A Process Model for Building a
Virtual Community of Interest
Recommendations for Entrée, the Youth Association of
the Concertgebouw and the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra
Valérie van de Luitgaarden
5877008
15-08-2014
Master Business Studies –
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Faculty of Economics and Business
University of Amsterdam
Drs. Ton Gruijters
Summary
Virtual communities are more and more build by organizations in order to better understand consumer needs, motivations and to co-create value. However, little research has investigated how these virtual communities can be build in order to become successful, especially virtual communities of interest (VCoI). We first will explore on the hand of the literature which general steps an organization can make when it wants to set up a VCoI. This thesis will conduct empirical research by investigating how these steps can support the youth association Entrée in building a successful VCoI. Entrée is the youth association of the Concertgebouw and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. They want more participation and contribution of their current community. Entrée hopes to accomplish this through setting up a VCoI. We particularly focus on the members of Entrée during this study, because eventually the active members provide the majority of the content, and thus are crucial for the survival and progression of VCoIs. Quantitative and qualitative research is performed. The results of this study show us what the needs of the Entrée members are, how the online community is currently managed and how Entrée members behave online. This thesis will end with recommendations specific for Entrée how to build their VCoI so it can support their objectives.
Table of Content
1. INTRODUCTION... 1 RELEVANCE ... 2 STRUCTURE ... 4 2. LITERATURE STUDY ... 5 SENSE OF COMMUNITY ... 5 SPIRIT ... 6 TRUST ... 6 TRADE ... 7 ART ... 7 COMMUNITY OF INTEREST ... 8 VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES ... 9DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ONLINE AND OFFLINE COMMUNITIES ... 10
VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST (VCOI) ... 12
SOCIAL MEDIA ... 14
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES (SNS) AS VIRTUAL COMMUNITY OF INTEREST ... 15
FACEBOOK ... 15
COMMUNITY ROLES ... 16
VALUE OF A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY OF INTEREST ... 18
SUCCESS FACTORS OF A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY OF INTEREST ... 19
DEVELOPING A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY OF INTEREST ... 20
PROCESS MODEL OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VCOI. ... 20
IDENTIFICATION STAGE: ... 23
TECHNOLOGY DECISION STAGE: ... 25
PREPARATION STAGE: ... 25
LAUNCH AND ESTABLISHMENT STAGE: ... 26
MAINTENANCE STAGE: ... 26
END CONCLUSION LITERATURE STUDY ... 29
RECOMMENDATIONS ... 31
3. DESIRED KNOWLEDGE PRODUCT ... 33
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 36
ENTRÉE ... 37
SOCIAL MEDIA USE AMONG 30ERS ... 38
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD ... 39
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD... 40
INTERVIEW SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY ... 41
INTERVIEW MEMBERS ... 41
5. RESULTS ... 44
QUANTITATIVE RESULTS AND CONCLUSION ... 44
CONCLUSION REGARDING THE QUANTITATIVE DATA ... 49
QUALITATIVE RESULTS AND CONCLUSION ... 52
INTERVIEW MARKETER ... 52
CONCLUSION REGARDING THE INTERVIEW ... 55
INTERVIEWS MEMBERS ... 56
CONCLUSION REGARDING THE INTERVIEWS ... 64
6. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 68
LIMITATIONS ... 72 FUTURE RESEARCH ... 73 7. REFERENCES ... 74 8. APPENDIX ... 81 SURVEY ... 81 INTERVIEW MARKETER ... 89
1. Introduction
People are more and more searching for human connection. The proliferation and still growing popularity of online social networking platforms has provided users with many opportunities to communicate, collaborate, and bond on a whole new level (Bodle, 2010). Today, we talk daily to our friends through the Internet (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). Especially social media is a platform, which is every day used by millions of people. That is why many organizations use social media to
communicate with their consumers. However a lot of them still don’t know how to use of these online platforms in their benefits (Nair, 2011). Also youth associations have to tackle this problem. Youth associations have numerous young members with the same interests and needs. The
associations connect their members through activities and other get-togethers. You can say that the association facilitates a ‘community’. In this thesis we want to give youth associations an online tool to link these members also in the online world: ‘the virtual community’.
Entrée is the youth association of The Concertgebouw and The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Their mission is to excite young people to go to the Concertgebouw. Not only wants Entrée to achieve this by interacting with their members, but they also want that their members communicate with each other through the use of the Internet. Entrée wants to create a virtual community of people with the same interests, in this case classical music. The reason why they want their members to interact with each other is because Entrée thinks it will help to stimulate people to go more often to concerts in The Concertgebouw. Entrée found out that most of their members are passive, and only go once a year to The Concertgebouw. They reason that when members talk about the concerts and music frequently, The Concertgebouw will be at the top of their mind when they want a night of entertainment. It will also connect the members more to the association, because they noticed that many members see Entrée only as a cheap way to get tickets for the Concertgebouw.
Virtual communities (VCs) provide a platform for consumers to interact. It's because of the rise of platforms like social media that VCs have been shaped, which enables interaction between community members (Bodle, 2010). VCs can be described as “a group of people with common interests or goals, interacting predominantly in cyberspace” (Koh & Kim, 2004). But a VC will not survive if it doesn’t have the right members. Active members provide the majority of the content and
thus, are crucial for the survival and development of VCs (Ling et al, 2005). The age group under 30, which is the age group of Entrée and many other youth associations, uses social networking sites (SNS) the most as a way of communication. 7 out of 10 is active on SNS according the CBS (2012); so SNS are the most popular medium to communicate virtually. There are many types of
communities, but communities of interest are those we will focus on during this research because most members of associations have a common interest in a topic. In this case share the Entrée members the same interest: classical music. Because Entrée wants their members to interact more in the virtual world, they want to set up a virtual community of interest (VCoI). We will explore which steps Entrée has to make to set up a VCoI and which factors are the most important to make this VCoI a success.
VCs are important tools for businesses because they can help in different ways. First of all they can change the bargain power from supplier to the customer (Kozinets, 1999). Furthermore, VCs do often spread a positive word-of-mouth (Dholakia, Bagozzi and Klein Pearo, 2004). Besides the participants can help each other, and firms can learn from their customers (Kardaras, Karakostas and Papathanassiou, 2003). And not only do these VCs increase website traffic (Hagel and Armstrong, 1997), but they also raise entry barriers for competitors (Hagel and Armstrong, 1997) and support new product or service development efforts. Also an important effect of VCs is that they can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty (Shankar, Smith and Rangaswamy, 2003). With these benefits in mind it is not strange that many firms have begun to integrate VCs into their online strategies (Godes et al., 2005).
