udergraduate thesis chapter I

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

I. BACKGROUND

The internet has made real what in the 1970's that

visionary of the communications Marshall McLuhan (1911-

1980) called the "Global Village".

The Internet is defined as the worldwide interconnection

of individual networks operated by government, industry;

academia, and private parties. Nowadays, the internet is

one of the most important things in modern life. Almost

every aspect of daily life always related to internet

for example like email, news and update and also for

education. As the growth of technology, people become

more dependents to the internet. Mostly they used

internet for entertainment, education, communication and

business. Every year, the internet users keep growing

and they evolve every day. Retrieved the data from

internetworldstats, the internet users in September 2011

was 2,180 million or 31.5% of the world population. The

amount is quite significant increasing as back in

September 2010, the internet users was 1, 9710 million

or 28.8% of world population

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500

The internet users are not only come from developed

countries but also the developing countries. As the

data from internetworldstats.com, in 2011 based on its

geographic area, 44.8% internet users came from Asia,

22.1% came from Europe, 12 % were from North America and

the rest were Latin America, Middle East, Australia and

Africa.

There are some of the reasons why internet users are

kept growing from year to year. Based on the article in

addictionblog.com, people argue that the internet is one

of the most efficient tools to looking up for some

information. People can save time and effort by using

internet. In addition, the information’s that available

in the internet are up to date and easy to understand

because it delivered in multiple media such as visual

Figure I.1 Internet users growth from year to year.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm

graphics, images or video. Second, people use the

internet to communicate with each other around the

world. With the internet, people can communicate with

others around the globe in low cost and minimal delay

time.

Another reason why people use the internet is for

entertainment. Internet users can enjoy and entertain

themselves through internet such as game, video, music

and movie. People can stream their favorite movies,

music video or downloads it instead.

Internet users not only can gain information or

seeking for entertainment through that but also to

communicate with others. Communication is one of the

most popular use of the internet (Beedle : 2000). The

internet allows users to communicate with each other

through several ways such as email, instant messages,

chat in a group / online community, talk by voice

(Skype, ova) or video conferencing.

Based on Q finance, online community refers to

allowing web users to communicate online with another

and with an organization through interactive tools such

as email, discussion board and chatting system. Online

communities offer people important sources of

information, social support and recreation (Horrigan and

Rainie 2001). They have been linked to increased social

capital and tremendous business opportunities (Tapscott

and Williams 2006).

Just like social community such as Facebook or

twitter which keep rising from year to year, online

communities also follow their footsteps. In terms of

business, business owners can make online community for

their customers so they can know the feedback from

customers, and also suggestion and critic. Moreover,

business can gain loyalty from building community and

have positive word of mouth advertising. The examples of

online communities are www.asianave.com, an online

community for Asian American people where they can

share about job opportunities, and interesting topic

such as a gadget or politic.

In the past, internet only can use with PC or

laptop users but recently, the internet can be accessed

anywhere, anytime using telecommunication gadget such as

mobile phone, Smartphone or computer tablets.

Recently, telecommunication gadget has become a hot

trend conversation. It becomes part of the lifestyle

where almost everyone has it to balancing their mobile

life. In the past, people only can make a phone call,

sending messages or make a phone call but thank you to

the growing of telecommunication gadget which now

enables people to make a phone call and accessing

internet anywhere, anytime. Moreover, with the

customization with the software, it can enable people to

hear the music, camera, GPS and many more.

Based on Glossary of Telecommunication by education

coalition in California, telecommunication means

communication over a distance. Use of wire, radio or

optical or other electromagnetic channels to transmit or

receive signals for voice, video and data “ whereas

gadget definitions is a small or useful device. In this

case, telecommunication gadget can be defined as small

or useful device which could be used for sending or

receiving signals over long distances. The examples of

telecommunication gadgets are smart phone, mobile phone,

tablets PC and PDA.

