Examining knowledge contribution in firm-versus consumer-hosted virtual brand community

Virtual brand communities (VBCs), whether hosted by firms or consumers, rely largely on consumers' knowledge contribution to survive and thrive. Despite the importance of knowledge contribution, limited is known about its antecedents and especially how it varies across VBCs of two hosting types, i.e. firm- vs. consumer-hosted VBCs. Drawing from the reciprocity theory, this study develops and tests a model to investigate how VBC user-community relationship (satisfaction with community and community identification) influences members' knowledge contribution through the norm of reciprocity. Meanwhile, the moderation role of the hosting type is examined. Data from 347 respondents were collected to test the proposed model using structural equation modeling techniques. The results show that: (1) satisfaction and community identification positively impacts norm of reciprocity, which in turn influences knowledge contribution; (2) the effect of satisfaction on norm of reciprocity is stronger in consumer-hosted communities (vs. firm-hosted communities); (3) the effect of norm of reciprocity on knowledge contribution is also stronger in consumer-hosted VBCs. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.