This research will present what a VCoI is, what the success factors are, how to develop one and will provide recommendations for Entrée of how to successfully start a VCoI. We also will investigate if SNS is a good VCoI-platform for the (potential) members of Entrée. This VCoI will help Entrée to activate people (Entrée members, but also potential members) to come to concerts in the Royal Concertgebouw on a frequently basis.
Relevance
Entrée to set up a successful VCoI. According to the literature most organizations fail to build a successful VC. This thesis will help Entrée to develop a VCoI that is fruitful and effective in view of their goals: stronger bond with the association and creating a social network among members. Entrée has the mission to trigger more people to come more often to the Concertgebouw and they think that realizing these ambitions will support their mission.
A virtual community can have many advantages, but the main aspect that needs to be achieved is that the community stimulates and motivates young people to come more frequently to the
particular institution. The board can get more insight through the VCoI how members look upon the association and possibly solve potential problems. Moreover, organizations may acquire a better understanding pertaining to the ways that members use SNS as a community and the impact such use may have on the overall visiting rate of concert halls. Understanding the role of a VCoI from an organizational perspective is important for several reasons.
For example, the inability of a member of Entrée to find a concert buddy to go with them to a particular concert can have the consequence that this member will end up not going to the concert. This means that an organization could lose its potential customer, and therefore income. When an organization develops a virtual community where people share the same interest, it is easier to find someone who wants to join you for a concert. Shared experience will eventually also create a stronger bond with the community and association.
By developing an understanding regarding the ways that members SNS to share knowledge, motivate and stimulate others to go to concerts and to find concert buddies, organizations may be better prepared to manage and counter the problems, like passive members. Furthermore,
organizations may be better equipped to implement policies that promote the use of online tools to match people to each other.
Youth associations who want to set up a VCoI for their organization can use the results of this thesis as a guideline for their association. This thesis will be particular investigate the success factors for the youth association of Entrée, but the steps we take to find the factors that contribute to the realization of the VCoI can be useful for other youth associations.
date is minimal and is often mixed up with the virtual community of practice (VCoP). They have some overlap, but the major difference between a VCoI and a VCoP is that the VCoP focuses on aspects of a member’s work or organizational needs while a VCoI tends to focus on the personal needs and social aspects.
Current studies often investigate the VCoPs instead of VCoIs. This is the first theoretical motive why this research is needed. The second one is because society is rapidly changing in a world of networks (van Dijk, 2006), it would be likely that VCoIs will be wanted more often in the near future. Other reasons could be that there are no explicit articles that give guidelines how to develop a VCoI in a successful way, especially considering youth associations. The findings of this research will provide the academic community greater insight regarding the way a VCoIs can be build for youth
associations. It is important to understand which factors are influencing the success of a VCoI for youth associations. These findings can contribute to existing literature.
Structure
The goal of this thesis is to explore how the youth association Entrée can develop a successful virtual community of interest that supports their objectives. With this aim we will first consult the existing literature to outline the concept, the success factors and the process model of a VCoI. All the needed information about how to build a VCoI is then organized, but provides only general material for Entrée. We can use the knowledge obtained from the literature as a guideline in this study. That is why we will continue to establish the desired knowledge product in the following chapter. We will conclude which steps Entrée has to take in order to build a successful VCoI. In chapter 4 we will explain the chosen method for our research and how we will collect and analyze the data. The results will be shown in the next chapter that we will divide in a quantitative and qualitative part. This will be followed by a discussion. With our findings we will provide Entrée with some suggestions and recommendations how to build a successful VCoI that supports their objectives. The chapter will end with the limitations of this study and will provide several suggestions for future research directions. In the final chapter a short end conclusion of this study will be presented.
2. Literature study
The goal of this thesis is to explore how the youth association Entrée can develop a successful virtual community of interest that supports their objectives. Before we can answer this question we need to divide this in several sub questions. First of all we need to determine what a ‘virtual community of interest’ is.
1. “What theoretical concepts can be found in the existing literature that will explain the virtual community of interest?”
Now we know what a virtual community characterizes, we need to know how to make it to a success. As earlier stated, most VCs fail to succeed and vanish. That is why it is essential to explore the success factors of a VCoI.
2. “Which factors determine the success of a virtual community of interest?”
The next sub question will show us what kind of steps an association needs to take to develop a successful VCoI.
3. “Which practical concepts can be found in the existing literature that will explain the steps that need to be performed, in order to build a successful virtual community of interest?”
Ultimately, the goal is to develop a comprehensive understanding pertaining to the ways in which a VCoI can be build and used by these members to meet and socialize with other Entrée members, share knowledge and give feedback. Only after we ask these questions we can investigate how to develop a VCOI and which factors are attributed to the success of VCoIs for Entrée.
Sense of community
The concept of community is defined by Bellah et al. (1985) as a group of people who are socially interdependent, who participate together in discussion and decision-making, and who share certain practices that both define the community and are nurtured by it. Such a community cannot be
created in a day. Most of the times it has a history, and is also seen as a community of memory, which is part by its past and its memory of the past (Bellah at al., 1985).
Another definition of community by McMillan and Chavis (1986) is: “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together”. McMillan revised this definition and their principles after ten years. The improved Sense of Community (SOC) theory was repositioned and named its factors as following: Spirit, Trust, Trade, and Art (McMillan, 1996).
Spirit
This element in the SOC theory "denotes recognition of membership in a community and the feelings of friendship, cohesion, and bonding" grows among the community supporters (Rovai, 2012). McMillan (1996) argues that spirit can underline the element of friendship between community members. Another aspect that is related to spirit is the emotional safety. Community members will grow stronger bonds and share more personal information with people who they trust and when there is emotional safety within the group (McMillan, 1996; Canary and Spitzberg, 1989; Canary and Cupach, 1988; Prager, 1989; Roscoe et al. 1987). We will relate the spirit element to the formation of friendship and between members within the community.
