The effects of perceived online justice on relational bonds and engagement intention: Evidence from an online game community

Abstract Over the last decade, playing an online game has become one of the most popular leisure activities. Hence, more and more people have spent time interacting with other players in an online game and its online community. Responding to this trend, this study examined the development of online game community members’ engagement intention based on their perceptions of justice and relational bonds. Based on the well-established frameworks of organizational justice and relational bonds, this study formulates and empirically tests a research model attempting to understand interrelationships between four dimensions of perceived online justice (i.e., distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational), three dimensions of relational bonds (i.e., financial, social, and structural), and online community engagement intention. This study collected and analyzed data from 348 members of an online game community with frequency, reliability, confirmatory factor, and correlation analyses, and used the structural equation modeling method. The verified model indicated that financial bonds were significantly influenced by informational justice. However, social bonds were significantly affected by procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice dimensions while structural bonds were significantly impacted by distributive and interpersonal justice dimensions. Lastly, online community engagement intention was significantly influenced by financial, social, and structural bonds. In light of these empirical findings, a thorough understanding of the antecedents of online community engagement intention is critical in building a strong relationship between members and the online community.