Author(s)

Yongwei Jiang^*

School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

With the rapid development of online community, it is a challenge for many community operators to retain existing users. By integrating perceived investment and perceived benefit that user achieves through online community usage, we propose a research model to investigate the determinants of perceived irreplaceability of online community users. Based on the data collected from 336 users of online community, we empirically test the proposed model. The results of structural equation modeling analysis indicate that personalization, learning and hedonic value jointly determine online users’ perceived irreplaceability.

Online Community, Perceived Irreplaceability, Perceived Investment, Perceived Benefit

Jiang, Y. (2016) Exploring the Determinants of Perceived Irreplaceability in Online Community. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 39-46. doi: 10.4236/jss.2016.42008.