A Leader's Influence on Members' Commitment in Non-Work Related Virtual Communities

Many online retailers allow customers to interact with each other through virtual communities (VCs) to increase stickiness to their websites and eventually profitability. Therefore, there have been some studies on how to nurse VCs, and a leader’s influence on VCs is viewed as one major factor. However, although leadership is a key determinant of group behavior, it has been virtually ignored in IS literature (Fjermestad and Hiltz, 1999). Fjermestad and Hiltz (1999) discover that although most organizational groups typically have some form of assigned leadership, 94% of IS studies have no group leader being mentioned. This research, therefore, investigates a critical role of leaders in VCs. Influence of two leadership styles from the behavioral theory – consideration and initiating structure – is examined in a non-work related VC setting which is very common in E-Commerce (EC) but are not fully investigated yet, based on the contingency theory. In addition, the moderating effects of three sources of power are tested which can facilitate leaders’ influence on members. The results from 92 individuals in various non-work related VCs show that significant influence of both leadership styles on members’ motivation and commitment. Furthermore, expert power exhibits a significant moderating effect while the effects of reward power and legitimate power are negative due to the unstructured and voluntaristic nature of non-work related VCs.