Examining the determinants and outcomes of netizens’ participation behaviors on government social media profiles

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-325
Author(s):  
Junpeng Guo ◽  
Chunxin Zhang ◽  
Yi Wu ◽  
Hao Li ◽  
Yu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Measurement Properties ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Personal Involvement

Purpose Government social media profiles (GSPs) are increasingly used by government agencies during social crises, and the success of GSPs is highly dependent on netizens’ participation behavior (NPB). Drawing upon the social support theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model to examine the determinants and outcomes of NPB during a social crisis. Design/methodology/approach To test the research model, a field survey was conducted in the context of Tianjin 2015 explosions in China. The authors adopted a two-step approach to test the models. First, the authors conducted exploratory factor analysis to evaluate the measurement properties of the reflective latent constructs. Then, the authors performed a structural equation analysis to test the hypotheses. Findings The results show that information support and emotional support are significant determinants of NPB and persona involvement moderates the relationships between them. Additionally, this study reveals that information source preference and increasing enthusiasm for becoming a civil journalist are two critical and significant outcomes of NPB. Research limitations/implications There are some limitations in this paper that must be taken into account when interpreting its findings. First, the study is designed on a single profile and concerns a single social crisis. Additionally, future research might consider incorporating factors beyond the individual level, e.g., community social capital (Putnam, 1993). Finally, with the emergence of various IT platforms, such as a government’s own website and online forms, future research can investigate how their characteristics can facilitate other social media platforms’ participation. Practical implications This paper offers a number of crucial research implications to the literature of social media in crisis management, thereby contributing to the explanation of NPB on GSPs in the management of social crises. Considering social support as a factor affecting NPB on GSPs, the authors also add personal involvement to the research on the functions of NPB on GSPs and include encouraging civil journalist and making GSPs the principal source of political information. Social implications The research provides participating netizens on GSPs with some suggestions about generating more cost-effective and useful interventions to improve netizen participation levels on GSPs. The findings highlight that governmental social media profiles must focus on continuous development, such as trying best to satisfy the habits of netizens, to motivate netizens to create dependence of information acquisition on the GSPs, called information source preference. On the other hand, the study reminds netizens of the importance of NPB on GSPs during crises and encourages them to act as civil journalist. Originality/value First, the study investigated the outcome effect of NPB on GSPs on netizens’ information source preference and civil journalist. Second, this study identifies the determinants of NBPs on GSPs from both the informational and the emotional support perspectives. Third, this study investigates the moderating effects of personal involvement on the relationships between determinants from social support and NPB on GSPs.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF SOCIAL COMMERCE CONSTRUCTS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND TRUST IN COMMUNITY ON SOCIAL COMMERCE ACTIVITIES

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-83
Author(s):  
Amir Hidayatulloh
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Social Commerce ◽  
The Social ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
The Individual

This study  aims  to  analyze  social  commerce  constructs, social  support,  and  individual  trust in the  community   in   social   commerce   activities.   Social   support   includes   emotional   support  and informational  support.  The population  was  social  media  users, while  the  samples were  social media users who had made purchase at least two transactions through social media. The sampling technique was convenience sampling. Totally, 162 respondents were involved. Hypothesis testing was  done using  Warp PLS. This study  reveals that individual  trust in  the community  can be built directly  through  the social  commerce  constructs. These  constructs affects both  emotional  support and information support, in which they will ultimately affect the individual trust in the community. Furthermore,  social  commerce  intention  is influenced  by  individual  trust in  the community  and emotional  support.  However,  information  support does not  affect  the social commerce  intention.

Location impact on source and linguistic features for information credibility of social media

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suliman Aladhadh ◽  
Xiuzhen Zhang ◽  
Mark Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeSocial media platforms provide a source of information about events. However, this information may not be credible, and the distance between an information source and the event may impact on that credibility. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address an understanding of the relationship between sources, physical distance from that event and the impact on credibility in social media.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the authors focus on the impact of location on the distribution of content sources (informativeness and source) for different events, and identify the semantic features of the sources and the content of different credibility levels.FindingsThe study found that source location impacts on the number of sources across different events. Location also impacts on the proportion of semantic features in social media content.Research limitations/implicationsThis study illustrated the influence of location on credibility in social media. The study provided an overview of the relationship between content types including semantic features, the source and event locations. However, the authors will include the findings of this study to build the credibility model in the future research.Practical implicationsThe results of this study provide a new understanding of reasons behind the overestimation problem in current credibility models when applied to different domains: such models need to be trained on data from the same place of event, as that can make the model more stable.Originality/valueThis study investigates several events – including crisis, politics and entertainment – with steady methodology. This gives new insights about the distribution of sources, credibility and other information types within and outside the country of an event. Also, this study used the power of location to find alternative approaches to assess credibility in social media.

