Collective Value Creation and Empowerment in an Online Brand Community A Netnographic Study on LEGO Builders.docVIP

Technology Innovation Management Review June 2012 Collective Value Creation and Empowerment in an Online Brand Community: A Netnographic Study on LEGO Builders Hanna Kurikko and Pekka Tuominen “ Online communities are not virtual. The people that we” meet online are not virtual. They are real communities populated with real people, which is why so many end up meeting in the flesh. Robert Kozinets Professor of Marketing Author of Netnography (/7eoklae) Online communities are becoming “places” of belonging, information, and emotional sup- port that people cannot do without. These social groups have a real existence for their par- ticipants, and thus have consequential effects on many aspects of behaviour. This article examines collective value creation and empowerment in an online brand community. It presents the main features of an online brand community, the process of value co-cre- ation, and motivators for participating in online brand communities. These key factors jointly characterize collective value creation and empowerment. This netnographic study focuses on an online brand community called BrickBuilders, which is a meeting place for LEGO builders in Finland. BrickBuilders’ members feel a sense of belonging, they share similar motivations, and they create value together. Introduction Traditionally, companies produced products relatively independently. Today, consumers and other stakehold- ers can create value more collectively. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze collective value creation and empowerment in an online brand com- munity. A brand community can be formed by any group of people who share a common interest in a specific brand and who create a parallel social universe rife with its own myths, values, rituals, vocabulary, and hier- archy (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001: /d73sov4; Cova and Pace,