依照品牌社群的運作者對品牌社群進行分類，可將其分為由公司運作的品牌社群與由消費者或第三方所運作的品牌社群。過去關於品牌社群的研究，大多是針對由公司運作的品牌社群進行探討，較少著墨於由消費者或第三方所運作的品牌社群，因此本研究欲著重於由消費者或第三方所運作的品牌社群。本研究欲探究為什麼品牌社群能夠提高品牌忠誠度，經文獻探討後，針對此研究問題提出研究架構與研究假設，探討品牌社群認同對社群參與之影響、社群參與對感知的好處之影響、感之的好處對虛擬社群意識之影響、虛擬社群意識對品牌忠誠度之影響、虛擬社群意識對品牌關係品質之影響與品牌關係品質對品牌忠誠度之影響。 本研究以國內Apple品牌社群的社群成員為研究對象，以網路問卷的形式於國內Apple品牌社群進行發放，發放時間為2011年4月28日至2011年5月5日，共計回收382份有效問卷，並將問卷資料做進一步的分析，本研究針對問卷資料進行敘述性統計分析、信度分析、效度分析與結構方程模式分析。 本研究的研究結果為品牌社群認同對社群參與有正向顯著影響、社群參與對感知的好處有正向顯著影響、感知的好處對虛擬社群意識有正向顯著影響、虛擬社群意識對品牌忠誠度有正向顯著影響、虛擬社群意識對品牌關係品質有正向顯著影響與品牌關係品質與品牌忠誠度有正向顯著影響。 According to the operator of the brand community, the brand community can be classified into two categories. One is operated by the company, and the other is operated by consumers or a third-party. Is the past, most of researches concerning brand community focused on the brand community which was operated by the company, and less emphasized on the brand community which was operated by consumers or a third-party. Therefore, this study centers on the brand community which is operated by consumers or a third-party. This study aims to investigate why the brand community can raise the brand loyalty. After reviewing literature, the researcher builds the research framework and proposes hypotheses. The purpose of the study is to examine the following effects: The effect of brand community identification toward community participation, The effect of community participation toward perceived benefits, The effect of perceived benefits toward sense of virtual community, The effect of sense of virtual community toward brand loyalty, The effect of sense of virtual community toward brand relationship quality and The effect of brand relationship quality toward brand loyalty. The researcher considers Apple as the brand object because Apple is well-known as faithful customers. Participants in the study are members of the brand community of Apple. Data were collected via a web-based questionnaire survey during April 28- May5, 2011. A total of 382 questionnaires were collected and confirmed as valid samples. The researcher analyzes data by means of descriptive statistical analysis, reliability analysis, validity analysis, and structural equation model analysis. This study shows the following results. Brand community identification has positive significant effect on community participation. Community participation has positive significant effect on perceived benefits. Perceived benefits have positive significant effect on sense of virtual community. Sense of virtual community has positive significant effect on brand loyalty. Sense of virtual community has positive significant effect on brand relationship quality. Brand relationship quality has positive significant effect on brand loyalty.
