Research Findings

My research is now complete, just putting the finishing touches on my dissertation before i hand it in.
On the whole, this research has made a significant contribution to what is currently understood regarding symbolic consumption, brand communty, and the emerging roles of consumers as producers of value.
I would like to say a big thankyou to the Behance Network and all community members for allowing me to conduct a netnography of this online brand community.
Through the research process i have revealed that online brand communities generate brand culture in a number of ways including through the construction of self, through forming emotional member-brand and member-member relationships, through the sharing of stories describing the experiential aspects of brand consumption and production, and through the practice of rituals.
Through the variety of ways in which the Behance Network brand is consumed and produced, community culture and consequent brand culture is both generated and sustained.
The research findings highlight the growing role of consumers as producers, whereby the Behance Network brand would have little to no value without the community which the brand surrounds. Contrasting earlier literature describing the nature of online brand community, this research describes a brand around a community; a brand which provides a virtal platform which empowers consumers to generate and sustain the culture.