A Study of Sense of Virtual Community: Empirical Realities and Structural Aspirations

Abstract

This study investigates the development of a sense of virtual community (SOVC) within a WeChat-based professional learning community for foreign language instructors in China. Grounded in McMillan & Chavis’s (1986) four-dimensional framework—membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection—the research employs a modified Sense of Community Index (SCI) to assess 192 instructors’ perceptions. Findings reveal a paradoxical duality: while the community demonstrates strong instrumental functionality and symbolic identity, critical relational dimensions remain fragmented. Membership shows robust shared purpose, yet influence is hindered by low member familiarity and ambivalent commitment. Emotional connection relies heavily on past collective experiences and future optimism but lacks consistent present-day engagement. The study attributes these gaps to cultural factors and structural over-reliance on administrative efficiency. To reconcile these tensions, the authors propose a cyber-physical integration framework leveraging WeChat’s native features, including tiered identity systems, rotating moderation, and anonymized emotional support channels. The results highlight the need to balance transactional utility with communal praxis in virtual professional learning environments, offering actionable insights for designing human-centered digital communities in post-pandemic education.