Network activities have become a fad, but research as to how consumers' participation in online community activities will influence their buying intention remains limited. This study, taking the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) as an example, is aimed at understanding the impact of interactivity and self-centrality of virtual community activities on consumers' purchase intentions.316 usable surveys were collected through internet. Results showed that self-centrality was stronger than interactivity in influencing brand identification (i.e., identifying with a particular baseball team), and that brand identification was a significant mediator linking self-centrality and interactivity with brand identification. Moreover, among these factors, brand identification was most influential on purchase intention. Finally, the implications of these results were discussed and future research directions were also provided.
