The present study is preliminary research on the influence of interactivities and content quality on user‘s participation in the Facebook fan clubs. The major finding is that we examined the moderating effect of community type in this study. It helps us to understand which community characteristics have different influence on user‘s participation across two types of communities. Moreover, emotional connection plays a role as mediating variable in the relationship between members‘trust and participation in both communities. Individual‘s trust in other fans‘ability does not directly affect his participation but will affect his emotional connection with the fan club. Is follows that we should discuss other aspects of the interaction and content that are needed for a more comprehensive research. And further research is therefore warranted in different social networking platforms.

Chapter 1 Introduction 7
1.1 Research Background 7
1.2 Research Motivation 8
1.3 Research Objectives and Questions 10
Chapter 2 Literature Review 11
2.1 Virtual Community Characteristics 11
2.2 Success Factors of Virtual communities 12
2.3 The Moderating Effect of Emotional Connection and Trust 13
2.4 The Influence of Interactivities 14
Chapter 3 Methodology 16
3.1 Research Framework 16
3.2 Research Hypotheses 16
3.3 Variable Measurement Development 24
3.3.1 Dependent Variable 24
3.3.2 Mediating Variables 24
3.3.3 Independent Variables 25
3.4 Questionnaire Design 26
3.5 Data Collection and Response Rate 27
Chapter 4 Research Result 29
4.1 29
4.1 Exploratory factor analysis: pretest 29
4.2 Measurement Model: convergent validity and discriminant validity 30
4.3 Structural Model: hypothesis and model testing 32
Chapter 5 Discussion 36
5.1 Summary of results 36
5.2 Managerial implications 38
5.3 Limitations and Suggestions 39
Reference 41

Armstrong, J. H. a. A. (1997). Net gain: Expanding markets through virtual communities.
Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2(1), 21-41.
Bickart, B., & Schindler, R. (2001). Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information. Journal of interactive marketing, 15(3), 31-40.
Blanchard, A. (2007). Developing a sense of virtual community measure. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(6), 827-830.
Blanchard, A., & Markus, M. (2004). The experienced sense of a virtual community: Characteristics and processes. ACM SIGMIS Database, 35(1), 64-79.
Blau, P. (1986). Exchange and power in social life: Transaction Publishers.
Bressler, S., & Grantham, C. (2000). Communities of commerce: Building internet business communities to accelerate growth, minimize risk, and increase customer loyalty: McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, NY, USA.
Brown, J., & Reingen, P. (1987). Social ties and word-of-mouth referral behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(3), 350-362.
Chan, C., Bhandar, M., Oh, L., & Chan, H. (2004). Recognition and participation in a virtual community.
Cheong, H., & Morrison, M. (2008). Consumers' Reliance on Product Information and Recommendations Found in UGC. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 8(2), 1-29.
Chiu, C., Hsu, M., & Wang, E. (2006). Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories. Decision Support Systems, 42(3), 1872-1888.
Chiu, C. M., Hsu, M. H., & Wang, E. T. G. (2006). Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories. Decision Support Systems, 42(3), 1872-1888.
Chu, K. (2009). A Study of the Antecedents and Consequences of Members¡¦ Helping Behaviors in Online Community. Information Systems, Technology and Management, 161-172.
Chung, Y., & Buhalis, D. (2008). Information needs in online social networks. Information Technology &# 38; Tourism, 10(4), 267-281.
Coon, D. (1998). An investigation of# friends internet relay chat as a community: Kansas State University.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. (1981). Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: Algebra and statistics. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(3), 382-388.
Fornell, C., Tellis, G., & Zinkhan, G. (1982). Validity assessment: A structural equations approach using partial least squares.
Fred Langerak, P. C. V., Peeter W.J. Verlegh, Kristine de Valck. ( 2004). SATISFACTION AND PARTICIPATION IN VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES. Advances in Consumer Research, 31, 56-57.
Fung, R., & Lee, M. (1999). EC-trust (trust in electronic commerce): Exploring the antecedent factors.
Gefen, D., & Straub, D. (2004). Consumer trust in B2C e-Commerce and the importance of social presence: experiments in e-Products and e-Services. Omega, 32(6), 407-424.
Hagel, J. (1999). Net Gain: Expanding markets through virtual communities. Journal of interactive marketing, 13(1), 55-65.
Hair, R. E. A., R.L. Tatham and W.C. Black. (1999). Análisis Multivariante (5a ed): Prentice Hall, Madrid
Herr, P., Kardes, F., & Kim, J. (1991). Effects of word-of-mouth and product-attribute information on persuasion: An accessibility-diagnosticity perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 17(4), 454-462.
