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CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR

Volume 9, Number 5, 2006
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Understanding Behavioral Intention to Participate

in Virtual Communities
HSIU-FEN LIN, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT
Virtual communities are formed on the Internet and are expected to serve the needs of members for communication, information, and entertainment. Online businesses should consider
virtual communities as a new market place since their members are current or future customers. Thus, there is a need to understand the determinants of member intentions to participate in virtual communities. Based on the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), this
study develop a research model to identify the attitudinal, social, and perceived behavioral
control factors that would influence members intentions to participate in virtual communities. Specifically, the research model decomposes the attitude component into perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived trust, and the perceived behavioral control
component into Internet self-efficacy and facilitating conditions. Based on a survey of 165
community members, this study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to investigate the research model. The results indicate that attitude and perceived behavioral control
significantly influence member behavioral intentions, while subjective norms do not. Finally, this study discusses the implications of these findings and offer directions for future
research.

INTRODUCTION

number of Internet users, an

increasing number of online businesses and Internet service providers are forming the virtual
community as a method of developing new social
relationships through Internet-based technology.13
Virtual communities are having a major impact on
enhancing Internet user online experiences. For example, activities conducted in virtual communities
range from chatting, making friends, exchanging
ideas, and sharing knowledge on particular subjects. All these computer-mediated communications
have led individuals to change their communication and collaboration methods. On the other hand,
Igbaria et al.4 suggested that sustaining the virtual
community does not only motivate knowledge
IVEN THE GROWING

sharing, it also has significant impact on online

business activity.5 Moreover, online businesses and
community providers are under increasing pressure
to identify the antecedents of member loyalty in virtual communities. Therefore, the factors essential to
members participating in virtual communities must
be thoroughly understood.
Theory of planned behavior (TPB) has received
attention from many researchers,6,7 and is extensively adopted in improving understanding of the
determinants of information technology (IT)
usage.8,9 Previous studies have increased the explanatory power of TPB by considering the multidimensionality of its components.10,11 Furthermore,
the extended TPB has been successfully used in
predicting IT usage from decomposing attitudinal,
normative and control beliefs.1214 Virtual commu-

Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.

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nities are similar to general Internet-based information systems that have a significant impact on individual decision-making behaviors and Internet
marketing strategies.15 Hence, this study suggests
that the extended TPB is an appropriate model for
explaining the determinants of member intentions
to participate in virtual communities.
Theory and hypotheses
This study extends the TPB to develop a research
model to identify the determinants of member intentions to participate in virtual communities (Fig.
1). First, the research model derives predictions regarding member intentions to participate in virtual
communities based on the TPB. Second, using the
literature on virtual communities and extended
TPB,14,16,17 the research model decomposes the attitude component into perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived trust, and
decomposes the perceived behavioral control into
components of into Internet self-efficacy and facilitating conditions. Each of the constructs in the research model and hypotheses is detailed below.
TPB and member participate in virtual communities.
In the TPB, Ajzen6 hypothesized that attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms and perceptions
of behavioral control generally can accurately predict individual behavioral intentions. Recently,
most applications of TPB in contexts related to Internet service acceptance or adoption have recog-

Perceived
usefulness

541

nized that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are important for understanding and predicting behavioral intentions.1820
Applying the TPB to the virtual community context, this study hypothesizes that member intentions will be determined by individual attitudes
towards participation in virtual communities, individual perceived opinions of other groups that are
important to an individual, and perceived control
over the act of participation in virtual communities.
The following hypotheses thus are formulated:
Hypothesis 1: Attitude of members towards participation in virtual communities positively affects behavioral intentions.
Hypothesis 2: Subjective norms of members in
relation to participation in virtual communities positively affect behavioral intentions.
Hypothesis 3: Perceived behavioral control of
members in relation to participation in virtual
communities positively affects behavioral intentions.
Decomposition of attitude. The TAM asserts that
attitude toward the system are determined by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use.21,22
Additionally, perceived ease of use of the system is
positively related to perceived usefulness of the
system. Previous research has also suggested that
the TAMs fundamental salient beliefs, such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, may
not fully reflect the user attitude towards behav-

H4a

H4c
Perceived ease of
use

Attitude

H4b

H1

H4d
Perceived trust
Subjective norms
Internet
self-efficacy
Facilitating
conditions

H5a
Perceived behavior
control
H5b

FIG. 1.

