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Social control in online communities of consumption: a framework for community management

Social control in online communities of consumption: a framework for community management
Social control in online communities of consumption: a framework for community management
Online communities of consumption (OCCs) represent highly diverse groups of consumers whose interests are not always aligned. Social control in OCCs aims to effectively manage problems arising from this heterogeneity. Extant literature on social control in OCCs is fragmented as some studies focus on the principles of social control, while others focus on the implementation. Moreover, the domain is undertheorized. This article integrates the disparate literature on social control in OCCs providing a first unified conceptualization of the topic. The authors conceptualize social control as a system, or configuration, of moderation practices. Moderation practices are executed during interactions operating under different governance structures (market, hierarchy, and clan) and serving different purposes (interaction initiation, maintenance, and termination). From this conceptualization, important areas of future research emerge and research questions are developed. The framework also serves as a community management tool for OCC managers, enabling the diagnosis of social control problems and the elaboration of strategies and tactics to address them.
Online Community of Consumption, Social Control, Governance, moderation, community management
0742-6046
250-264
Sibai, Olivier
1af44338-3863-403e-80a2-a985bdd7a520
de Valck, Kristine
a073b01f-f4a9-48c5-a6fd-43f65ec81e6a
Farrell, Andrew
9e84f894-53b6-4025-8038-4890e1f1548a
Rudd, John M.
1a24304c-fc85-423c-89d0-bd1c69f89e21
Sibai, Olivier
1af44338-3863-403e-80a2-a985bdd7a520
de Valck, Kristine
a073b01f-f4a9-48c5-a6fd-43f65ec81e6a
Farrell, Andrew
9e84f894-53b6-4025-8038-4890e1f1548a
Rudd, John M.
1a24304c-fc85-423c-89d0-bd1c69f89e21

Sibai, Olivier, de Valck, Kristine, Farrell, Andrew and Rudd, John M. (2015) Social control in online communities of consumption: a framework for community management. Psychology and Marketing, 32 (3), 250-264. (doi:10.1002/mar.20778).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Online communities of consumption (OCCs) represent highly diverse groups of consumers whose interests are not always aligned. Social control in OCCs aims to effectively manage problems arising from this heterogeneity. Extant literature on social control in OCCs is fragmented as some studies focus on the principles of social control, while others focus on the implementation. Moreover, the domain is undertheorized. This article integrates the disparate literature on social control in OCCs providing a first unified conceptualization of the topic. The authors conceptualize social control as a system, or configuration, of moderation practices. Moderation practices are executed during interactions operating under different governance structures (market, hierarchy, and clan) and serving different purposes (interaction initiation, maintenance, and termination). From this conceptualization, important areas of future research emerge and research questions are developed. The framework also serves as a community management tool for OCC managers, enabling the diagnosis of social control problems and the elaboration of strategies and tactics to address them.

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Sibai, De Valck, Farrell, Rudd 2015 P&M SocialControlOCC - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 7 October 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 January 2015
Published date: 1 March 2015
Keywords: Online Community of Consumption, Social Control, Governance, moderation, community management
Organisations: Digital and Data Driven Marketing, Southampton Business School

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 395406
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/395406
ISSN: 0742-6046
PURE UUID: af5acc79-f4e0-4b5b-9fcb-787eafb04755
ORCID for Andrew Farrell: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5903-3611

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 31 May 2016 08:20
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 00:40

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Contributors

Author: Olivier Sibai
Author: Kristine de Valck
Author: Andrew Farrell ORCID iD
Author: John M. Rudd

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