Driving Individuals' Subjective Wellbeing in Virtual Communities through Interpersonal and Impersonal Mechanisms

In this study, we integrate different research streams—attachment, social identity, and organizational citizenship behavior—to have a better understanding of determinants of individual subjective wellbeing in the context of a virtual community (VC). Attachment is an emotion-laden, target-specific bond between a person and a specific object. Attachment is an important predictor of citizenship behavior, and therefore an important aspect to understand and to enhance in order to promote citizenship behavior. We identify two broad categories of virtual community citizenship behavior: citizenship behaviors directed toward benefitting other individuals (VCCBI), and citizenship behaviors directed toward benefitting the VC (VCCBC). We also identify two distinct attachments: emotional bonds among community members and emotional bonds to the community identity. This study proposes a dual attachment model in which subjective wellbeing is driven mainly by two mechanisms: (1) the interpersonal-based mechanism which relates common bond attachment to VCCBI and subjective wellbeing, and (2) the impersonal-based mechanism which relates common identity attachment to VCCBC and subjective wellbeing. In order to understand the two proposed mechanisms, the research model was tested with data collected from members of a VC.