Research model.

H2

H3

Behavioral
intention

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542

ioral intention, necessitating a search for additional

factors that has better explanatory power for system usage intentions.23 Recent studies have included the construct of perceived trust in the
extended TAM to explore consumer acceptance of
Internet services.24 Moreover, Ridings et al.16 also
proposed that trust is crucial in virtual communities where the absence of workable rules creates reliance on others behaving in a socially acceptable
manner, that is trust, essential for community continuity. Consequently, this study proposes to decompose attitude into three components: perceived
usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived
trust. Applying, the TAM to the virtual community
context, this study proposes the following hypotheses predicting member attitudes towards participation in virtual communities.
Hypothesis 4a: Perceived usefulness positively
affect attitudes towards participation in virtual
communities.
Hypothesis 4b: Perceived ease of use positively
affect attitudes towards participation in virtual
communities.
Hypothesis 4c: Perceived ease of use positively
affect perceived usefulness of virtual communities.
Hypothesis 4d: Perceived trust positively affect
attitudes towards participation in virtual communities.
Decomposition of perceived behavioral control. According to the TPB, perceived behavioral control is
defined as individual perceptions of the ease or difficultly of performing a specific behavior.6,7 Perceived behavioral control thus reflects individual
perceptions towards internal and external behavioral constraints.7 Regarding internal constraints,
increased Internet self-efficacy required to successfully execute a given behavior will better represent
perceptions of behavioral control. In the context of
virtual community, Internet self-efficacy describes
member self-assessments of their capabilities to
participate in virtual communities. Moreover,
Hung et al.13 found that Internet self-efficacy could
predict user perceptions of behavioral control towards Internet services. On the other hand, user
perceptions of external behavioral constraints influenced perceived behavioral control. For instance, an empirical study on IT adoption by Taylor
and Todd14 found that resource-facilitating conditions are an important predictor of perceptions of
behavioral control. Moreover, Bhattacherjee25
found that Internet resource availability influence
user perceptions of behavioral control toward e-

LIN

commerce services. Hence, this study expects Internet self-efficacy and facilitating conditions to positively affect member perceptions of behavioral
control of virtual communities.
Hypothesis 5a: Internet self-efficacy of participation in virtual communities positively affects
perceived behavioral control.
Hypothesis 5b: Facilitating conditions of participation in virtual communities positively affect
perceived behavioral control.

METHODS
Sample and data collection
This study utilized virtual community literature
and interviews with leaders of diverse virtual communities. Pre-testing focused on questionnaire clarity, question wording and question applicability.
During the pre-testing, 15 members from different
communities taken as subjects were invited to comment on the questions and their wording. Comments of these 15 subjects then provided a basis for
questionnaire revisions. Leaders of 20 virtual communities willing to participate in this study were
selected from a group of very successful virtual
communities (e.g., http://tw.club.yahoo.com,
http://club.yam.com, and http://club.pchome.
com.tw), which were the three highest-ranking virtual communities in Taiwan by Alexa.com in July
2005. The community leaders were requested to
randomly distribute the paper-based questionnaires to ten community members and to collect
the questionnaires when completed. Of the 200
questionnaires distributed, 165 completed and usable questionnaires were received, representing a
response rate of 82.5%.
Measures
In this study, items used to operationalize the
constructs were mainly adapted from previous
studies and modified for use in the virtual community context. All constructs were measured using
multiple items. All items were measured using a
seven-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). Table 1 lists all of the survey items used to measure each construct.
This study measured perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use of virtual communities using
scales modified from Davies et al.22 Moreover, perceived trust was measured by two-item measures
adapted from Jarvenpaa et al.26, representing mem-

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TABLE 1.

