The netnographic method as early warning: Linking antecedents of pre-release behavior of technology-enabled community to future market trends

Following the netnographic approach which includes entrée, data collection and analysis, interpretation, and member checks, the findings show that the pre-release online behavior is influenced by a number of factors (antecedents): product characteristics, user characteristics, social factors, adoption intention, attitude, expectations, and product information. As many of these antecedents were used to forecast market performance (sales) in several past studies, it can be implied that the online behavior-based variables, which is the outcome of all the above identified antecedents, are potential signals or predictors of future sales. Preliminary investigation also revealed that there is strong correlation between the community-variables and sales, suggesting the usefulness of these pre-release community-variables in predicting future sales. Moreover, the study also highlights the usefulness of the netnographic method in understanding the attitudes, preferences, opinions, and adoption intentions of community members long before the product is launched in the market.