Trust
The second element of the SOC theory is trust. The idea of trust is described as "the feeling that community members can be trusted and represents a willingness to rely on other members of the community in whom one has confidence" (Rovai, 2002). To establish trust there are some requirements that have to be realized according to McMillan (1996). It should be clear what
community members can expect from each other and from the community. When there is a sense of order and understanding of the community, it can help the evolution of community rules and norms. It can also support the community members to predict, plan, and commit.
An additional aspect of trust is authority. Individual or individuals must be in control if you want information to be spread successfully and when decisions are made. There should be decision makers in a community that maintain a sense of order in the community. Authority can be a group or page manager who moderates and assists the interaction among the group members. But an
reciprocally" (McMillan, 1996; Miller, 1990).
Besides, creating a high level of trust can cause intimacy within communities (Roark & Sharah, 1989). This element of intimacy inside the online communities can become stronger when online or offline events are organized. This study will investigate the influence that community members can have on community functions and activities.
Trade
The third element is trade. When spirit and trust have been established, a social economy can be developed within the community. McMillan (1996) says that this social economy within
communities relates to how members can benefit from each other in the community. It can integrate the needs of members and offer social resources. When people have the same values, needs,
priorities, and goals, this will enhance the community cohesion. Next to these similarities, another factor that increases strong bonding is diversity within and between community members
(McMillan, 1996).
Trade will be seen in this research in relation to the development of the community through SNSs, as a way for community members to share and exchange information with other members. This aspect of the SOC theory may also be used to find similarities and differences between group members and how these elements serve to increase overall cohesion within the community.
Art
The final part of the SOC theory is art. This element can exist only after the other three elements have been established within a community: Spirit, Trust, and Trade. The idea of this element is that community intimacy, cohesion, and bonding will only occur through group interaction (McMillan, 1996). It's through this contact that community members participate, and share mutual experiences that become part of the collective heritage of the community. McMillan (1996) argues that contact between group members "must have a certain quality for it to become a collected memory that is art".
When an offline community event is planned, community members will have the chance to come together and share collective experiences. Sharing collective experiences and developing friendships with other members of the community will add to the community's heritage. These offline events
will enhance the element of art.
There are different types of communities that are related to the goals they pursue. This research will focus on the ‘Community of Interest’, because youth associations unite their members on the basis of a common interest or passion. The next chapter will describe and define the concept of a community of interest.
Community of Interest
A community of interest is a group of individuals united by a shared interest in a topic, such as music. They are shaped to share knowledge and experience. They exchange ideas and thoughts about their passion, but don’t know much about each other besides this interest. Involvement in a community of interest can be compelling, entertaining and create a ‘sticky’ community where people return frequently and remain for extended periods. In other words, "a community of interest is a get-together of people connected through a topic of common interest. The members contribute to the community by exchanging information, while they can obtain answers to personal questions, develop their understanding of a topic, can share common passions or play." Their synergy cannot be assimilated into that of a formal group motivated by a common goal, such as a community of practice (Henri and Pudelko, 2003).
Some communities appear and disappear shortly after their creation, while other communities operate successfully for years. They split most of the times into smaller communities, into specialized topics of interest (Henri and Pudelko, 2003). The members of the community do not expect from each other to share their individually appropriated knowledge and do not feel
accountable for contributing on how they use this knowledge, because the community will function without this information (Benoit, 2000). However, when there is a sense of involvement, this can help the process of the discussion of meaning, which has the purpose to reconcile the various
perspectives involved. Without this negotiation of meaning, the community can cease to exist or can be guided small group of a few leading members who will force their views on others, who’s input is sporadic (Fischer, 2001). For the community to keep working, the community of interest has to create a balance between the participation and reification. Therefore should the knowledge that is a
result from the interaction within a community of interest be detected and formulized (Henri and Pudelko, 2003).
Members of the community of interest are more related to the topic of interest than the other members. The activity of the community is based on the common interest and not on common productions for example. This means that the learning from the partaking in the community is mainly a construction of knowledge, which is more personal than collective. The question of participation, learning and identity construction within communities of interest is complicated: it depends on the degree of involvement of people in the community and is conditioned (Henri and Pudelko, 2003).
But Hartup (1993) contradicts this statement by saying that a fundamental aspect of building friendships and close relationships with others has to do with the identification of common interests and activities between individuals. Sias and Cahill (1998) argue that similarity in regards to attitudes, values, and interests serve to facilitate the formation of friendship. So previous research highlights the importance of identifying common interests when socializing and making friends online, especially if those friendships are to carry-over to the offline world (Xie, 2007). Friendship is an important factor can grow the commitment to a community to a higher level.
We think that both sides have a point. Members will be more related to the topic of interest than the other members, but if this community is managed in a certain way, we think that members could develop great relationships with each other, which will foster the community in its way. A good relationship between members is an important factor for communities, because this supports the two factors of the sense of community: Spirit and Trust. Also the factor ‘Art’ can’t be realized if there are no strong ties.
Many studies state that the identification of common interests between individuals can serve to facilitate the development of friendships, little research has been conducted which investigates the ways that virtual communities can mediate this process.
Virtual Communities
“Virtual communities are cultural aggregations that emerge when enough people bump into each other often enough on the Internet. A virtual community as they exist today is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face-to-face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks.” This definition is slightly out of date, because virtual communities exist through all kinds of technology today. Furthermore do they share much more than only words and ideas; also photos, videos and other material are being exchanged. Preece (2004) gives a broader and more up-to-date definition: “Virtual communities are an aggregation of individuals or business partners who interact around a shared interest, where interaction is at least partially supported and/or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols”.
Differences between Online and Offline Communities
Preece (2004) points out that communities are formed around a shared interest; this means that virtual communities can take different forms. Virtual communities differ in respect to traditional communities. Table 1 demonstrates the main differences between online and offline communities to underline the differences and the characteristics of Online Brand Communities (OBC) (Wirtz et al., 2013). A remark from Table 1 is that the low expense and international stretch of OBCs (as opposed to offline Brand Communities) influences their features. The OBC permits members to show just little of their personality. They can passively involve in relationships, make little effort to sustain rituals and traditions and just weakly grow awareness of any kind that would move them into moral responsibility (Preece, 2004). This can weaken the community extremely, but the online feature also allows for much more active involvement in relation to what may happen without such a useful medium (Wirtz et al., 2013). It permits also relationships to shape between subgroups of the community that would not have the chance to interact (Wirtz et al., 2013).
