Mohammad Hatim Abuljadail
Marketing Communication Department, Faculty of Communication and Media, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Volume: 17 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 101-113| December 2025 | https://doi.org/10.54940/ss18377485 | PDF
Received: 11/11/2025 | Revised: 12/10/2025 | Accepted: 17/12/2025
Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Abstract
This paper develops the concept of Sense of Virtual Brand Community (SOVBC) to explain how perceived belonging mediates this relationship. Drawing on sense of community, sense of virtual community, and sense of brand community traditions, the paper integrates community psychology, social identity theory, and rela-tionship marketing to propose a clarified conceptual framework. SOVBC is defined as consumers’ perceived membership, emotional connection, and interactive engagement within brand-related digital environments. The framework specifies how virtual belonging fosters cognitive and affective commitment, thereby sustaining loy-alty in fluid, platform-mediated ecosystems. The paper contributes by theoretically integrating fragmented community constructs and re-specifying belonging as a central mechanism linking digital participation to brand loyalty, while outlining implications for future empirical research.
Keywords
Sense of Virtual Brand Community (SOVBC), Brand Loyalty, Brand Advocacy; Digital Engagement; Brand .
How to Cite
Abuljadail, M. Sense of Virtual Brand Community: A Conceptual Framework for Digital Belong-ing, Engagement, and Brand Loyalty. Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Social Sciences, 17(4), 101-113. https://doi.org/10.54940/ss18377485
License
Copyright (c) 2025. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC)