Testing an extended model of consumer behavior in the context of social media-based brand communities

Due to the benefits of brand community initiatives and the potential advantages of social media, many marketing managers made significant investments in building brand communities based on social media. A noticeable issue is how to measure the success of such investments in ways that are understandable and comparable to other marketing initiatives. To address this issue, it is essential to understand how social media-based brand communities influence customers' perceptions and behaviors. The purpose of this article is to develop and estimate an extended model of how different aspects of customers' relationships with such communities influence their perceptions and behaviors. The paper describes a way a customer's identification with a brand influences relationships with brand community elements, brand community markers, and ultimately brand relationship quality and brand loyalty. Then using a large sample of brand community members in social media and structural equation modeling, the authors estimate how social media-based brand communities influence brand relationship quality and brand loyalty. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Antecedents and consequences of trust in a social media brand: A cross-cultural study of Twitter

This study extends brand relationship theory to the context of the microblogging platform Twitter. The authors investigate the impact of Twitter trust on users’ intentions to continue using the platform and to “follow” brands that are hosted on Twitter (the trust transfer phenomenon). They also explore the role of perceived self-Twitter personality match in strengthening trust towards the Twitter brand. A cross-cultural American–Ukrainian sample allows to identify potential culture-based differences in brand personality and brand trust concepts. The results show that the positive effect of trust in Twitter on its users’ patronage intentions is robust across two cultures with diverse history and ideology. An important novel finding is the influence of trust in Twitter on patronage intentions towards the businesses hosted on Twitter. However, this relationship reaches statistical significance only in the Ukrainian sample, signaling potential differences in the trust transfer processes in different cultures. The study confirms the role of similarity in personality traits between Twitter users and the Twitter brand in engendering trust in Twitter. The salience of different personality traits in the “personality match – Twitter trust” link for different cultures suggests important implications for global marketers.     

Role of social media community in strengthening trust and loyalty for a university

As the increasing internationalization of higher education creates competition among the universities, many institutions are making use of social media communities to attract and retain students. We surveyed 206 users of a university Facebook page to investigate how it may be related to their identification with the university community and the university brand. We further investigate how this identification is associated with the trust and loyalty to the institution and is likely to be linked to positive behaviors such as promoting the university to their peers as an active member of the university community. Our results show that the perceived strength of the Facebook community is related to the identification with the university community and the university brand which in turn are related to trust and loyalty. Higher loyalty is linked to citizenship behaviors such as increased contribution to the educational process labeled in-role behaviors and providing positive word of mouth about the university labeled extra-role behaviors. With the challenges of a diverse and global student body which is expected to continue increasing, universities can benefit from use of social media in developing identity, loyalty and trust.     

Crisis communication,learning and responding: Best practices in social media

As noted by Seeger (2006) the notion of best practices is often use to improve professional practice; to create research and functional recommendations to use in a specific situation. This essay describes best practices in crisis communication specifically through the use of social media. It provides suggestions and approaches for improving the effectiveness of crisis communication and learning with and between organizations, governments and citizens. Seven best practices for effective crisis communication using social media are outlined.     

The influence of disposition and social ties on trust in new virtual teammates

With the increased presence of social media tools such as LinkedIn and Facebook, social network information is now commonplace. Social media websites prominently display the social distance or so-called “degrees of separation” among users, effectively allowing people to view their shared social ties with others, including prospective teammates they have not met. Through the presentation and manipulation of social network information, this longitudinal experiment investigated whether dispositional and relational variables contribute to “swift trust” among new virtual teammates. Data from 74 participants were collected to test a path analytic model predicting that social ties and propensity to trust influence perceptions of a new teammate’s trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity) as well as the willingness to trust that new teammate when given the opportunity to do so. Path analysis indicated good model fit, but showed no significant evidence that social ties or propensity to trust affect perceived trustworthiness at the initial point of team engagement. Additionally, only one component of perceived trustworthiness (perceived ability) and propensity to trust were found to predict trusting behavior towards a new, unknown, teammate.     