Table 1: Key differences between offline and online brand communities (Wirtz et al., 2013)
We want to create a virtual community for the offline community; combine the two worlds to get the most profit out of it. So not all the differences that are suggested will be valid, for example the anonymity will not be present. But still most of the dimensions of a virtual community will be represented; like that many members seek functional benefits from the community (getting help with using product, or in this case the service).
Preece and Maloney-Krichmar (2003) demonstrate the five essential characteristics of virtual communities for their ongoing existence. These five characteristics are:
1. Shared goal, interest, need or activity;
2. Members take part of repeated, active participation; 3. Access to shared resources;
4. Exchange of information, support, and services;
5. Shared context of social conventions, language, and protocols.
Virtual Communities of Interest (VCoI)
The first sub question asked is: “What theoretical concepts can be found in the existing literature that will explain the virtual community of interest?” Now we have the definition of a community of interest and a virtual community, we give you all the components of a virtual community of interest (VCoI). This means that when a virtual community displays the characteristics of a CoI, there can be spoken of a VCoI. Nevertheless, this doesn’t say that CoIs have to be either virtual or physical. A combination is also possible (Porter, 2004).
VCoIs has some similarities regards to CoIs. The communities have the same purpose; their
members need to communicate with each other and there is a shared interest. The main difference is that members of CoI are situated physically not far from each other, while members of VCoIs can be spread over the country or even the world. In a CoI the communication takes place in ‘real life’, and the VCoI uses technical message tools to facilitate the communication. The technical support is not important for CoIs, but essential for VCoIs.
Another important aspect is that VCoIs are shaped naturally, which means that the members set their own agenda. Individuals themselves decide (when) to become a member of the VCoI or not, so participation is voluntary.
Subject Characteristics of the Virtual Community of Interest
Definition - Virtual Communities of Interest (VCoIs) are an aggregation of individuals who interact around a topic of shared interest, where interaction is at least for a part supported by technology and guided by some protocols
Spirit - The formation of friendship between members within the community through emotional safety
(McMillan, 1996)
Trust - Members and authority (moderator) influence each other reciprocally - Trust is vested in the interest area and web domain, not to other members
of the community
- Low expectations of other members (Henri and Pudelko, 2003)
Trade - The members contribute to the virtual community by exchanging
information, while they can obtain answers to personal questions, develop their understanding of a topic, can share common passions or play (Henri and Pudelko, 2003)
Art - Sharing collective experiences and developing friendships with other members of the community will add to the community's heritage - Offline events will enhance the element of art
(McMillan, 1996) Organizational
Focus
- Members can be spread all over the world - Self selected based on interest
- Voluntary participation
- May never meet face-to-face, but may chat online - Mostly self-organized, but a moderator can be chosen - Shared context of social convention, language and protocols - Mutual needs hold the community of interest together
(Wirtz et al., 2013; Henri & Pudelko, 2003; Preece & Maloney-Krichmar, 2003)
Purpose - Exchange of information, support and services - Gathering more knowledge about a topic - Sharing experiences
- Giving feedback - Getting help
(Henri and Pudelko, 2003; Preece & Maloney-Krichmar, 2003) Membership - Voluntary membership
- Low costs of joining - Anonymity is possible
- Wide range of engagement levels of members and forms of members - Involvement can range from low to high
- Contribution to community is not required (Benoit, 2000; Wirtz et al., 2013)
Permanence - Some degree of permanence as long as members stay interested (Fischer, 2001)
Technology - Virtual place
- Communication by technology - Netiquette
Organizational support
- Access to shared resources
- Moderator, who activates participation, solves problems and gathers information
- Extrinsic benefits to engage members and motivate desired behavior (Preece & Maloney-Krichmar, 2003; Wirtz et al, 2013)
Table 2: Definition and characteristics of the Virtual Community of Interest Virtual communities can take any form. The only condition is that the communication has to be supported by technology. It costs a lot of time and money to develop your own private community-website. That is why many organizations use existing websites that offer this ‘virtual’ service. Social media is an instrument that can be used as a virtual community.
Social Media
Social media can be defined as a group of Internet applications that build is build on the foundation of Web 2.0. In this way social media allows ‘user generated content’ to be created and exchanged (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, Kietzmann et al., 2011). Social media refers to social interaction using applications, such as blogs, status updates, discussion forums and other Web 2.0 technologies (Cromity, 2012). Social media is a social phenomenon. Individuals and organizations have the need to make decisions and form opinions based on collective input (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010;
namely User Generated Content and Web 2.0. User Generated Content refers to the content that is created and produced by the whole community, which was previously created by professionals (Daugherty et al, 2008). Web 2.0 stands for the second wave of Internet technology, where
applications are connected to each other on a single platform. The concept facilitates the social use and reuse of information, with the participation of many users with experiences, opinions, stories, etc. (O'Reilly, 2007). This goes far beyond Web 1.0, which can be seen as a one-way situation between those who provided information through the web and the user that the information receives, cannot respond (O'Reilly, 2007).
Social Networking Sites (SNS) as Virtual Community of Interest
In this thesis we will focus on social network sites (SNS). SNSs and other forms of social media provide users the opportunity to meet, socialize, and befriend others who share common interests and activities. Boyd & Ellison (2008) define a SNS as a web-based service that enables individuals to create a public or semi-public profile in a closed system. Individuals can build a network with that profile and can see profiles of other individuals (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). These sites (or parts of them) offer individuals the opportunity to interact (by facilitating message flows such as questions and answers, comments, opinions and interests) with each other (Chaffey et al, 2009). The main function of SNSs is their ability to assist in the maintenance of pre-existing friendships and social networks, but they can also be used to help strangers connect based on their similar interests, political views, and/or activities (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). An example of a SNS is Facebook.
The social network site Facebook has more than 1 billion active users and is currently the world’s largest SNS (Ortutay, 2013). Facebook users can create and join virtual communities and fan pages based on specific interests (Ellison et al., 2007). Many users are comfortable with using this service and know how everything works, that is one of the main reasons why it is a good tool to use. Users have to take a step less to participate within the VC, so lower joining costs. Another reason why Facebook can lend as a good instrument is because it is cheap and easy to use. You don’t have to develop your own technological infrastructure and people know how to use it. People can not only use the service on their computer, but also on their smartphone or tablet.
Community Roles
As said, social media has changed the way we communicate with each other, search and share information. When companies are designing a new community or they want to make a existing one stronger, they should keep into account the different roles that are involved in a community
structure, and help members to take on new roles when their need are changing.
