Identity-based commitment is when users want to stay because of the group’s purpose or topic. Whereas interpersonal-commitment is based on commitment because of liking individual members (e.g., friendships, relationships). 

Identity-based commitment is usually stronger than interpersonal-based commitment since social identity is usually more impactful in terms of user commitment vs personal identity. 

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- The feeling of being part of the community and helping fulfill its mission

- This type of commitment is more effective at keeping people in the community. This is because the people are committed to the community itself and not so much the individual members.

Identity-Based Affective Commitment

- Members feel close to the other individual members of the group, as opposed to the community as a whole

- This type of commitment is more susceptible to member turnover


Interpersonal-Based Affective Commitment

Kraut, Robert E., and Paul Resnick. Building successful online communities: Evidence-based social design. MIT Press, 2012.

Building successful online communities: Evidence-based social design (Kraut and Resnick)

- Members having similar backgrounds or expertise

- Let members pick the subgroups they want to be in instead of placing them in a group

- Highlight members' similar characteristics

- Create names for the subgroups that form in the community (design claim 5 and 6)

- Make community goals/purpose explicit (design claim 8)

Achieving Identity-Based Affective Commitment

 -Provide opportunities for members to learn about one another

-Needs continuous exposure to the group

-Knowing the target that you're trying to influence

-The members will gain more trust with one another the more they interact with one another.

-determinants of if they will join is how social they are being 

-members are more likely to build more trust through private messages and personal chats.

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