Beal (2010) has stated on webopedia.com about the

definition of a mobile phone, PDA and Smartphone.

According to her, mobile phone or cellular phone or cell

phone means the communication devices connect to a

wireless communication through radio waves or satellite

transmissions.

Mobile phone services include short messages,

multimedia messages and internet services such as email

and online chatting. Mobile phone examples are Nokia

7500, Nokia 3230, and Nokia N 71 etc. PDA or personal

data assistant is a small / handheld devices that

combine computing, telephone/ fax, internet, personal

organizer and networking features. PDA is usually pen-

based which requires the use of stylus rather than a

keyboard. Palm, Polycom and socket mobile are some of

the examples of PDA. Smartphone defines as the

combination of PDA and cellular phone. A Smartphone

features usually more oriented to mobile phone rather

than a PDA. The capabilities of smart phone enable users

to store information, email, and install programs along

with using a mobile phone. Actually there is no industry

standard to define the definition of a Smartphone so any

mobile device that has more than basic cell phone

features capabilities can be defined as smart phone

categories.

Paraphrasing from technopedia article, a tablet PC

is a portable PC that combines between personal digital

assistant or PDA and notebook PC. Usually tablets equip

with touch screen and software application to run a

virtual keyboard. Tablet PC can be used to web browsing

capabilities, connectivity options, touch screen and

multimedia.

II. SCOPE

In Indonesia, the internet has been started over

more than a decade. According to Speedy history, in June

1994, ITB ( Institut Teknologi Bandung) was connected to

the internet for 24 hours in the first time. Since then

until now, internet in Indonesia growing rapidly from

year to year. Back in 2010 where internet users in

several urban cities in Indonesia were only 30 – 35 % of

the population, and now it shows the significant

increase. Based on the research by Markplus insight

which stated that in 2011 internet users were 40 – 45%

of the population or 55 million users which being

dominated (80% of users) by young generation ( 15 – 30

years old). It also stated that online activity such as

online shopping, online banking and online communities

also increasing more than 50 % from 2010 to 2011.

According to alexa.com, the most frequent website

that being accessed from Indonesia are Facebook,

twitter, google, Kaskus (online community) and click

BCA. It shows that the purposes of the most Indonesian

using internet are for communication and entertainment.

Speaking about the online community in Indonesia, people

always connect it with the most popular online community

in Indonesia, which is Kaskus.

Kaskus, according to the data from Vivanews.com, is

one of the biggest Indonesian online community with

total member more than 4 millions in the beginning of

May 2012. Kaskus was officially born on November 6th

1999 by 3 Indonesian students who studied in Seattle,

Washington USA. In the beginning, they made Kaskus

(acronym of Kasak Kusuk / gosip ) as one of college’s

assignment. Three Indonesian students, Andrew Darwis,

Ronald Stephanus and Budi Darmawan developed Kaskus in

order to gather Indonesian’s students who studied in USA

to share about their home, Indonesia. Then, the project

developed into one of the most visited websites in

Indonesia. Kaskus has been won several awards, such as

the best Indonesian Communities in 2005 and 2006 by

Alexa, a website that recognized as Indonesia innovative

top web site in 2008 by Microsoft, The Online Inspiring

Award by Indosat and The Big Place Market Share by

Indonesian President in 2012

Kaskus allows members to share everything what they

want, for hobby, experienced , latest news and shopping

activity. With Kaskus members not only can join forum

based on their interest but also build an online

business. There are 5 popular features in Kaskus, they

are, forum, jual beli, radio, blog and groupie.

Figure II.1 Kaskus sub forum in brief

Source : www.kaskus.us

Figure II.1 describes a glance about one feature in

Kaskus, which is a forum. The forum has several subforum

which allow members to share thought and experienced in

some interest. In ‘Loe ke Loe ‘ sub, there is a sub

forum which named ‘handphone Dan PDA’ then it’s also has

a sub forum with several categories such as BB corner,

for the user of Blackberry, operator CDMA GSM, for the

user of CDMA GSMA and Android, for the user of Android

phones, who likely to share thought and experienced with

other owners.