Impact of word-of-mouth, job attributes and relationship strength on employer attractiveness

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 721-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiz Ahamad
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Job Attributes ◽  
Relationship Strength ◽  
Job Information ◽  
Employer Attractiveness ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Job information through word-of-mouth (WOM) has a crucial impact on employer attractiveness. The phenomenal rise of social media offers alternate WOM platforms for sharing job information, which is quite different from traditional face-to-face WOM. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differential impact of traditional word-of-mouth (t-WOM) and social media word-of-mouth (s-WOM) on employer attractiveness along with the difference in the job attributes and relationship strength with the information source. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 × 2 experiment was conducted to examine the impact of information source (t-WOM and s-WOM), job attributes (tangible and intangible) and relationship strength (strong and weak), on employer attractiveness. Source expertise and source trust were treated as the control variable. Findings The result shows the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness. Moreover, t-WOM from strong relation source found to have a high impact on employer attractiveness than s-WOM. No significant difference due to job attributes was found. Research limitations/implications Use of only positive WOM and not the negative one, student as the subjects, etc. Practical implications The present study suggests using t-WOM and s-WOM to attract talented job seekers. Originality/value This is the first study to analyze the differential impact of t-WOM and s-WOM on employer attractiveness.

Social media and consumer engagement: a review and research agenda

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Barger ◽  
James W. Peltier ◽  
Don E. Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Antecedents And Consequences ◽  
Area Of Concern ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose In “Social media’s slippery slope: challenges, opportunities and future research directions”, Schultz and Peltier (2013) asked “whether or how social media can be used to leverage consumer engagement into highly profitable relationships for both parties”. The purpose of this article is to continue this discussion by reviewing recent literature on consumer engagement and proposing a framework for future research. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews the marketing literature on social media, paying particular attention to consumer engagement, which was identified as a primary area of concern in Schultz and Peltier (2013). Findings A significant amount of research has been conducted on consumer engagement since 2010. Lack of consensus on the definition of the construct has led to fragmentation in the discipline, however. As a result, research related to consumer engagement is often not identified as such, making it difficult for academics and practitioners to stay abreast of developments in this area. Originality/value This critical review provides marketing academics and practitioners insights into the antecedents and consequences of consumer engagement and offers a conceptual framework for future research.

Intellectual capital disclosure on Twitter – empirical evidence from the world’s largest companies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Bryl ◽  
Justyna Fijałkowska ◽  
Dominika Hadro
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Corporate Disclosure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Philosophy ◽  
Business Units ◽  
Structural Capital ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to examine intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) on Twitter by 60 of the world’s largest companies and explains the main themes communicated to stakeholders. The second objective is to determine which topics provoke most stakeholders’ reactions. Design/methodology/approach The authors perform content analysis on more than 42,000 tweets to examine ICD practices along with the reactions of stakeholders in the form of retweets and “favorites” toward the information disclosed. Findings Intellectual capital (IC) is an important theme in corporate disclosure practices, as more than one-third of the published tweets refer to IC. The world’s largest companies focus on relational capital information, followed by human and structural capital. The main IC themes disclosed were management philosophy, corporate reputation and business partnering. Tweets related to IC are of greater interest to stakeholders than other tweets and provoke more reactions. There is no complete consistency between the topics most intensively disclosed by companies and those that elicit the most vivid responses from the addressees. Practical implications This study offers an understanding of the world’s largest companies’ practices that refer to ICD via social media and has implications for organizations in the creation and use of communication channels when developing a dialogue with stakeholders on topics regarding IC that may lead to better management of IC performance. Originality/value This paper is a response to the call for studies on ICD via social media, which is strongly highlighted in the recent literature concerning future research on IC and until now was almost absent in the field of business units. This research provides in-depth insights into the use of Twitter to disclose IC elements and indicates which fields and topics of this disclosure provoke stakeholders’ reactions, which is a novelty in ICD studies.

