“Does your backyard nurture loyal customers?”: The role of personal reciprocity in the relationship between satisfaction with an e-retailer sponsored virtual community and customer loyalty

An e-retailer sponsored virtual community (ESVC), as the backyard of an e-commerce website, provides consumers with an online platform to play with each other. It also facilitates consumer-to-e-retailer communications. How to drive value from consumer participation in ESVC becomes important in this context. In this research, the role of personal reciprocity as the mediator between a consumer’s satisfaction with ESVC and consumer loyalty toward e-retailers was investigated. Questionnaires were distributed through an online survey. A pilot analysis was performed based on limited data collection. Results, limitations and future directions are discussed. Questionnaires were distributed through an online survey. A pilot analysis was performed based on limited data collection. Results, limitations and future directions are discussed