Hinton, P., & Brownlow, C. (2004). SPSS explained: Theatre Arts Books.
Jang, H., Olfman, L., Ko, I., Koh, J., & Kim, K. (2008). The influence of on-line brand community characteristics on community commitment and brand loyalty. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 12(3), 57-80.
Jarvenpaa, S., & Leidner, D. (1999). Communication and trust in global virtual teams. Organization science, 10(6), 791-815.
Jin, X., Cheung, C., Lee, M., & Chen, H. (2007). Factors Affecting Users? Intention to Continue Using Virtual Community.
Johnson, D., & Grayson, K. (2005). Cognitive and affective trust in service relationships. Journal of Business Research, 58(4), 500-507.
Julian, D., Reischl, T., Carrick, R., & Katrenich, C. (1997). Citizen participation¡Xlessons from a local United Way planning process. Journal of the American planning association, 63(3), 345-355.
Kim, D., Ferrin, D., & Rao, H. (2008). A trust-based consumer decision-making model in electronic commerce: The role of trust, perceived risk, and their antecedents. Decision Support Systems, 44(2), 544-564.
Kim, S., Yang, K., & Kim, J. (2009). Finding critical success factors for virtual community marketing. Service Business, 3(2), 149-171.
Koh, J., & Kim, Y. (2003). Sense of virtual community: A conceptual framework and empirical validation. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 8(2), 75-94.
Koh, J., & Kim, Y. (2004). Knowledge sharing in virtual communities: an e-business perspective. Expert Systems with Applications, 26(2), 155-166.
Lagace, R. R., Dahlstrom, R., Gassenheimer, J.B. (1991). The relevance of ethical salesperson behavior on relationship quality: the pharmaceutical industry. Journal of Personal Selling and Sale Managemen, 11(4), 39-47.
Lin, H. (2008). Determinants of successful virtual communities: Contributions from system characteristics and social factors. Information & Management, 45(8), 522-527.
McLure Wasko, M., & Faraj, S. (2000a). It is what one does: why people participate and help others in electronic communities of practice. Journal of strategic information systems, 9(2-3), 155-173.
McLure Wasko, M., & Faraj, S. (2000b). ¡§It is what one does¡¨: why people participate and help others in electronic communities of practice. Journal of strategic information systems, 9(2-3), 155-173.
McMillan, D., & Chavis, D. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community psychology, 14(1), 6-23.
Morgan, R., & Hunt, S. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. the journal of marketing, 58(3), 20-38.
Nicolaou, A., & McKnight, D. (2006). Perceived information quality in data exchanges: Effects on risk, trust, and intention to use. Information Systems Research, 17(4), 332.
Nonaka, I. (1994). A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organization science, 5(1), 14-37.
Nunnally, J., Bernstein, I., & Berge, J. (1967). Psychometric theory: McGraw-Hill New York.
Porter, C. (2004). A Typology of Virtual Communities: A Multi Disciplinary Foundation for Future Research. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 10(1).
Porter, C., & Donthu, N. (2008). Cultivating trust and harvesting value in virtual communities. Management Science, 54(1), 113.
Price, L., & Feick, L. (1984). The role of interpersonal sources in external search: An informational perspective. Advances in consumer research, 11(1), 250-255.
Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Finding Commection in a Computerized World: Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc. Boston, MA, USA.
Ridings, C., Gefen, D., & Arinze, B. (2002). Some antecedents and effects of trust in virtual communities. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 11(3-4), 271-295.
Romm, C., Pliskin, N., & Clarke, R. (1997). Virtual communities and society: toward an integrative three phase model. International Journal of Information Management, 17(4), 261-270.
Smith, D., Menon, S., & Sivakumar, K. (2005). Online peer and editorial recommendations, trust, and choice in virtual markets. Journal of interactive marketing, 19(3), 15-37.
Smith, R. (1993). Integrating information from advertising and trial: Processes and effects on consumer response to product information. Journal of Marketing Research, 30(2), 204-219.
Sproull, L., & Kiesler, S. (1992). Connections: New ways of working in the networked organization: The MIT Press.
Turel, O., Serenko, A., & Bontis, N. (2010). User acceptance of hedonic digital artifacts: A theory of consumption values perspective. Information & Management, 47(1), 53-59.
W. Tsai, S. G. (1998). Social capital and value creation: an empirical study of intrafirm networks. Academy of Management Journal of Business Research, 41(4), 464–476.
Wallace, P. (2001). The psychology of the Internet: Cambridge Univ Pr.
Yoo, W., Suh, K., & Lee, M. (2002). Exploring the factors enhancing member participation in virtual communities. Journal of Global Information Management, 10(3), 55.