{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/105671"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/105671","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Understanding how consumers navigate relationships within communities: Two essays","abstract":"In this dissertation, I explore the spectrum of positive and negative consumer experiences within brand communities. Specifically, I study how consumers proactively pursue positive experiences, and how they reactively manage negative experiences in this social marketspace. In Essay 1, I offer an integrative perspective with which to study belonging in consumption. Specifically, I utilize qualitative data from written narratives and an 11-month ethnography to illustrate a belonging process within an established brand community. I investigate how individuals navigate this process, and how people deliberately control what and how they consume to belong. In so doing, I specifically demarcate belonging-laden constructs, and describe their interrelationships. In my second essay, I draw from theory regarding the management of organizational conflict to illuminate tensions between focal consumers and the firm. Importantly, I illustrate how the firm’s relationship with other brand community members (i.e., other consumers, marketing agents, service providers) influence the focal consumer’s experience. I advance scholars’ conceptualization of the brand community, and I argue that in addition to examining positive consumer experiences within this social context, academics should also investigate the negative experiences that occur in such a community. Specifically, I contend that conflict is a pervasive force in this marketplace context which requires rigorous study. Utilizing interviews, observation, and archival data, I contribute to extant theory by delineating how conflict emerges within a brand community. I explain consumers’ emotional and cognitive reactions to such conflict, and I illuminate how consumers choose to navigate it. I conclude explicating theoretical and practical implications.","abstract_html":"In this dissertation, I explore the spectrum of positive and negative consumer experiences within brand communities. Specifically, I study how consumers proactively pursue positive experiences, and how they reactively manage negative experiences in this social marketspace. In Essay 1, I offer an integrative perspective with which to study belonging in consumption. Specifically, I utilize qualitative data from written narratives and an 11-month ethnography to illustrate a belonging process within an established brand community. I investigate how individuals navigate this process, and how people deliberately control what and how they consume to belong. In so doing, I specifically demarcate belonging-laden constructs, and describe their interrelationships. In my second essay, I draw from theory regarding the management of organizational conflict to illuminate tensions between focal consumers and the firm. Importantly, I illustrate how the firm’s relationship with other brand community members (i.e., other consumers, marketing agents, service providers) influence the focal consumer’s experience. I advance scholars’ conceptualization of the brand community, and I argue that in addition to examining positive consumer experiences within this social context, academics should also investigate the negative experiences that occur in such a community. Specifically, I contend that conflict is a pervasive force in this marketplace context which requires rigorous study. Utilizing interviews, observation, and archival data, I contribute to extant theory by delineating how conflict emerges within a brand community. I explain consumers’ emotional and cognitive reactions to such conflict, and I illuminate how consumers choose to navigate it. I conclude explicating theoretical and practical implications.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Arias, Robert Alfonso"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Business Administration","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Otnes, Cele C","Viswanathan, Madhubalan","Rindfleisch, Aric","Torelli, Carlos","Wooten, David"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-11-26T20:35:00Z","date_published":"2019-11-26T20:35:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:44Z","subjects":["consumer behavior","community","brand community","brand communities","brand community conflict","belonging"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2019 Robert Arias"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105671","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Otnes, Cele C","Viswanathan, Madhubalan","Rindfleisch, Aric","Torelli, Carlos","Wooten, David"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Arias, Robert Alfonso"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2019-11-26T20:35:00Z","2019-07-12","2019-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Business Administration"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["consumer behavior","community","brand community","brand communities","brand community conflict","belonging"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2019 Robert Arias"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105671"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["In this dissertation, I explore the spectrum of positive and negative consumer experiences within brand communities. Specifically, I study how consumers proactively pursue positive experiences, and how they reactively manage negative experiences in this social marketspace. In Essay 1, I offer an integrative perspective with which to study belonging in consumption. Specifically, I utilize qualitative data from written narratives and an 11-month ethnography to illustrate a belonging process within an established brand community. I investigate how individuals navigate this process, and how people deliberately control what and how they consume to belong. In so doing, I specifically demarcate belonging-laden constructs, and describe their interrelationships. In my second essay, I draw from theory regarding the management of organizational conflict to illuminate tensions between focal consumers and the firm. Importantly, I illustrate how the firm’s relationship with other brand community members (i.e., other consumers, marketing agents, service providers) influence the focal consumer’s experience. I advance scholars’ conceptualization of the brand community, and I argue that in addition to examining positive consumer experiences within this social context, academics should also investigate the negative experiences that occur in such a community. Specifically, I contend that conflict is a pervasive force in this marketplace context which requires rigorous study. Utilizing interviews, observation, and archival data, I contribute to extant theory by delineating how conflict emerges within a brand community. I explain consumers’ emotional and cognitive reactions to such conflict, and I illuminate how consumers choose to navigate it. I conclude explicating theoretical and practical implications.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. 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I advance scholars’ conceptualization of the brand community, and I argue that in addition to examining positive consumer experiences within this social context, academics should also investigate the negative experiences that occur in such a community. Specifically, I contend that conflict is a pervasive force in this marketplace context which requires rigorous study. Utilizing interviews, observation, and archival data, I contribute to extant theory by delineating how conflict emerges within a brand community. I explain consumers’ emotional and cognitive reactions to such conflict, and I illuminate how consumers choose to navigate it. I conclude explicating theoretical and practical implications.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. 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