Despite the increasing attention to customer engagement (CE) by practitioners and academics, extant studies have largely been restricted to conceptualized relationships without empirical testing (So, King, & Sparks, 2014). Drawing on social identity theory and social exchange theory, this study develops a research model delineating the relationship between customer identification (CI), CE and customer purchasing behaviors in virtual communities. The model was tested with structural equation modeling and survey data from 513 members of two virtual tourism communities. Results indicate that both customer-community identification and customer-customer identification (constituting two classifications of CI) have directly positive effect on customer engagement attitude, on which the duration of membership in a community has a moderating effect. Additionally, customer-customer identification influences customer engagement behavior directly and positively, of which customer engagement attitude is the psychological foundation. Finally, customer engagement attitude and customer engagement behavior will promote customers’ purchasing behaviors. The contribution of this paper is that CE has been empirically validated to compose of customer engagement attitude and customer engagement behavior these two separate variables, and CI is testified to be an antecedent rather than a dimension of CE, in line with the standpoints proposed by Algesheimer, Dholakia, and Herrmann (2005).Through the current investigation, empirical studies into the concept connotation and formation mechanism of CE are enriched, and the insight into customer behavior management and CE marketing is intensified.

• Xiaoyun Han(Sun Yat-sen University, China)
• Lianlian Hua(Sun Yat-sen University, China)
• Lin Hu(Sun Yat-sen University, China)