The low status advantage: the effect of status structure on participation in an online community

Despite the proliferation of online communities that dominantly feature its high status and most accomplished users, no research has addressed conditions under which consumers may prefer a community of low status or more inexperienced members. This study investigates the effect of status structure (i.e., the proportion of high status to low status members) and consumption motivations (i.e., utilitarian vs. hedonic) on consumers’ willingness to participate in an online community. We find that a high status-dominant structure motivates participation when the community or product motive is utilitarian. By contrast, a low status-dominant structure motivates participation to a greater degree when the motive is hedonic. A need for legitimacy underlies increased participation intentions when the status structure is high status-dominant, and a need for connectedness plays a mediating role when the status structure is low status-dominant. The findings provide important implications for marketers in regard to the ways in which status is messaged in online communities.