Does KFC sell rat? Analysis of tweets in the wake of a rumor outbreak

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 660-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjan Pal ◽  
Alton Y.K. Chua ◽  
Dion Hoe-Lian Goh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Personal Involvement ◽  
The Social

Purpose In the wake of a rumor outbreak, individuals exchange three types of messages: rumor messages, counter-rumor messages, and uncertainty-expressing messages. However, the properties of the three types of messages are relatively unknown particularly in the social media context. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to examine these three types of messages posted on social media in the wake of a rumor outbreak. Design/methodology/approach Data included tweets posted after the outbreak of a rumor that wrongly accused the fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for selling rats instead of chicken. Using a deductive approach, codes were derived via content analysis on the tweets. Volume and exposure of tweets were also examined. Findings Counter-rumor tweets (52 percent) outnumbered rumors tweets (32 percent) and uncertainty-expressing tweets (16 percent). Emotions and personal involvement were abundant in rumor tweets. Expressions of credence and references to URLs were high in counter-rumor tweets. Social ties were found widely in uncertainty-expressing tweets. The high volume and exposure of counter-rumor tweets compared with those of either rumor tweets or uncertainty-expressing tweets highlight the potential of counter-rumors to mitigate rumors. Originality/value This research ventures into a relatively unexplored territory by concurrently examining rumor messages, counter-rumor messages and uncertainty-expressing messages in the wake of a rumor outbreak. It reveals that counter-rumor messages have the potential to mitigate rumors on social media.

Influence of e-WOM engagement on consumer purchase intention in social commerce

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Sahabi Yusuf ◽  
Ab Razak Che Hussin ◽  
Abdelsalam H. Busalim
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Commerce ◽  
Current Effort ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Purchase Intention ◽  
Information Characteristics

Purpose As a business paradigm, social commerce (s-commerce) has brought about a new stage of innovation, and by extension, has transmuted the power from seller to buyer. S-commerce is a combination a commercial and social activities in which individuals may spread word of mouth (WOM) about their shopping experiences and knowledge and provide information about product and services to their to their friends. This kind of social interactions among individuals has increased the potentials of eWOM communication. Given such a backdrop, this paper aims to look into the influence of eWOM engagement on consumers’ purchase intention in s-commerce, which may complement the current effort of the research community in this area. Design/methodology/approach This study used elaboration likelihood model, theory of reasoned action and social support theory to investigate the influence of eWOM engagement on consumers’ purchase intention in s-commerce. The study used 218 respondents to evaluate the proposed model using SmartPLS. Findings The empirical results indicate that information characteristics, consumer behavior and technological factors exert a positive influence on consumer purchase intentions. All hypotheses between attitude toward eWOM, information credibility, innovativeness, website quality and eWOM engagement are significant. Also, eWOM engagement has a significant positive influence on consumer purchase intention. However, information quality and social support does not have any significant relationship with eWOM engagement. Research limitations/implications This study seeks to address the dearth of research in the field of s-commerce, especially as it relates to eWOM. The study proposes a new model and empirically validates the hypothesized relationships. This research can serve as a stepping stone for future research in this field. Practical implications This study is one of the early studies focusing on the influence of eWOM engagement, especially in s-commerce. The study offers comprehensive and empirically validated factors pertaining to eWOM engagement in s-commerce. The results of this study are also important to practitioners and online companies’ managers. The study’s model has demonstrated the contextualization of what makes customers engage in eWOM and its influence in s-commerce. The study will also offer insights for firms on how to encourage eWOM engagement among customers. Originality/value A new eWOM engagement model in s-commerce is proposed with consideration on information characteristics, consumer behavior, technological and social factors. The model is validated afterwards.

