Tausczik, Yla R., Laura A. Dabbish, and Robert E. Kraut. "Building loyalty to online communities through bond and identity-based attachment to sub-groups." Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing. 2014.

This research explores how attachment to subgroups within larger online communities affects user loyalty. It distinguishes between bond-based attachment (connections to individual members) and identity-based attachment (connections to the group as a whole), showing through two experiments that both types of attachment can enhance loyalty to the larger community. The studies found that active communication within subgroups boosts attachment more than mere awareness of other members. By altering the structure of communication (dyadic versus group-wide), the research reveals different causes for bond- and identity-based attachments but finds no significant difference in their consequences on loyalty. The similarity in outcomes for both types of attachment is discussed, considering theoretical and methodological perspectives.