Consumers' motivation to interact in virtual food communities - The importance of self-presentation and learning

Consumption-based virtual communities are nowadays a common place on the Internet where individuals share and acquire knowledge on food and specific food-related issues such as preparation and cooking. The objective of this research is to propose and test a model that illustrates the role of motivation to self-present to and learn from the community regarding consumers' willingness to interact in virtual food communities. The study investigates 1) the associations between the pre-existing consumer interests in food and general online interaction, and consumers' willingness to interact in virtual food communities, and 2) the mediating role of consumers' motivation to self-present to and learn from the community in explaining these associations. An online questionnaire (n = 980) was conducted among Danish consumers. Results showed that motivation to learn and motivation to self-present are strong mediators of the relationships especially between food involvement and behavioural interaction intention. The chance to learn from and present oneself to the community are reasons why consumers engage in interaction in virtual food communities, given their pre-existing interest in food and, to some extent, their general online interaction propensity. Virtual food communities should therefore provide consumers with the opportunity to present themselves as skilled individuals to the community and the opportunity to learn from the information available from that community. Still, community managers must keep in mind that these opportunities will only appeal to food involved consumers with a certain online interaction propensity.