Author(s):
Yinping Wang

Doi: 10.7508/aiem.01.2024.01.06

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

To help achieve sustainable development of tourism industry of emerging tourist cities, this study employs Netnography and content analysis methods, using Zibo as an example to investigate the mechanism model of value co-creation through user interaction behavior. The study reveals that interactions within the Zibo virtual brand community can be categorized into “customer-customer”, “customer-government”, and “customer-media” interactions. “Customer-customer” interactions are the most fundamental interaction and exist at various stages of brand community development. They primarily involve tourists “seeking help” and local residents “assisting others”, thus creating practical and hedonic value in interpersonal relationships. On the other hand, “customer-government” and “customer-media” interactions mainly create customer asset value through advocacy behaviors. As time progresses, the types of interactions among community subjects amounts, and the patterns become more complicated. With the entry of media into the virtual brand community, an interactive cycle is formed, where the three types of interactions occur simultaneously, leading to the co-creation of value from multiple perspectives.

KEYWORDS:
Value co-creation, Virtual brand community, TikTok, Tourism