온라인 패션 커뮤니티에서 회원들 간의 구매정보 교환과정에 관한 연구

초록

This study analyzed the communication styles of opinion leaders that expressed their opinions actively at online communities and effective delivery methods in the process of exchanging opinions and information. The previous studies on online communities, online opinion leaders, communication styles, and word-of-mouth communication were reviewed to prepare for theoretical grounds for the study’s goals and to set the following research questions: <Research Question 1> What are the communication styles of opinion leaders in online communities?; <Research Question 2> What kind of impact do the online opinion leaders’ information postings have on the recipients’ choice of information?; and <Research Question 3> What is the word-of-mouth effect in information choice according to the communication styles of online opinion leaders?Analyzed in the study were the bulletin board of an online community that dealt with information about fashion products and its members. They shared information of such topics as “comments after shopping”, “questions and answers about products,” “questions and answers about how to coordinate the current belongings,” “product photos” and “exchange of personal opinions about products.” Based on the previous studies, nine opinion leaders were selected, and their communication styles were analyzed. As a result,they were categorized into three styles: the <objective style> tried to provide more detailed information and thus secure informational professionalism than general postings; the <subjective style> tried to form information consensus with others by providing information about products and concerned information; and the <visual style> provided information directly with their own belongings and photos of wearing them instead of contents. The general users were satisfied with the community participation with active information acquirement and sharing based on the ability to search information smoothly in the “aspect of intention.” In the “aspect of perception,” they noticed the postings of certain writers with information power. In the “aspect of attitude,” they were likely to develop new purchase intention by checking and reinforcing the information they already had through the postings with opinion leadership. Finally in the “aspect of action,” they looked for certain writers when trying to form an image of a product, recommend related information to others, or mimicking a certain communication style when writing a posting and researching for information for later. They exhibited information familiarity with the postings whose style was similar to their own communication style and thought those postings had higher information delivery power and reliability. The members that preferred the <objective style> thought the information completion level was high and there was professionalism. Meanwhile, those who had information familiarity through consensus preferred the <subjective style>. And they thought the information delivery power was high with the <visual style> that offered information as it was through photos attached. According to the analysis results, it is apparent that the <objective>, <subjective> and <visual> communication styles of the opinion leaders in the online fashion community were related to the individual communication tendencies of the information recipients and had influences on the reinforcement of the old information and the acceptance process of new information. There should be strategic organizations through the combinations and emphases of communication styles proper for the contents and situations of information to be effectively delivered.

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