The growing of Kaskus from year to year indicates

that Indonesian people like to share or discuss

Kaskus forum

loe ke loe

handphone dan pda

BB corner

operator CDMA GSM

Androidcasciscus

kaskus corner

regional

something in common such as a hobby or interest in

latest trend and shows that Indonesian people like to

join in online communities. Until March 2012, Kaskus has

more than 4 million members, which significantly

increase from 2010 members when was only 2 million

members. In a day, Kaskus can attract 150-200 new users

and being visited by 600,000 users a day with the page

view more than 15,000,000 a day.

Data from google trends shows that Kaskus user is

increasing and make Yogyakarta, Jawa Barat and Jakarta

as the third largest region where the users access

Kaskus. Moreover, it also shows that Indonesian

Figure II.2 Kaskus users growth.

Source : Google trends

language, Bahasa, is the most common language that being

used in Kaskus.

Due to the success of Kaskus, online community

becomes a hot trend right now in Indonesia. Nowadays,

almost every Indonesian website such as Kompas.com or

Detik.com has a forum in order to allow users to

interact each other. They are free to share their

thoughts but must avoid racist/religion issues.

Growth of internet users in Indonesia is also

influenced by the development of mobile internet usage.

There are more than 29 millions mobile internet users in

Indonesia in the last 2011. With the development of new

high technology, telecommunication gadget and affordable

internet cost, the amount of mobile internet users is

growing almost 100 % compared with 2010 which only 16

million users.

Indonesia is one of the biggest markets for

telecommunication gadget. It follows by the numerous

brand of telecommunication in Indonesian market.

According to the data from kompas.com and alexa.com,

there were 3 most popular telecommunication gadgets in

Indonesia in the last 2011, Blackberry bold, apple iPad

and Samsung Galaxy tab. Blackberry bold is one of the

products from RIM (Research In Motion).

RIM was founded by Mike Lazaridis in 1984 with his

fellow colleagues, Douglas Freign. Since it was founded,

RIM produced several telecommunication gadget such as

inter@active pager and introduced wireless handheld.

Since then, after more than 20 years, RIM has kept

growing and producing latest and most high tech

telecommunication products.

The blackberry phenomenon has been started in

Indonesia since 2001. Based on the data gather from

tecnojoural, Blackberry customer increases 100 – 500

thousands in a year. It can be seen from Blackberry

internet service customer amount, XL Axiata, for

example, at the end of 2011, they had 1,4 million

blackberry internet service users which previously they

only had 750 thousands customer.

According to the statistics by Google trends,

Indonesia is the biggest country for blackberry users

and Jakarta is the third largest city in the world that

has the most blackberry users.

Figure II.3 Blackberry traffic users in Indonesia

Source: Google trends

RIM launched the official forum in November 2011

for Indonesia users. It enables members to share their

thoughts, experienced and idea regarding the Blackberry

product. Yet, in comparison with Blackberry corner in

Kaskus, RIM officially popular has been less popular.

Table II.1 comparison between BB corner at Kaskus and RIM forum

  BB corner at Kaskus

RIM forum

Date of first thread December 12,2009 November 2011

Amount of threads since Jan 2012 -May 2012

210 35

III. AIM AND BENEFITS

The aims of this research are;

Knows the factors that influence a

participant’s commitment to Kaskus online

community

To find out if the participation in Kaskus

online communities influences a member’s

commitment behavior towards the Blackberry

product.

To figure out that if membership in a

Kaskus online community impact the

behavioral actions of consumers

To know if there is a difference in the

brand commitment based on member’s

frequency participation

Meanwhile, this research can give positive benefit

for the company

A company can have a more effective

marketing strategy

A company can rewards community member's

contribution properly

The online community can be a way for

companies to be open with member’s

opinion, either it is positive or negative

such as complaints.

