28 Information Resources Management Journal, 20(1), 28-45, January-March 2007 Copyright © 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. AbstrAct A virtual community (VC) of committed members is of great strategic value to online irms and vendors owing to its ability to attract and retain members. However, online irms and vendors ind it dificult to instill commitment among their VC members. Therefore, this study examines the mechanism of customer commitment formation in a relationship-cum-interest based VC. By understanding the mechanism of customer commitment formation in a VC, online irms and vendors can enhance customer commitment to the VC. Using the theory of reasoned action, this study inds that encouraging participation among customers is the springboard for customer commitment to the VC. However, customer participation should be balanced with a proper mix of cognition and affect enhancing aspects, particularly those aspects that arouse customers’ interests and encourages relationship building among them. Online irms and vendors would thus beneit by encouraging personal relationships among their VC participants. Keywords: community information systems; cognition and affect; computer-mediated communi- cation; customer commitment; electronic commerce; human/computer interaction; user behavior; user attitudes; virtual community IntroductIon A Virtual Community is a community of people with common interest or shared purpose, whose interactions are governed by policies in the form of tacit assumptions, rituals, protocols, rules and laws and who use computer systems to support and mediate social interaction and to facilitate a sense of togetherness (Preece, 2000). Traditionally, VCs have acted as a vir- tual meeting place for people to share interests, build relationships, create fantasies or conduct transactions (Armstrong & Hagel, 1996). Many people join such communities to fulill their communication and social needs. The ability of a VC to attract and retain members has also attracted attention of online irms and vendors (Zingale & Arndt, 2001) who ind the VC useful for developing deeper and broader relationships developing the commitment to Virtual community: the balanced Effects of cognition and Affect Sumeet Gupta, National University of Singapore, Singapore Hee-Woong Kim, National University of Singapore, Singapore