Social media use for public engagement during water crisis in Cape Town

This study examines social media use for public engagement during the Cape Town water crisis in South Africa. The study applies technology affordance and attribution theories to explore social media features (affordances) utilised by local authorities and the public, meanings embedded in the social media posts and the attributions of the water crisis cause among the actors Data gathering and analysis followed mixed methods. Qualitative data were gathered using key informant interviews and netnography (data scrapping on Twitter) while a household survey (n= 96) was conducted to obtain quantitative data. The university research committee and City of Cape Town issued ethical clearances. During the water crisis, metavoicing, persistent engagement and visibility emerged as social media affordances Social media posts reflected societal dynamics and attributed the crisis as external, unstable, and controllable These findings are critical towards handling future crises and suggest collaborative efforts as the desirable action.

The dual drivetrain model of digital transformation: role of industrial big-data-based affordance

PurposeTo better understand the role of industrial big data in promoting digital transformation, the authors propose a theoretical framework of industrial big-data-based affordance in the form of an illustrative metaphor – what the authors call the “organizational drivetrain.”Design/methodology/approachThis study investigates the effective use of industrial big data in the process of digital transformation based on the technology affordance–actualization theoretical lens. A software platform and services provider with more than 4,000 industrial enterprise clients in China was selected as the case study object for analyzing the digital affordance and actualization driven by industrial big data.FindingsDrawing on a revelatory case study, the authors identify three affordances of industrial big data in the organization, namely developing data-driven customized projects, provisioning equipment-data-driven life cycle services, establishing data-based trust and determining affordance actualization actions driven by technology and market. In addition, the authors reveal the underlying drivetrain mechanisms to advance industrial big data affordance and actualization: stabilizing, enriching and pioneering.Originality/valueThis study builds a drivetrain model on digital transformation by industrial big data affordance actualization. The authors also provide practical implications that can help practitioners to implement digital transformation effectively and extract value from their investment.

Examining user satisfaction and stickiness in social networking sites from a technology affordance lens: uncovering the moderating effect of user experience

PurposeThe aim of this study is to explore, identify and understand the impact of technology affordance in the context of social networking sites (SNSs). Moreover, this study incorporates user experience as a moderator, in order to explore behavioral differences between veterans (high-experience users) and newbies (low-experience users).Design/methodology/approachA research model was developed to examine the influences of three technology affordances: interactivity, information and navigation on user satisfaction and SNS stickiness. Totally 266 data were collected from a famous college in China using an online survey, and structural equation modeling technique was used to examine the proposed research model.FindingsThe empirical research findings indicated that the three technology affordance attributes exhibited different degrees of influence on user satisfaction, which in turn facilitated SNS stickiness. Particularly, high-experience users were more likely influenced by interactivity and information affordances, while low-experience users are more susceptible to navigation affordance.Practical implicationsThis study can provide guidelines to the platform administrators to design SNSs from the aspects of interactivity, information and navigation attributes and pay attention to the preference differences between high-experience users and low-experience users.Originality/valueThis study uncovers the significant antecedents of SNS stickiness from a technology affordance lens and reveals the moderating effect of user experience on the relationship between three technology affordance attributes and satisfaction.

Taxonomy for real-time digital data initiatives

Real-time digital data are becoming important assets in a growing number of organizations. This paper, applying the affordance theory, describes the development of a taxonomy for understanding real-time digital data initiatives. The proposed taxonomy is composed by two categories, the Technology affordance and the Affordance actualization, respectively gathering four and five dimensions. Specifically, the Technology affordances of the real-time digital initiatives are real-time sensing, real-time mass visibility, real-time experimentation and real-time coordination, while the Affordance actualizations are service, efficiency, analytics, aggregation and generation.