The influence of familiarity,trust and norms of reciprocity on an experienced sense of community: an empirical analysis based on social online services

The growing use of social online services raises the question of what encourages members to participate actively and maintain accumulated social capital. Our research has particularly become aware of the relevance of familiarity, trust and reciprocity in understanding the members' sense of a virtual community (VC). Familiarity and trust are efficient criteria to assess and determine the extent to which one should engage in a virtual relationship. Furthermore, the effort of sharing experiences and knowledge must be based on the expectation of receiving certain returns. A structural equation modelling, specifically partial least squares, is proposed to assess the relationships between the constructs. Overall, the empirical results provided strong support for the hypotheses. Familiarity and trust lead the member to develop a growing perceived community support (PCS) and significantly influence the sense of a VC. Norms of reciprocity directly influence affective trust and PCS. Higher familiarity does not moderate the impact of affective trust on PCS, however. The results of this study could thus help social online service providers to create a successful business model and to determine the main drivers of the members' sense of a VC.     

Coping with information in social media: The effects of network structure and knowledge on perception of information value

The explosive growth of social media has intrigued many scholars to inquire into why people willingly share information with others. However, relatively little attention has been devoted to how people determine which information they share in the networked environment. In this study, a 2 (network density – dense vs. sparse) × 2 (knowledge – expert vs. novice) × 3 (information valence – negative vs. neutral vs. positive) online experiment was performed to examine how the three factors interact and cross over in shaping individuals’ perceptions of the value of information for themselves and for others in the network. Results show that individuals’ perceptions of information value are influenced not just by their level of knowledge, but also by how the network environment is structured. Implications for the findings are discussed.     

Understanding the effects of trust and risk on individual behavior toward social media platforms: A meta-analysis of the empirical evidence

Trust and risk have been theorized and empirically approved as the most influential factors affecting individual behavior toward social media platforms (SMPs). However, the evidence is scattered and the understanding of the effects is ambiguous. To address this problem, a rigorous and quantitative meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the empirical evidence of 43 studies in information systems research between 2006 and 2014. The findings suggested that trust and risk both had significant effects on individual behavior toward SMPs but that trust had a stronger effect. Moderating effects of trust objects (community members vs. platforms) and platform types (virtual communities vs. social networking sites) were found. Surprisingly, culture was found to exert no moderating effect. This paper contributes more generalized knowledge to social media research literature to the theory with regard to the influence of trust and risk on individual behavior toward SMPs. The knowledge serves as the foundation for future research efforts in social media. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Perpetuating online sexism offline: Anonymity,interactivity, and the effects of sexist hashtags on social media

Sexism and sexual harassment are not uncommon in online environments such as social networking sites, forums, and video games. This experiment investigated whether users’ anonymity and level of interactivity with sexist content on social media influenced sexist attitudes and offline behavior. Participants (N = 172) used a Twitter account that was anonymous or had personally identifying details. They were asked to share (i.e., retweet) or write posts incorporating a sexist hashtag. After exposure, participants completed two purportedly unrelated tasks, a survey and a job hiring simulation in which they evaluated male and female candidates’ resumés. Anonymous participants reported greater hostile sexism after tweeting than nonanonymous participants. Participants who composed sexist tweets reported greater hostile sexism and ranked female job candidates as less competent than those who retweeted, although this did not significantly affect their likelihood to hire.     

Truth,trust, and civic duty: Cultural factors in citizens' perceptions of mobile phone apps and social media in disasters

This study investigates how citizens perceive the role of mobile phone apps specifically designed for disaster communication, and how these perceptions may differ from perceived roles and functions of social media in disaster‐related tasks/situations. Focusing on trust in authorities and technology use, results suggest that social media use not only fosters trust via shared narratives and collective sense‐making but may also improve trust relationships through local authorities assuming the function of a trustworthy information provider. In disaster apps usage, trust between citizens and authorities is generated through perceptions of shared responsibility rather than shared narratives. Apps were seen as mechanisms that reveal authorities' general willingness to share control, which may help overcome citizens' perceptions that they are distrusted by authorities.     

