The Collector’s Dilemma: Navigating pleasure and pain in brand communities amidst speculating behavior

While online brand communities are central to consumer-based social networking, they can also introduce paradoxical tensions for collectors. This research examines the dilemma collectors face: their desire to acquire highly desired items often conflicts with their reluctance to buy from speculators, whose disruptive practices inflate prices and restrict access. By investigating how collectors navigate pain associated with the pleasure of collecting in the presence of speculators, this research elucidates the complex interplay between pain, pleasure, and consumption. Drawing on paradox theory, which originates from the organizational behavior literature, along with the hedonic principle, we extend these frameworks to the brand community context to reveal how pain and pleasure are deeply intertwined in the collector experience, especially as third-party disruptors interact with both the brand and community. Using a mixed-method approach, this study first employed a survey distributed through Facebook and Reddit groups within the Squishmallow collector community, followed by a content analysis of posts and comments from the r/Squishmallow subreddit. Findings demonstrate that these meso-level interactions generate persistent emotional and behavioral tensions, exposing a dark side of brand communities that is often overlooked in existing literature. Contrary to initial theorization, we found that the presence of speculators fueled further engagement within brand communities, even as collectors experienced emotional pain. This suggests that brand communities can serve as a vital buffer, helping consumers reinterpret frustrations and transform individual pain into a shared struggle. This research offers practical recommendations to address these paradoxical tensions in the brand community.