According to Li & Bernoff (2011) there are seven different types of profiles of members. These are described in the Social Technographics ladder that I reproduced in Table 3. Each step on the ladder represents a group of consumers more involved in the groundswell than the previous steps (from the In-actives to the Creators). To join the group on a step, a consumer need only participate in one of the listed activities at least monthly (or in the case of the Conversationalists, weekly).
Type of profile Description Activities
Creators They create the original content that is being watched, read and shared by others, whether or not in combination with existing content (like music or video).
Writing weblogs, publicizing webpages, uploading videos or audio, or writing articles.
Conversationalists They give their opinion to other consumers and companies.
Status-updates through social media or tweeting.
Critics They respond to content of others. Writing reviews, giving comments on blogs, participating on forums or contribute to wiki’s.
Collectors They organize content for themselves. The use of RSS-feed, classifying articles and pictures with ‘tags’. Joiners They search for a connection in social media, like
Facebook.
Having a profile on a social network and being active there.
Spectators They consume content. Visiting and reading weblogs, podcasts, video’s, reviews, forums and tweets.
In-actives They don’t create nor consume content. -
Table 3: Profile of community members (Li & Bernoff, 2011) Burnett (2000) identified and categorized interactive online information behaviors into two main types: collaborative and hostile behavior. Virtual communities have many similarities with face-to-face communities and hostile behavior like verbal violence or other non-friendly behaviors are not a rare phenomenon in virtual communities. It is important that community managers pay attention to these kinds of behavior since they can cause serious threats to the survival of a community.
Additionally, Burnett (2000) divides collaborative behavior in non-information and information specific behavior. Non-information specific behavior is normally not accessible by every member in the community, like ‘emphatic-emotional support’ or online games within the community.
Information specific behavior is “related to either information seeking or providing information to other community members” (Burnett, 2000) and can be seen as the essential and vital type of behavior for a community. This type of behavior can often be found within active (innovative) members. They are identified as most important for community managers as active members are seen as a key factor for survival and progression in virtual communities (Cothrel & Williams, 1999; Kim, 2000). As Li & Bernoff (2011) stated the creators are of importance because they are the ones who create the content.
To reach your target group you need to know what the important factors and the motives are to participate in the community. You need to know what your customers think is interesting so you can adapt your content strategy in this way. You want the people in your target group who are the most active on the Internet, the creators and critics, to activate them to get more involved, share and use your content. The spectators are generally the biggest group of people of a target group. They don’t want to contribute to the new content, but are also very important. Because they do click and read what is being said on the Internet, also the things of your organization. This information plays an important role in their decision to choose your organization or not.
Value of a Virtual Community of Interest
Networks are getting more important everyday. That is why the VCoIs are an important tool for associations to keep their network active. When members interact with each other and develop a relationship at distance, this can be valuable for associations. Members can activate each other to participate more within the association or create more affection towards it.
The VCoI can also be used as a management tool. It cannot only be used to inform the members of your organization, but organizations can also talk with their members by the use of this tool. The exchange of ideas, experiences, feedback and other information can be of a great value, as it can be knowledge the whole community can benefit from aside from the association itself.
The VCoI can support members of associations in their learning process in a subject. Community members are ready to contribute in a VCoI if they are supported in their interest. Through
collaboration that takes place among the community members this can be accomplished. This can create a greater experience and relationship with the associations and its members.
Value for consumers Value for producers
• Third party product/service information • Aggregated & archived consumer
knowledge
• Access to expert users
• Improved decision-making/product usage • Stage for expression
• Fellowship & commonality • Consumer agency • Strength of buying power • Greater voice
• Sense of ownership
• Insight in consumer attitudes & behaviors • Real-time, cheap, unobtrusive observation • Access to enthusiastic/heavy/loyal users • Informed segmentation strategies • Profit from exploitation • Propagating loyalty
• Insert/defend/alter/reinforce brand meanings • Dialogue with consumers
• Consumer input in product development • Broad relationship with consumers
Valck (2007) summarizes the values of a virtual community for consumers and producers in table 4. She investigated the values for online brand communities. These values are similar to values for members and association. When members meet these values, the VCoI will be a success.
Success factors of a Virtual Community of Interest
On the hand of the literature review so far, we can summarize the factors that the success of a VCoI depends on. In model 1 we put all the factors together into a success factor model for VCoIs.
Model 1: Success factor model for a Virtual Community of Interest
• Spirit, trust, trade, art, organizational focus, purpose,
membership, permanance, technology, organizational
support
• Creators, conversationalists, critics, collectors, joiners,
spectators and in-actives
• Third party information, consumer knowledge, access
expert users, product usage, stage for expressions,
fellowship, greater voice, sense of ownership
• Insight in consumer attitude/behavior, cheap
observation, access to loyal users, informed strategies,
profit from exploitation, propagating loyalty, dialogue
with consumers, relation ship with consumers
What makes VCoIs successful is its ability to create enthusiasm, relevance, and value to interest and involve members (Wenger et al., 2002b). But how are VCoIs successfully developed, and what drives VCoI members to actually participate in a VCoI? These issues are tackled in the next paragraph.
Developing a Virtual Community of Interest
The literature has now shown us what a virtual community of interest is, but how should one develop such a community? There are different aspects we need to take into account when developing a virtual community. We will discuss these different factors on the hand of literature based on how to build a virtual community of practice (VCoP). Because there is no literature found on how to develop a VCoI, we will also use the literature of the VCoP. The VCoP is certainly not the same as a VCoI, but has a lot of overlap when it comes to developing one. We will adjust the steps where is necessary.
Process model of the development of a VCoI.
Preece (2000) shows five steps to build a virtual community:
1. Identify the needs of the community and the tasks that will be needed to carry out. The main goal of this step is to identify the users (e.g. demographic information and internet experience).
2. Select the proper technology and planning for sociability. It is very important that technology is chosen with the right functionality and usability.
3. Designing, implementing, and testing prototypes. This step results in an advice about how to design the virtual community.
4. Refine and tune sociability and usability. The third and fourth steps are narrowly related with each other. Both steps need an iterative approach in order to create an optimal virtual community.
