The Role of Peer-to-Peer Communication in Online Sponsorship

Online communities are widely studied in marketing and information systems literature. However, research on the sponsorship effects in online communities is scarce. This research fills part of this gap by providing an analysis of the role of community commitment and social network communication in predicting the intention to purchase online sponsoring products. In particular, this study provides evidence of the relationship between peer-to-peer communication and online sponsorship effectiveness, examining the relationship between intention to purchase, online sponsorship outcomes (goodwill, attitude, and fit), commitment and activation in peer-to-peer communication. Through the analysis of a group of web communities (700) in an online sponsorship context, the authors demonstrate that people active in peer-to-peer communication show a greater intention to purchase online sponsoring products than passive community members. However, not all active members of a community are similar: participants who share information through different social networks are more sensitive to online sponsorship than members who use emails.