ONLINE COMMUNITIES: INVESTIGATING & EXPLORING CLASSIFICATION SCHEMA ON THE BASIS OF CONSUMPTION PATTERN

摘要

Despite the growing popularity of virtual communities, virtual community(VC) studies are in their infancy. The current research on classification of VC is too divergent. There is no consensus among researchers regarding the appropriate classification of virtual communities. The various classifications proposed by different researchers prevent the adoption of a standard terminology. This research presents an inventory of classification approaches of virtual communities by categorizing them and offers a working classification of virtual communities. The new classification approach is based on motivation to join community which is Ergonomic, Hedonic and Composite. This new classification approach is justified with the criteria of Hunt (1991). This research will be useful for members, vendors and researchers.