IV . PROBLEM STATEMENT

Industry expert suggests that online communities add

value in several ways such as by building brand

awareness and image, providing access to the voice of

loyal customers, increasing supplier commitment, and

generating revenue from existing customers ( Kim, Chooi,

Qualls, Han : 2008) .

In this case, the researcher wants to figure out

what things that influence members of online community

commit to it and how does it spill over brand

commitment of members of the online community.Variables

that being used to measure online community commitment

are member suppport, community value, member

contribution and freedom of expression. Furthormore, to

measure the effect of brand commitment, the researcher

used several variables such as purchase intentions,

cross over buying, word of mouth, co-production and

participation.

V. PREVIOUS RESEARCH

This research is a re-application of the previous

journal which title is “ It takes marketplace community

to raise brand commitment : the role of online community

“, taken from Journal of Marketing Management (tier A)

year 2008 which written by Jae Woo Kim, ( Korea

University, Korea ), Jiho Choi, ( Chonnam National

University, Korea ), William Qualls, ( University of

Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA ) and Kyesook Han, (

Wuhan College, Korea ). In the previous journal, the

writers’ researched product was herbal products and

their respondents were 1,500 members from herbal

products online community. The result confirmed that

online community commitment is a key influence of brand

commitment. They also found that online community

commitment participants have a stronger brand commitment

than consumers who are not members of the community. In

brief, the research revealed that among online community

members, brand commitment is enhanced for both active

brand users and non-users of the targeted brand.

VI. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research is solving several questions in a similar

way with the original authors of the previous research.

RQ1: Does member’s perception of supporting

infrastructure of member communication influence

member’s online community commitment towards online

community?

RQ2: Does online community member’s perception of

community value influence member’s commitment to the

online community?

RQ3: Does online community appreciation to member’s

contribution to online community influence member’s

commitment?

RQ4: Does online community member’s perception of

freedom of expression influence member’s commitment to

the online community?

RQ5: Does consumer commitment to online community

influence brand commitment of online community

participants

RQ6: Does member’s of the online community who

commits to the brand influence

a. Their intention to repurchase the same brand?

b. Their intention to purchase related products

( cross over buyings)?

c. Their positive word of mouth regarding the brand?

d. Their involvement in an upcoming co-production of

brand?

e. Their participation in sponsored marketing

activities by the brand?

VII. STRUCTURE

The thesis structure

CHAPTER I BACKGROUND

I. BACKGROUND

II. SCOPE

III. AIM AND BENEFIT

IV. PROBLEM STATEMENT

V. PREVIOUS RESEARCH

CHAPTER II THEORITICAL FOUNDATION

2.1 THEORITICAL FOUNDATION

2.1.2 SUPPORT FOR MEMBER COMMUNICATION

2.1.3 COMMUNITY VALUE

2.1.4 MEMBER CONTRIBUTION

2.1.5 FREEDON OF EXPRESSION

2.1.6 ONLINE COMMUNITY COMMITMENT

2.1.7 BRAND COMMITMENT

2.1.8 PURCHASE INTENTIONS

2.1.9 CROSS OVER BUYING

2.1.10 WORD OF MOUTH

2.1.11CO-PRODUCTION

2.1.12 PARTICIPATION

2,2 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

3.2 PREVIOUS RESEARCH

3.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

3.4 SCOPE OF STUY

3.5 RESEARCH DESIGN

3.5.1 DATA COLLECTION METHOD

3.5.2 SCALING TECHNIQUES

3.5.3 UNIT OF ANALYSIS

3.5.4 SAMPLING METHOD

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS

3.7 HYPHOTHESES

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS

4.1 Research data

4.2 Analysis of the results

4.3 Discussion of the result

CHAPTER V

5.1 Conclusion

5.2 Managerial implications

5.3 Scientific implications to Marketing

5.4 Limitations

5.5 Future research recommendations