Experiencing motivational conflict on social media in a crisis situation: The case of the Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy

This study examined the relationship between motivational conflict involving social media use and attitude formation in a brand crisis situation. An online experiment was conducted with 658 participants using a 2 (news-article valence: positive vs. negative) × 2 (situational cue valence: positive vs. negative) between-subjects design. During the experiment, participants loyal to Chick-fil-A (defense-motivated) were asked to communicate the brand through the brand's social networking sites (SNSs) while receiving a cue for the SNS audience's general unfavorable opinions on the crisis issue, the Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy (impression-motivated). It was found that when motivational conflict was experienced (defense vs. impression), (1) individuals' brand attitudes were affected more by objective information such as a news article than by a cue for audience opinion and (2) their positive brand-related cognitions were countervailed by their impression-related cognitions. Overall, the findings suggest that it is not always desirable for a company to encourage customers to engage in SNS-facilitated interaction in a crisis situation.     

The effects of network sharing on knowledge-sharing activities and job performance in enterprise social media environments

This study examines the influence of the tertius iungens orientation on knowledge-sharing activities and individual job performance within enterprise social media environments. The empirical analysis reveals that knowledge self-efficacy, social interaction ties, and the norm of reciprocity positively influence the tertius iungens orientation and knowledge-sharing activities in social media, while enjoyment of helping does not have a significant influence. In addition, the tertius iungens orientation has a significant impact on knowledge-sharing activities in social media, which in turn influences individual job performance. Based on the results of this analysis, this study discusses the research findings and proposes theoretical and practical implications of the study as well as the research's limitations.     

The effects of helping,self-expression,and enjoyment on social capital in social media: the moderating effect of avoidance attachment in the tourism context

ABSTRACT

A majority of senior Internet users maintains persistent social connections with others through social media (SM), such as Facebook and Twitter. This research explores the impacts of helping, self-expression, and enjoyment on bonding social capital and bridging social capital which in turn influence SM involvement; it also explores the moderating effect of avoidance attachment among senior SM users. The results show that helping, self-expression, and enjoyment have significant impacts on bonding social capital and bridging social capital. Also, bonding social capital and bridging social capital have significant effects on SM involvement. Furthermore, relationships between helping and bonding social capital, between self-expression and bonding social capital, and between self-expression and bridging social capital are stronger for seniors with high avoidance attachment. Conversely, the relationships between enjoyment and bonding social capital as well as between enjoyment and bridging social capital are stronger for seniors with low avoidance attachment. Accordingly, the results of this study provide theoretical contributions to the literature of behaviour and information technology. In addition, some implications of the research and various strategies for practitioners and marketers that can be used to better increase users’ involvement in SM for tourism-related activities are discussed.     

How heterogeneous community engage newcomers? The effect of community diversity on newcomers’ perception of inclusion: An empirical study in social media service

Online communities that provide social media services need to engage newcomers so as to not lose them to competitors. This study examines the role of community diversity (in terms of perceived visible dissimilarity, perceived informational dissimilarity and perceived value dissimilarity) in influencing perceived inclusion of newcomers in the online community and the influence of such perception on newcomers’ engagement intention. The theoretical background on perceived inclusion is obtained from the optimal distinctiveness theory, which comprises of two dimensions, namely, social identification and perceived uniqueness. The results support the multiple roles of community diversity on a newcomer’s perceived inclusion. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the effect of community diversity on newcomers’ engagement behavior, and provide recommendations on designing a personalized community diversity environment.     

The effects of interactive brand placements in online games on children’s cognitive,affective, and conative brand responses

This study investigated how persuasive messages integrated in an online game affects children’s cognitive, affective, and conative responses to the brand, as well as their attitude toward the game itself. An experiment conducted among 2453 girls between the ages of 11 and 17 demonstrated that confrontation with interactive brand placement in the game resulted in more positive attitudes toward the game, higher top of mind awareness of the brand, more positive brand images, and more favorable behavioral intentions. In addition, consistent with persuasion literature and theories on child development, this study showed that there was a three-way interaction effect between exposure to the brand placement, age, and prior brand use for behavioral intentions. The youngest girls who had no prior experience with the brand were more strongly influenced by the brand placement than the oldest girls who had no prior brand experience.     