MEASUREMENT MODEL LOADINGS

Construct/item
Perceived usefulness
PU1: Participation in virtual communities enhances my ability to get information from community members.
PU2: Participation in virtual communities enables me to share knowledge
with community members.
PU3: Participation in virtual communities helps satisfy my social needs.
PU4: Overall, participation in virtual communities meets my needs.
Perceived ease of use
PEU1: Learning to operate virtual communities is easy for me.
PEU2: My interaction with virtual communities is clear and understandable.
PEU3: It is easy for me be become skillful at participation in virtual communities.
PEU4: Overall, participation in virtual communities is easy for me.
Perceived trust
PT1: I feel more confident about discussion skills that the other members of
virtual communities.
PT2: The members of virtual communities will do everything within their
capacity to help others.
Internet self-efficacy
ISE1: I feel confident finding information through participation in virtual
communities.
ISE2: I feel confident exchanging information with other members of virtual
communities.
ISE3: I feel confident chatting on the virtual community.
ISE4: I feel confident downloading files from the virtual community.
ISE5: I feel confident uploading files to the virtual community.
Facilitating conditions
FC1: I have the Internet equipment (modems, ADSL, etc.) required to use the
virtual community.
FC2: I have convenient access to virtual community resources.
Attitude
A1: Participation in virtual communities is a good idea.
A2: I like the idea of participation in virtual communities.
A3: Participation in virtual communities is a pleasant experience.
A4: Participation in virtual communities is a foolish idea. (Reverse coded.)
Subjective norms
SN1: People who influence my behavior would encourage me to participate
in virtual communities.
SN2: People who are important to me would encourage me to participate in
virtual communities.
Perceived behavioral control
PBC1: I would be able to participate in virtual communities.
PBC2: I am control my participation in virtual communities.
Behavioral intention
BI1: I plan to participate in the virtual community in the future.
BI2: I intend to participate in the virtual community in the future.
BI3: I expect to participate in virtual communities in the future.
aComposite

543

Factor
loading

Composite
reliabilitya
0.82

0.83
0.75
0.74
0.65
0.78
0.79
0.81
0.65
0.69
0.81
0.77
0.78
0.86
0.86
0.80
0.78
0.70
0.83
0.86
0.72
0.90
0.84
0.82
0.81
0.85
0.85
0.82
0.86
0.87
0.87
0.83
0.86
0.84
0.80
0.83

reliability: (square of the summation of the factor loadings)/{(square of the summation of

the factor loadings) + (summation of error variances)}.

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LIN

ber trust in the ability and benevolence of other

members of virtual communities. A five-item scale
measuring Internet self-efficacy of participation in
virtual communities was adapted from a measure
developed by Compeau and Higgins.27 Internet
self-efficacy assesses member judgments of their
capability to participate in virtual communities. Facilitating conditions were measured using a twoitem measure derived from Taylor and Todd14 that
assessed the extent to which a member had readily
available technical resources and easy access to the
virtual community. Finally, attitude, subjective
norms, perceived behavior control, and behavioral
intention were measured using a total of 11 items,
derived from those proposed by Taylor and Todd.14
Statistical analysis
The measurement model represents a confirmatory
factor analysis of all scales used in the study. Values
that exceed 0.90 for goodness-of-fit index (GFI),
normed comparative fit index (NFI), and comparative fit index (CFI) are generally considered to indicate acceptable fit.28

RESULTS

Structural model
The structural model shows a good fit with
2 =
416.56, GFI of 0.90, NFI of 0.92, CFI of 0.94, RMSEA
of 0.061, and a
2/df = 2.27 (p < 0.001). All fit indices
indicate good fit of the structural model.30
Properties of the casual paths, including standardized path coefficients and p-values for each casual path in the hypothesized model are presented
in Figure 2.
All the hypothesized paths, with the exception of
the paths (1) from subjective norms to behavioral
intention (Hypothesis 2) and (2) from Internet
self-efficacy to perceived behavioral control (Hypothesis 5a), were significant. The influence of behavioral intention was found to be strongly
positively associated with attitude and perceived
behavioral control of members in relation to participation in virtual communities. Three belief variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use,
and perceived trust) were significantly positively
related to perceived usefulness of virtual communities. Further, perceived ease of use was significantly positively related to perceived usefulness of
virtual communities. As expected, facilitating conditions of participation in virtual communities are
significant determinants of perceived behavioral
control.

Measurement model
The measurement model had an initial
2 = 479.32
and showed a good fit with a GFI of 0.91, NFI of
0.92 and CFI of 0.95. The root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA) for the model was 0.051,
which is below the cut-off level of 0.08 recommended by Browne and Cudeck.29 Also, the
2/df =
2.04 (p < 0.001), which is well below the suggested
3.0 value, indicating a good fit.30 Overall, the measurement model indicated good fit with the data.
The measurement model was further assessed for
construct reliability and validity. Computing composite reliability assessed construct reliability. The
composite reliability for each construct of this study
is presented in Table 1. The values range from 0.78
(for perceived ease of use) to 0.90 (for attitude). The
composite reliability of all latent constructs exceeded the benchmark of 0.7 recommended by
Nunnally and Bernstein.31 Moreover, convergent
validity is the degree to which multiple attempts to
measure the same concept in agreement. Table 1
also presented the factor loadings of the measurement items. The factor loading for all items exceeds
the recommended level of 0.6.32 In summary, the
measurement model demonstrated adequate reliability and convergent validity.

