Another kind of collective, a brand community, is defined
by Muniz and O’Guinn (2001, p. 412) as “a specialized, nongeographically
bound community, based on a structured set of
social relationships among users of a brand.” The communities
they describe in their insightful work are a better fit for the
types of relationships we encountered in the field than were
Boorstin’s consumption communities. Muniz and O’Guinn’s
study of brand community, along with other work in the realm
of consumer collectives (Holt 1995; Schouten and McAlexander
1995), indicates that intercustomer relationships figure
importantly in the loyalty equation. In our research, we have
found the emphasis on social relationships among customers
to be correct but not entirely complete. Other entities and relationships
weave through the fabric of community.