The influence of user interaction and participation in social media on the consumption intention of niche products

Social media may be particularly adept at promoting niche products because of the tendency of consumers to participate in generating reviews and discussing such products, thereby raising interest in them. In this study, we investigate how patterns of user interaction in discussing a niche cultural product may influence participation levels, which in turn enhance consumption intentions. We show that higher levels of participation can indeed enhance consumption intention. Furthermore, interaction patterns with high inclusiveness and betweenness centralization may enhance participation levels, whereas out-degree centralization and core-periphery have a detrimental influence. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Blogging privacy rule orientations,privacy management,and content deletion practices: The variability of online privacy management activity at different stages of social media use

The purpose of this study was to examine social media users’ blogging privacy rule orientations, privacy management regulation, and content deletion practices as distinct types of activity occurring at different stages of the blogging process (before, during, and after blogging) that may aid in understanding the functioning of blogging disclosure activity overall. The study was guided by a complementary application of both the uses and gratifications perspective and communication privacy management (CPM) theory. A central tenet of both theories suggests that people are variably active in their communication behavior. We identified five discrete blogger privacy rule orientations explaining different online choice-making practices: the self-centric, the utilitarian, the planner, the protector, and the unworried orientations toward blogging. We also identified six different motives for deleting previously-posted information: conflict management, protection of personal identity/safety, fear of retribution, employment security, impression management, emotional regulation, and relational cleansing. Path analysis revealed several direct and indirect paths among bloggers’ motives for deleting previously posted material and their level of disinhibition, blogging privacy rule orientations, amount of time blogging, and privacy management practices. As use of social media increases, exploring variations in privacy management regulation practices is critical.     

Herd behavior in social media: The role of Facebook likes,strength of ties,and expertise

When do social media users click on sponsored content or intend to visit the website at a later time? A qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) using arguments based on herd theory, strength of ties, and social distance shows that only “likes” from socially close and knowledgeable users can consistently generate click-through or view-through intentions. Considering social tie strength in a herd behavior context, the analysis of sufficient configurations for click- and view-through intentions provides a nuanced perspective on social media user behavior and social influence. For instance, click-through intention requires observing a “like” from a close person, while view-through intentions can also develop after observing “likes” from less close acquaintances, yet in the last case only if the user assumes the acquaintance is better informed regarding the sponsored content. In addition, a “like” from a close friend deemed better informed can even make a user click on a sponsored content that was not considered valuable before.     

The effects of video on cognitive load and social presence in multimedia-learning

Two studies examined the use of video in multimedia learning environments. In Study 1, participants (N = 26) viewed one of two versions of a computer-based multimedia presentation: video, which included a video of a lecture with synchronized slides, or no video, which included the slides but only an audio narration of the lecture. Learning, cognitive load and social presence were assessed, but a significant difference was found only for cognitive load, with video experiencing greater cognitive load, t (24) = 2.45, p < .05. In Study 2, students (N = 25) were randomly assigned to either video or no video condition. Background knowledge and visual/verbal learning preference were assessed before viewing the presentation, and learning, cognitive load, and social presence were assessed after viewing. No significant differences were found for learning or social presence. However, a significant visual/verbal learning preference by condition interaction was found for cognitive load, F (1,21) = 4.51, p < .05: low visual-preference students experienced greater cognitive load in the video condition, while high visual-preference students experienced greater cognitive load in the no video condition.     

Promoting collaborative skills in online university: comparing effects of games,mixed reality,social media,and other tools for ICT-supported pedagogical practices

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the development of collaborative skills through nine tools for information and communication technologies (ICT)-supported pedagogical practices, which are used in online universities. Using survey data for 930 online students at the Open University of Catalonia and partial least squares path modelling estimation techniques, three main findings emerged from the study. First, collaborative skills are directly explained by gamification and the use of mixed reality and social media in a socio-technical online learning context. Second, other tools for ICT-supported pedagogical practices (media content, wikis, open educational resources, personal webpages, personal cloud, and sharing files with fellow students and lecturers on the cloud) are not significant on collaborative skills development, when compared to use of games, mixed reality, and social media. Third, the analysis of indirect effects suggests that all four socio-technical factors (ICT, learning tasks, students, and organisation) existing in online university play a decisive, positive and significant role in collaborative skills development. Finally, these results are shown in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM studies. Thus, gamification, mixed reality, and sharing files are significant ICT-supported pedagogical practices in STEM studies. On the other hand, gamification is the only significant tool in non-STEM studies. Results are very useful for new approaches to design a framework for learning-team effectiveness in computer-supported collaborative learning.