The effects of goal structures on member achievements of commitment-contracted virtual communities: A case of weight loss program

• Main Author: 林嘉柔
• Other Authors: 徐淑如
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/vgjrpc

碩士 === 國立嘉義大學 === 資訊管理學系研究所 === 106 === The theory of social interdependence emphasizes the influence of social factors on achievement of objectives. It is argued that the type of group goal structures will affect the member’s social interaction, motivation, and achievement of objective. The focus of a commitment-contracted virtual community is to assist people to achieve specific goals through contractual and social factors. Based on social interdependence theory, this study explores the relationships among goal structure of community (including positive interdependence, negative interdependence, and independence), the member's perceived social support, motivation, and achievement of objective. The study adopted the single factor experimental design, in which the goal structure is manipulated. Facebook was used as the platform to build a weight-loss goal (weight loss 4% in 28 days) contracted community website to recruit those who are interested in weight loss experiment. A total of 82 valid samples were obtained. The results show that members of the virtual community with positive interdepend goal structure have better achievements than those with independent goal structure. In addition, they also have stronger motivations to achieve objective than those with negative interdependent or independent goal structures. Finally, the member’s motivation to achieve objective is also significantly affected by perceived social support, which in turn affects the achievement.