchal
  • Lee, Jae Young
  • Choi, Yun Seob

Abstract

Literature shows that social capital promotes diffusion in online user communities (OUCs). This research aims to show that social capital acts as a double-edged sword by promoting or suppressing in-group diffusion depending on the compatibility of the product with group identity (i.e., a topic or subject of common interest in the community). We analyze the diffusion of newly released music tracks across multiple communities on Last.fm, a world-leading music social network website. Across all three dimensions of social capital (cognitive, relational, and structural dimensions), we consistently find that the compatibility of the product with group identity moderates the relationship between social capital and in-group diffusion; social capital promotes in-group diffusion of songs that are compatible with group identity but suppresses in-group diffusion of songs that are incompatible with group identity. The findings contribute to the social capital and OUC literature and provide interesting implications for OUC managers.

Suggested Citation

  • Pyo, Tae-Hyung & Tamrakar, Chanchal & Lee, Jae Young & Choi, Yun Seob, 2023. "Is social capital always “Capital”?: Measuring and leveraging social capital in online user communities for in-group diffusion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:158:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323000486
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113690
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323000486
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113690?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raghuram Iyengar & Christophe Van den Bulte & Jae Young Lee, 2015. "Social Contagion in New Product Trial and Repeat," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 408-429, May.
    2. Raghuram Iyengar & Christophe Van den Bulte & Thomas W. Valente, 2011. "Opinion Leadership and Social Contagion in New Product Diffusion," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 195-212, 03-04.
    3. Paul N Gooderham, 2007. "Enhancing knowledge transfer in multinational corporations: a dynamic capabilities driven model," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 34-43, February.
    4. Kozinets, Robert V., 1999. "E-tribalized marketing?: the strategic implications of virtual communities of consumption," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 252-264, June.
    5. Peres, Renana & Muller, Eitan & Mahajan, Vijay, 2010. "Innovation diffusion and new product growth models: A critical review and research directions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 91-106.
    6. Rebecca L. Sandefur & Edward O. Laumann, 1998. "A Paradigm For Social Capital," Rationality and Society, , vol. 10(4), pages 481-501, November.
    7. Vijay Mahajan & Eitan Muller & Roger A. Kerin, 1984. "Introduction Strategy for New Products with Positive and Negative Word-of-Mouth," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(12), pages 1389-1404, December.
    8. Gupta, Vipin & Hanges, Paul J. & Dorfman, Peter, 2002. "Cultural clusters: methodology and findings," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 11-15, April.
    9. Muniz, Albert M, Jr & O'Guinn, Thomas C, 2001. "Brand Community," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 412-432, March.
    10. Prashant Kale & Harbir Singh & Howard Perlmutter, 2000. "Learning and protection of proprietary assets in strategic alliances: building relational capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 217-237, March.
    11. Frank M. Bass, 1969. "A New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 215-227, January.
    12. Jae Young Lee & David R. Bell, 2013. "Neighborhood Social Capital and Social Learning for Experience Attributes of Products," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(6), pages 960-976, November.
    13. Muller, Eitan & Peres, Renana, 2019. "The effect of social networks structure on innovation performance: A review and directions for research," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 3-19.
    14. Paul S. Adler, 2001. "Market, Hierarchy, and Trust: The Knowledge Economy and the Future of Capitalism," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 215-234, April.
    15. Bearden, William O & Netemeyer, Richard G & Teel, Jesse E, 1989. "Measurement of Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(4), pages 473-481, March.
    16. Jonah Berger & Alan T. Sorensen & Scott J. Rasmussen, 2010. "Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 815-827, 09-10.
    17. Schouten, John W & McAlexander, James H, 1995. "Subcultures of Consumptions: An Ethnography of the New Bikers," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(1), pages 43-61, June.
    18. M. Ann McFadyen & Matthew Semadeni & Albert A. Cannella, 2009. "Value of Strong Ties to Disconnected Others: Examining Knowledge Creation in Biomedicine," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 552-564, June.
    19. Demiray, Melek & Burnaz, Sebnem, 2019. "Exploring the impact of brand community identification on Facebook: Firm-directed and self-directed drivers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 115-124.
    20. Christophe Van den Bulte & Yogesh V. Joshi, 2007. "New Product Diffusion with Influentials and Imitators," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 400-421, 05-06.
    21. Ratner, Rebecca K & Kahn, Barbara E, 2002. "The Impact of Private versus Public Consumption on Variety-Seeking Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(2), pages 246-257, September.
    22. Liao, Junyun & Huang, Minxue & Xiao, Bangming, 2017. "Promoting continual member participation in firm-hosted online brand communities: An organizational socialization approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 92-101.
    23. Jonah Berger & Chip Heath, 2007. "Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity Signaling and Product Domains," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(2), pages 121-134, June.
    24. John H. Roberts & Glen L. Urban, 1988. "Modeling Multiattribute Utility, Risk, and Belief Dynamics for New Consumer Durable Brand Choice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(2), pages 167-185, February.
    25. Herminia Ibarra & Martin Kilduff & Wenpin Tsai, 2005. "Zooming In and Out: Connecting Individuals and Collectivities at the Frontiers of Organizational Network Research," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 359-371, August.
    26. Jaebong Son & Jintae Lee & Kai R. Larsen & Jiyoung Woo, 2020. "Understanding the uncertainty of disaster tweets and its effect on retweeting: The perspectives of uncertainty reduction theory and information entropy," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(10), pages 1145-1161, October.
    27. Jing Zhao & Sejin Ha & Richard Widdows, 2016. "The influence of social capital on knowledge creation in online health communities," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 311-321, December.
    28. Sinan Aral & Dylan Walker, 2014. "Tie Strength, Embeddedness, and Social Influence: A Large-Scale Networked Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1352-1370, June.
    29. Robert M. Bond & Christopher J. Fariss & Jason J. Jones & Adam D. I. Kramer & Cameron Marlow & Jaime E. Settle & James H. Fowler, 2012. "A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization," Nature, Nature, vol. 489(7415), pages 295-298, September.
    30. Pnina Feldman & Yiangos Papanastasiou & Ella Segev, 2019. "Social Learning and the Design of New Experience Goods," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(5), pages 1502-1519, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muller, Eitan & Peres, Renana, 2019. "The effect of social networks structure on innovation performance: A review and directions for research," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 3-19.
    2. Landsman, Vardit & Nitzan, Irit, 2020. "Cross-decision social effects in product adoption and defection decisions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 213-235.
    3. Chaab, Jafar & Salhab, Rabih & Zaccour, Georges, 2022. "Dynamic pricing and advertising in the presence of strategic consumers and social contagion: A mean-field game approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    4. Nejad, Mohammad G. & Amini, Mehdi & Babakus, Emin, 2015. "Success Factors in Product Seeding: The Role of Homophily," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 68-88.
    5. Zhang, Honghong & Fam, Kim-Shyan & Goh, Tiong-Thye & Dai, Xin, 2018. "When are influentials equally influenceable? The strength of strong ties in new product adoption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 160-170.
    6. Pedeliento, Giuseppe & Andreini, Daniela & Veloutsou, Cleopatra, 2020. "Brand community integration, participation and commitment: A comparison between consumer-run and company-managed communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 481-494.
    7. Viswanathan, Vijay & Sese, F. Javier & Krafft, Manfred, 2017. "Social influence in the adoption of a B2B loyalty program: The role of elite status members," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 901-918.
    8. Bhukya, Ramulu & Paul, Justin, 2023. "Social influence research in consumer behavior: What we learned and what we need to learn? – A hybrid systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    9. Yuho Chung & Yiwei Li & Jianmin Jia, 2021. "Exploring embeddedness, centrality, and social influence on backer behavior: the role of backer networks in crowdfunding," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 925-946, September.
    10. Abedi, Vahideh Sadat, 2019. "Compartmental diffusion modeling: Describing customer heterogeneity & communication network to support decisions for new product introductions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 536(C).
    11. Park, Sang-June & Lee, Yeong-Ran & Borle, Sharad, 2018. "The shape of Word-of-Mouth response function," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 304-309.
    12. Liangfei Qiu & Zhan (Michael) Shi & Andrew B. Whinston, 2018. "Learning from Your Friends’ Check-Ins: An Empirical Study of Location-Based Social Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 1044-1061, December.
    13. Shan Huang & Sinan Aral & Yu Jeffrey Hu & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2020. "Social Advertising Effectiveness Across Products: A Large-Scale Field Experiment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(6), pages 1142-1165, November.
    14. Olivier Toubia & Jacob Goldenberg & Rosanna Garcia, 2014. "Improving Penetration Forecasts Using Social Interactions Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 3049-3066, December.
    15. Li, Feng & Du, Timon Chih-ting & Wei, Ying, 2019. "Offensive pricing strategies for online platforms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 287-304.
    16. Nejad, Mohammad G. & Amini, Mehdi & Sherrell, Daniel L., 2016. "The profit impact of revenue heterogeneity and assortativity in the presence of negative word-of-mouth," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 656-673.
    17. Ferreira, Kevin D. & Lee, Chi-Guhn, 2014. "An integrated two-stage diffusion of innovation model with market segmented learning," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 189-201.
    18. Kim, Hwang & Rao, Vithala R., 2022. "The role of network embeddedness across multiple social networks: Evidence from mobile social network games," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 867-887.
    19. Nejad, Mohammad G. & Amini, Mehdi, 2024. "Designing profitable seeding Programs: The effects of social network properties and consumer homophily," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    20. Peres, Renana & Muller, Eitan & Mahajan, Vijay, 2010. "Innovation diffusion and new product growth models: A critical review and research directions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 91-106.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:158:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323000486. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.