Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Commerce - Department of Business Administration

Online communities have become one of the most popular platforms that are continuously used by consumers. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the online communities' characteristics and purchase intention. It also aims to examine the moderating influence of the consumer to consumer communication between the online communities' characteristics with the perceived value. The study population of this research consists of those who have a desire and are willing to buy a car in the near future. The data were collected through a questionnaire from 300 respondents. The study has revealed that there is a positive relationship between the online communities{u2019} characteristics in terms of connectedness, participation and community with the purchase Intention through the perceived value. Also, consumer to consumer communication has a positive effect on the relationship between the connectedness, participation and community with perceived value. This study has a number of theoretical and practical contributions, at the theoretical level, the importance of the study seeks to fill gap in the literature of determining the effect of online communities{u2019} characteristics as a tool of communication on the consumer purchase intention. Practically, the importance of this research stems from researching about the reflection of online communities on the marketing efforts of automotive retailer, also it could help the marketing managers to undertake the analysis of this study to create new tools of the of online marketing that would help in the continuous improvement of marketing

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