5. Welcome and nurture the community. The virtual community has to be made well known by sending out e-mails, advertising, and by leaving a link behind on other web sites. It is preferred to observe the community narrowly (e.g. the first six months), and try
Preece (2004) complements after four years more aspects of the process of building a virtual community that organizations shouldn’t ignore:
• Building development processes that observe the sociability and usability. Every community is unique so it is essential to focus on the aspects of its purpose and the needs of the
members.
• Take care of the different steps of building virtual communities and be sure to offer
moderator support at the launch of the community. Assistance moderators and managers so that they can support the community.
• Offer access from computers, mobiles, phones, handheld machines and other technologic products with ingenious interfaces.
• Grow methods of evaluating and measuring success that go beyond membership and participation metrics to find out how good the sociability support and usability design supports the community.
Saint-Onge and Wallace (2003) have made steps for the development process of a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) (Jansen, 2007) and are explained as following:
1. Outline the community project
During this first step, the context should be set (e.g. purpose; relevance; environmental factors; culture; expectations; and explanation of the VCoP concept), the project approach designed (e.g. guiding of project development and evaluation of the process; defining roles and responsibilities; choosing the right tools; and developing a project strategy), resource requirements identified, and deliverables are defined (e.g. project plan; working documents; and presentations).
2. Establish the community components
The project tasks are identified and accomplished during this step. Also the practical issues (i.e. outlining governance and community structures; establishing membership; obtaining technology infrastructure; addressing technical issues and user support; preparing content; learning to use the community technology infrastructure, facilitation roles, and responsibilities; and establishing a communications plan) are realized.
3. Launch the VCoP
Now it is time to launch the VCoP. This means that the VCoP is online, and accessible to all its members. In this step, ensuring site and member readiness is a essential. In case of a corporate VCoP, permission of management may be needed. This step is the start of the community building process.
4. Establish the community
A sense of community is cultivated (e.g. member profiles; assessing needs and identifying styles; introducing the facilitator; encouraging participation; and increasing community literacy).
Increasing computer knowledge can be realized best by proper introductions of the functionality of the different tools, rather than placing a manual online and letting members wrestle with it
themselves.
5. Insert a checkpoint (i.e. assessing progress and value)
The progress of the VCoP, and the value to its members are informally evaluated (e.g. collecting informal comments; analyzing statistics; requesting feedback on perceptions (i.e. consulting); and providing feedback to the software vendor).
6. Grow the community
By finding strategies for community building, knowledge creation and sharing, and knowledge navigation approaches, the value of the community becomes bigger, and as a result, its number of members will expand. In this step it is important to construct community activities, familiarize members with software functionality, focus communication on community’s value, strengthen the network of expertise, and harvest knowledge.
7. Evaluate the purpose and direction of the VCoP
The needs of the community are identified in this step. This is done by a formal review of the community’s progress and its value to its members. Important actions in this step are designing a data collection tool, gathering and analyzing data, making recommendations, stating findings, and communicating the results.
8. Expand the community
In this step, the community should be boosted to a higher level. The initial scope and membership of the VCoP should be expanded, the value should be increased, and the VCoP should become part of a larger community network. The members and other stakeholders of the community should be involved in these processes. As a final thought about developing a VCoP, the authors state that it is very important to conduct a pilot study in order to minimize potential risks.
Figure 1: Process model of the development of a Virtual Community of Interest
The models of Preece (2004) and Saint-Onge & Wallace (2003) will help us with the design of a process model for developing a VCoI, shown in Figure 1.
Identification stage:
We need to know what the needs of the community are and how we can carry out the tasks that need to be accomplished. The following four factors we need to take into account for the first phase:
1. Purpose and relevance of the VCoI: When we know what the purpose is of the community, we can use this as a foundation for our strategy. Relevance for a community is needed. There need to be a reason why an organization wants to develop a virtual community, otherwise it wouldn’t be beneficial to develop one.
2. Culture within the existing community: The virtual community needs to be adjusted to the culture of the community right now. This can help the activation of members to participate and contribute to the VCoI.
3. Identifying users: you need to know whom your users are in order to create the most efficient and successful VCoI. Internet experience and other characteristics need to be identified. 4. Defining roles and responsibilities: There are different community roles that need to be
fulfilled. These roles are described on page 16.
Li & Bernoff (2011) advise certain community strategies through the use of the POST-model which stands for People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology. They make use of the platform of social media to facilitate the virtual community. This means that an organization that wants to use social media, should first consider what audience they want to reach before considering what their objectives are regarding the use of social media. Only when defined what type of individuals are in the target group and which targets need to be achieved you can determine a strategy. Finally, the technology will be reviewed which will be used to implement the strategy. Because social media sites already give a good platform for VCoIs it is a cheap option to use these sites. Most youth
associations don’t have a lot of money to spend, so this medium is ideal for those organizations. Li & Bernoff (2011) ague that you should choose one main objective that is one of the following:
• Listening: Listen to customers and what they have to say about theme’s, subjects and your business, to get to know them better.
• Talking: join the conversation and spread messages about the organization. Facilitate clients with communities where they can talk about subjects that they are interested in. Respond to the discussions.
• Energizing: Activate your happy, enthusiastic customers and use them as super promoters. They contribute to the sales and distribution of your product and services.
• Supporting: Facilitate clients to help each other solve problems. When this happens online, this is an advantage for your company, but also for other customers with the same problem who can find immediately the solution online. Furthermore it is valuable input for product or service improvement.
• Embracing: make customers a part of the organization. Involve them in the design and improvement of processes, products and services. A product or service that exactly meets their needs will make them buy it again. Satisfied customers can also then again promote your product.
Technology decision stage:
Select a proper tool that users can use without any struggles. It needs to be easy and simple to use. It should have a low cost of joining and it should match the users it facilitates. You can develop your own ‘virtual community’, but you can also use an existing platform, like social media websites. Good technology infrastructure is key.
Preparation stage:
Before you launch the community, you need to prepare the ‘virtual place’ beforehand. The steps that should be made are the following:
1. Prepare content: There should be a reason why people should come to your VCoI. When there is no information to be found, no people will come or contribute to your VCoI. You should provide information and prepare discussions to get things going.
2. Provide moderator support: This moderator can activate contribution, provides support and gather information. He or she can create order within the VCoI, but members and the moderator should influence each other reciprocally.
3. Learn using the technology infrastructure: when you have the technology infrastructure mastered, you can not only organize everything easily, but also help your users the most efficient when they have technological problems. You should be able to tackle every technological difficulty.