What is rogue marketing? An exploration of how hard seltzer sparked a social media phenomenon

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cortney L. Norris ◽  
D. Christopher Taylor ◽  
Scott Taylor Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Behavioral Outcomes ◽  
Product Category ◽  
New Product ◽  
Viral Marketing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Marketing Messages

Purpose This study aims to introduce, explicate, offer a framework and provide future research directions for a phenomenon herein named rogue marketing. Rogue marketing is explored vis-à-vis a phenomenon that occurred over the summer of 2019 with a new product category, hard seltzers. It is proposed that rogue marketing occurs when an unaffiliated individual creates and posts an informal message about a brand on social media that becomes viral. Although the post is not funded or endorsed by the company that owns the brand, reaching viral status results in free and unexpected advertising (positive or negative). Design/methodology/approach Rogue marketing is first explored through a comparative analysis with company produced advertisements. Then, the company’s response to rogue marketing is gauged through both qualitative and quantitative data. The sample of 210 respondents was recruited from students enrolled in college hospitality courses and through posts made on social media. Findings Rogue marketing is found to be somewhat more compelling than company produced advertisements and those who found the rogue marketing message more compelling had stronger sentiments regarding the company’s response. Research limitations/implications This exploratory study of rogue marketing provides a conceptualization and starting framework for future research concerning this phenomenon. Originality/value Rogue marketing is a new phenomenon and is distinct from influencer marketing and viral marketing in its characteristics. Additionally, the company’s response to rogue marketing messages may influence behavioral outcomes.

Investigating the adoption of social media in the construction industry: empirical evidence from project teams in China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guofeng Ma ◽  
Shan Jiang ◽  
Jianyao Jia
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Content Type

PurposeA lack of reliable and effective communication tools poses major barriers impeding the performance of construction projects consisting of diverse participants. Although some construction project teams (CPTs) begin to apply social media (SM) as an available approach for project management the entire mechanism of SM adoption in this specific context remains understudied. Therefore, this study aims to adopt a CPT's lens to investigate the critical antecedents and associated effects underlying SM adoption in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachBased on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) theory, a conceptual model was proposed and tested by empirical data collected from 159 CPTs in China. Structural equation modeling technique was employed for data analysis.FindingsThe results demonstrate that all the five extracted TOE-based antecedents including two technological factors (i.e. compatibility and expected cost), one organizational factor (i.e. top management support) and two environmental factors (i.e. project partner collaboration and project fit) are crucial to the adoption of SM in CPTs. Besides, SM acceptance is found to mediate the relationships between organizational and environmental factors and SM use. Moreover, SM use significantly predicts the communication effectiveness of CPTs.Research limitations/implicationsA questionnaire study based on cross-sectional data from China may only unveil the logic of SM adoption in the context of Chinese construction industry within a shorter time interval. It is recommended that future research could develop longitudinal studies among various construction practitioners in different countries to further specify and generalize the current findings.Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive understanding of SM adoption in the construction industry by exploring the preadoption antecedents and postadoption effects from the perspective of project teams. The empirical findings advance the current web-based project management literature and afford new insights for construction practitioners into better managing SM application to reap its full capabilities in projects.

Unraveling the links between active and passive social media usage and seniors' loneliness: a field study in aging care communities

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shufang Yang ◽  
Lin Huang ◽  
Yanli Zhang ◽  
Pengzhu Zhang ◽  
Yuxiang Chris Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe literature reports inconsistent findings about the effects of social media usage (SMU). Researchers distinguish between active and passive social media usage (ASMU and PSMU), which can generate different effects on users by social support and social comparison mechanisms, respectively. Drawing on social presence theory (SPT), this study integrates an implicit social presence mechanism with the above two mechanisms to explicate the links between SMU and seniors' loneliness.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a field study by interviewing seniors living in eight aging care communities in China. Loneliness, social media activities and experiences with social media in terms of online social support (OSS), upward social comparison (USC) and social presence (SP) were assessed. Factor-based structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.FindingsOSS can mediate the relationship between ASMU and seniors' loneliness. Moreover, SP mediates between ASMU, PSMU, and seniors' loneliness, and between OSS, USC and seniors' loneliness. OSS mediates the relationship between ASMU and SP, and USC mediates the relationship between PSMU and SP.Practical implicationsThis study shows that social media can alleviate seniors' loneliness, which could help relieve the pressures faced by health and social care systems. Social presence features are suggested to help older users interact with social health technologies in socially meaningful ways.Originality/valueThis study not only demonstrates that SP can play a crucial role in the relationship between both ASMU and PSMU and loneliness, but also unravels the links between SP and OSS, as well as USC.

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