Motivational function and online community participation towards brand commitment: A case of Grand Blue Wave Hotel, Shah Alam - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 136

(β = 0.173, p = .004) toward brand commitment.
While controlling for online community participa-
tion, motivational functions had significant effect
on brand commitment. There is some improve-
ment of beta coefficients value which is β = −.192
(p = .001), but still contributed minimally toward
the model. In this case, the R value for online com-
munity participation and motivational functions
as a predictor towards brand commitment is 0.246
while the percentage of variance was only 6 percent
( R 2

8 SUGGESTION FOR FUTURE

RESEARCH

It is suggested that this study to be conducted
using the quantitative approach at other hotels
and easily replicated at other hotels so that a larger
sample size could be obtained. Future studies also
may focus on the enhancement and justification
of the scales employed in the present study to help
marketers in gaining significant insight into the
beneficial aspects of social media communities.
The researcher also would like to suggest a study
on the level of readiness towards social media in
the Malaysian hospitality industry because only
limited research has looked at the implications of
the 'like' button has for brands.

= .060). The result indicates that there was a
significantly low correlation between motivational
functions and brand commitment when control-
ling for mediating effect. It can be said that online
community participation significantly influence
and mediate the relationship between motivational
function and brand commitment.

9 CONCLUSION

7 DISCUSSION

The outcomes from this study provide several
implications that are essential for the Malaysia hos-
pitality industry. As for the theoretical implication,
since little study regarding the impacts of social
media toward brand commitment are undertaken,
the outcome from this study will add more knowl-
edge and deep comprehension for future study.
From practical implication, this study will be an
opportunity to marketers to integrate social media
as effective business instrument to build brand
name and stay forward in the race. Thus, hotel can
generate strong relationship and customer com-
mitment towards their brand.
As a conclusion, the outcome from this study
will provide additional information for Grand Blue
Wave Hotel to enhance its Facebook page because
the social media marketing is part of the current
trend and able to maintain competitive advan-
tage. The Grand Blue Wave management also
should focus to do some improvements in terms
of motivational functions that consumer wants
and also take proactive actions by implementing
necessary strategies to overcome this issue. Due
to the importance, uniqueness and rapid growth
of social media, marketers and researchers should
pay special attention to this phenomenon and fur-
ther examine the notions and theories in the social
media contexts.

RQ1: The results indicated the direction of relation-
ship between independent variable and dependent
variable predicted as a very weak relationship. This
means low motivational functions tend to lower
brand commitment level. When hotel's Facebook
page is not fulfilling the benefits of what their fans
expected, it will lead to low contribution toward
the brand commitment.
RQ2: In this study, online community participa-
tion significantly and positively influence brand
commitment. When the level of participation in
online community is high, it tends to raise the level
of brand commitment toward the Grand Blue
Wave Hotel. Similarly if the level of participation
in online community is low, it tends to lower the
level of brand commitment toward the Grand Blue
Wave Hotel. The researcher believed that this situ-
ation occurs, perhaps, because of mentality of the
local that hard to commit to certain brand with-
out having prior experience of the product and
services even though they are actively participat-
ing in the online community. Interestingly, Kang
(2011) reported there is no significant relation-
ship between online community participation and
brand commitment.
RQ3: The mediating effects of online commu-
nity participation on motivational functions and
brand commitment increased, but the relation-
ship is still weak. The researcher believed that it is
not necessarily for consumers to participate in the
online community to commit with the brand of
Grand Blue Wave Hotel. Mohd Gazali Sayed Ibra-
him (2013) also explained that Grand Blue Wave
has their own customer segmentation which is the
middle age or baby boomers who less patronized
the social media because this type of group pre-
ferred a direct conversation.

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