Launch and establishment stage:
The launch should go effortless. Send out emails, advertise and be out in the open on the Internet. Introduce the VCoI properly and point out the purpose and benefits. Encourage people to join the community and to contribute. You can achieve this by responding to their motivations.
The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) states that motivations can be divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Numerous qualitative studies on contribution to virtual communities distinguished motivational factors into intrinsic and extrinsic motives (Janzik & Raasch, 2011). Motives are the urge to act or a basis to act towards a particular goal or to avoid an unwanted outcome (Atkinson, 1982). Intrinsic motives means that psychological needs (e.g., fun) are fulfilled and they do not concentrate on the consequence of an action (Janzik & Raasch, 2011). Extrinsic motives pay attention to the outcome (e.g., financial rewards, learning) of an action. Members who are intrinsically motivated assume that the action will not lead to a reward next to (the satisfaction of) the action itself. In this thesis it is essential that we examine the factors (e.g., social background) that effect these intrinsic motivates. According to SDT an individual or in this case, a member of an community, has certain basic psychological needs that have to be fulfilled in order to support the intrinsic motivations (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Most studies about member motives in virtual communities recognize intrinsic motives as the most important drivers for participating and contributing (Janzik & Raasch, 2011). Extrinsic motives are often seen as less important drivers in online communities, especially for users who regularly contribute (Tedjamulia, 2005). Moreover, a few studies subdivided motivational factors also into different clusters or dimensions (Janzik & Raasch, 2011). By dividing motivational factors one can get a deeper understanding why members for instance sign up for a community or decide to participate on a certain topic. Reasons why people share information can be diverse, like altruism, making friends, the need for appreciation or to express creativity (Li & Bernoff, 2011).
Maintenance stage:
This is the stage where the community is being observed, nurtured, evaluated and developed further into an effective and beneficial VCoI. This is an important phase, because this will determine if the community will succeed or fail. If you don’t support the VCoI or monitor the activities, the VCoI can become chaos or could decease. One of the most important factors within this phase to keep the
community going is to stimulate activity, trust and loyalty among your members so that they keep coming back.
Activation
If marketing managers decide to create their own virtual community to encourage members’ behavior that is beneficial for the organization, they should develop an effective marketing strategy that can increase a strong level of commitment among members toward the communities (Kim et al., 2010). To do so, the results of the study of Kim (2010) suggest that marketing managers should
• Be able to present a clear identity and purpose of the community to members • Provide various means for effective member interactions
• Reward community members’ contribution properly
• Be open to members’ various opinions including negative ones and complaints
People are more and more searching for some connection with each other, and technology makes this easier everyday. This is a big challenge for strategic decision makers within organization, because when your customers communicate with each other and connect. You want as a company to be in the middle of these activities.
Trust
As stated before, trust is seen as a fundamental aspect for achieving strong and enduring relationships (Morgan & Hunt, 1994; Doney & Cannon, 1997). According to Butler et al. (2008) a sense of friendship and social support is often developed because of strong social relationships between group members. Members can become active and show collaborative behavior in virtual communities if there is trust. Trust can be seen as a crucial factor for virtual communities in order to survive (Ridings et al., 2006), because this is an important factor in a member’s decision to participate or not. Ridings et al., (2006) acknowledge that spectators had less trust than when we compared it to the active creators. The absence of trust could be reason why spectators aren’t becoming interactive. However, the results can be valuable in designing virtual communities. Moderators can increase trust among spectators by for example controlling incorrect or unsuitable posts, encourage positive posts, or by improving privacy policies of the community.
Loyalty
Next to the absence of trust, numerous members in virtual communities aren’t loyal to their community (Brandtzaeg & Heim, 2008). Members often share less after a certain period of time or change to other communities. Many researchers indicate that firms should focus on the needs of its consumers. Brandtzaeg and Heim (2008) performed an online survey in four virtual communities about why members participate less over time or even end their community membership. The results of this study demonstrate that there are several reasons for members to stop participating. These three reasons were the most important: lack of interesting people, low quality content and low usability.
Also ‘harassment or bullying’, equal to non-friendly behavior, was accounted as a reason why members lower their participation level or stop participating in the community. Moderators of virtual communities should carefully take watch these indicators to develop strong membership loyalty. Membership loyalty can be seen as the commitment to continually use or repurchase a particular product or service (Dick & Basu, 1994). For virtual communities, it is key to build levels of loyalty among its members in order to keep their current customer-base and interest new
customers in the future.
Loyalty can be achieved through satisfaction demonstrates also Shankar et al. (2003). When satisfaction is achieved from relating and interacting with others within the VC, it will boost the desire of members to join the conversation and share knowledge (Dholakia, Bagozzi and Klein Pearo, 2004). This desire could encourage members’ intention to return to the VC. This behavior between members could lead to increased site stickiness. Satisfied members could turn into loyal members of the VC, this could lead to increased revenues for the managers of the VC (Mathwick, 2002).
End conclusion literature study
The goal of this thesis is to investigate how the youth association Entrée can develop a successful virtual community of interest that strengthens their objectives. This literature study provides a theoretical foundation to realize this goal.
The first question we needed to answer was: “What theoretical concepts can be found in the existing literature that will explain the virtual community of interest?”
In this literature study we first defined the concept of a virtual community of interest (VCoI). We concluded that the definition of a VCoI will be the following: “Virtual Communities of Interest (VCoIs) are an aggregation of individuals who interact around a topic of shared interest, where interaction is at least partially supported and/or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols”. A VCoI has multiple characteristics that are of significance which are divided under the following subjects: spirit, trust, trade, art, organizational focus, purpose, membership, permanence, technology and organizational support.
Now we identified the definition and characteristics of a VCoI, we can sort out the next question: “Which factors determine the success of a virtual community of interest?”
These factors not only encompass the characteristics of a VCoI, but also take into account the different roles of that a community member can adopt. It is important that your community has active members who create content or regularly respond to input of others. Participation in the VCoI is of great significance for the success of a VCoI. Another success factor of a VCoI is the value the community produces for the members as the organization, because when there is a lack of meaning people will be less motivated to contribute to the VCoI. Value is in this case the usefulness of the VCoI for the organization as the members. How the VCoI can support the organization and members in a way that their needs can be fulfilled. This means that, in a way, the needs of consumers as organization will foster the VCoI.