DISCUSSION
Based on the empirical findings, this study has
reached several conclusions. First, findings of this
study reveal that member attitudes toward the
virtual community were important in predicting
behavioral intention. To attract the participation
in the virtual community, online businesses and
community providers need to devise strategies for
cultivating positive attitudes towards using virtual communities. In this regard, favorable perceptions of the virtual communitys usefulness
and ease of use, as well as the trust concept, are
important in increasing usability in virtual community environments. The results indicated that
establishing mutual trust among community
members (such as trust in ability, benevolence and
integrity of other members) and providing userfriendly website systems was important for manipulating favorable member attitudes and online
communication behavior.
Second, the insignificant effects of subjective
norms on intention suggest that members of virtual
communities might make their own decisions
rather than being influenced by the opinions and

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Perceived
usefulness

545

0.34*

0.26*
Perceived ease of
use

Perceived trust

0.30*

Attitude
0.51*

0.47*
*
Subjective norms

Internet
self-efficacy

0.11

Behavioral
intention

0.12
0.28*

Perceived behavior
control
Facilitating
conditions

0.17*

Note: * p <0.05; ** p <0.01

FIG. 2.

Results of structural model.

suggestions of others. This result can be explained

by the fact that virtual community characteristics
such as anonymity, addictive behavior, and voluntary behavior may imply the state of flow and consequently may place less emphasis on the opinions
of others.33,34 Also, a possible explanation for this
finding may be that in the present study, around
43% of respondents spent over 5 h using the virtual
community every week, and may have exhibited
Internet symptoms, such as heavy preoccupation
with the Internet, excessive time spent online, compulsive behavior, and time-management problems.
As suggested by Leung,35 problematic Internet use
was associated with reduced participant communication with family members or colleagues, reduced
social circle, and increased depression and loneliness. This finding thus indicates the need of online
businesses and virtual community providers to
promote awareness of over involvement with the
virtual community through being in a position to
both assess the needs of members, and formulate
preventive policies to reduce excessive use of virtual communities.
Finally, the small but significant effect of perceived behavioral control on intention, though
weaker than that of attitude, indicates that perceived behavioral control remains an important
determinant of member intention to participate in
virtual communities. However, this study found
that Internet self-efficacy did not significantly influence perceived behavioral control of members
in relation to participation in virtual communities.
A possible explanation may lie in the fact that

more than 80% of respondents had at least 3 years

of experience of using the Internet. That is, Internet
knowledge and skills may be an obstacle they have
already overcome and, hence, may no longer be
crucial to such individuals. Furthermore, this
study found that facilitating conditions significantly influenced perceived behavioral control of
members in relation to participation in virtual
communities. This finding correlates with that reported by Lederer et al.,36 in which an individual
had readily available technical resources and easy
access to a new system, and thus is more inclined
to use that new system. Therefore, to be successful
a virtual community must meet member expectations regarding easy access to virtual community
resources.
Several limitations should be considered in this
study: First, the sample used in this study targeted
the virtual community chosen for convenient sampling. Analytical results presented may therefore
have limited generalizability. Second, since this
study only considered non-profit virtual communities, it is unclear whether these analytical results
can be generalized to other virtual communities.
Further research can apply this research model to
examine profit-oriented virtual communities, such
as eBay.com.tw or brand communities.37 Third, the
sample may have been biased since all the sample
communities voluntarily participated in the survey.
A more sophisticated sample collection method is
needed to eliminate this potential shortcoming. Finally, since the sample was collected in Taiwan,
generalizability to other countries might be limited

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LIN

due to cultural differences in member behavior in

the virtual community.

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Address reprint requests to:

Dr. Hsiu-Fen Lin
Department of Shipping and Transportation
Management
National Taiwan Ocean University
No. 2, Beining Road
Keelung 202-24, Taiwan R.O.C.
E-mail: [email protected]