With this information we go into the following question: “Which practical concepts can be found in the existing literature that will explain the steps that need to be performed, in order to build a successful virtual community of interest?”
We designed a process model with the steps an organization can take to build a VCoI based on the current literature. The five steps that were organized are the following:
1. The identification stage: This is the most important step of the process model. The organization should investigate the relevance and purpose for the VCoI. An organization should choose one main objective for the community. The needs of the organization and members are significant for the survival of the VCoI. Furthermore the current existing (online) culture should be examined. Correspondingly the users should be identified and should be allocated to different community roles.
2. The technical stage: When the organization knows who their members are, how they behave and what they want, they can select and explore the technical side of the VCoI. An
organization should think about the technical abilities of their users. The VCoI should be easy and simple to handle for the users, because when people have difficulties with the operational side of the VCoI it will be a threshold for them to use the instrument. Existing platforms like social media may offer a solution, because people already familiar with the utilities. Facebook is an example.
3. The preparation stage: It is essential for organizations to prepare themselves before putting the VCoI online. The organization should to have content ready to encourage activity. It needs a moderator who supports, answers and stimulates the users of the VcoI. And it should know the technical infrastructure by hand in case of technological problems
4. The launch and establishment stage: The launch of the VCoI should go without problems. It should be promoted and introduced properly. It is important that the benefits of the VCoI are being underlined. By acting on the motivations, users can be triggered to join and contribute to the community. Especially intrinsic motivations are of value.
5. The maintenance stage: The last stage is where the community is being observed, nurtured, evaluated and developed further into an effective and beneficial VCoI. The stimulation of activity, trust and loyalty among your members are the most important aspects in this stage.
Recommendations for Entrée
The literature study gives us guidelines in how to develop a successful VCoI for Entrée. We will continue our research in the next chapter, but first will this paragraph deal with the
recommendations for Entrée that can be made according to the results gathered from the literature review.
Follow the steps of the VCoI process model It is essential that all the steps of the process model are
being tackled. As illustrated in the end conclusion here above, there are five steps must be taken into account in order to build a successful VCoI. We will continue our investigation in the next chapter by researching the first step.
Keep the four critical success factors in mind When a VCoI is going to be developed, the four
success factors need to be taken in mind. These success factors make the difference for a VCoI to become successful or not. Also the factors, which were concluded to be less significant, need to be taken into account. These factors do not increase the success of the VCoI, but could negatively affect the VCoI success when they are ignored.
Continue physical meetings when starting up the VCoI Even though ‘physical meetings’ is a
success factor, it is take upon as an separate recommendation as well. When starting up a VCoI for youth associations, one must not think that everything can take place online. It is still essential to have ‘offline’ get-togethers. Therefore it is recommended to organize ‘offline’ meetings on a regular basis, e.g. once a month. These gatherings can enlarge the trust within the community (Ridings et al., 2002), and can function as a stimulus, in order to contribute to the community and to interact with each other online.
Pay attention to the quality of information in a VCoI The goals and purpose of the VCoI should
be communicated clearly, in order to protect the quality of the information in a VCoI. It is also recommended to add a registering system. When people are registered they will not place all kinds of information on the VCoI. That is why Facebook is a good tool to use as a virtual community,
because most young man en women already have an account.
need to be divided. The board members should pull the community to work with the VCoI. This means that it needs to motivate the community members to participate and contribute actively. Also a VCoI facilitator and VCoI moderator are required, in order to direct the community members. It is also significant that community members know what is expected of them in the VCoI as well. The board members should communicate this in a clear way.
Use technology that is accessible to set up a VCoI The VCoI process model thinks of a VCoI as
one entire cohesive virtual space on the Internet. But, when there are no money or time to begin a VCoI like this, like within most youth associations, there are some other possibilities that might be taken into consideration. It is advisable to use tools that are already free to use. If the organization cannot provide the instruments, and there is no budget for them, it is suggested to use social networking sites (SNS). In that case, community members are still capable to share their files and can communicate with each other. Besides, it can be questioned if a completely integrated VCoI is really needed for youth associations.
Ask members if they want to help to build a VCoI When wanting to build a VCoI, it is
recommended to first look within the community if some of the members would want to put their time in the design process of the VCoI. When the members within the own community like to do this, potential costs can be spared.
Invest time and money in a VCoI A weak point of VCoIs is the lack of resources (Wenger &
Snyder, 2000). The board members must spend their time, but also their money in the VCoI (process) to let it grow out to its full potential.
Don’t stop evaluating the VCoI The final advice is that a VCoI must to be continuously evaluated.
This is also shown in the VCoI process model. It is key that the needs of the community members and the purpose of the VCoI are satisfied. Additionally, when doing regular evaluations, all things should work appropriately. If not, some improvements should be made.
3. Desired knowledge product
The goal of this thesis is to explore how the youth association Entrée can develop a successful virtual community of interest that supports their objectives. From the literature we found several theories about how to build a VC. We developed a process model that helps organizations to develop a VCoI and shows organizations how to build it into a successful VCoI. The rest of this research focuses on how the general findings can support Entrée. We will particularly pay attention to whether the members of the youth association Entrée are ready for a virtual community and if so, how Entrée could set up a VCoI in the best way. We can use the organized literature study as a guideline for our research. The central question for this empirical part of our study will be the following:
“Which Entrée specific issues can be identified that are important when setting up a virtual community of interest for Entrée in order to make it successful?”
Entrée wants to develop a VCoI for their members to support their objectives. They should consider the five steps of the derived process model. This study will only delve into the first stage: the
identification stage. After this stage Entrée has to put time and money into the next stages: technical stage, preparation stage, launch stage and maintenance stage. Because these stages require
knowledge about classical music, it would be more efficient and effective if Entrée carries out these last stages.
The first step of the identification stage is to define the purpose and relevance of the VCoI. It is the most important step, because we need to know what will drive the VCoI. The first stage is the foundation for the VCoI, and will give meaningfulness and relevance to the development of the VCoI. The youth association Entrée has already given the relevance and purpose of the VCoI for the organizational part.
The main objective of Entrée to build a VCoI is to encourage interaction among and between members. The mission of Entrée is to trigger as many young people as possible to visit the
Concertgebouw more regularly. Entrée thinks that it can realize this mission by achieving the main objective. They reason that this interaction will cause the following values:
