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.     

Modeling individual trust development in computer mediated collaboration: A comparison of approaches

This research models and investigates individual trust development over time in computer mediated collaboration. Risk, benefit, utility value, effort, power and interest are six factors that influence individual trust development. This paper introduces two new approaches, the scale balance model and the trust spider diagram, to help model and investigate individual trust development over time. A 2 year longitudinal case study is used to investigate individual trust development based on a yearlong student project. 16 student groups participated in the computer mediated collaboration. Survey data were collected at three points throughout the project year and the results are analyzed using the two approaches. Interviews were also conducted at the end of the project. In this research, interesting findings, such as some dynamic features, are revealed by using the methods. Each approach to analyzing individual trust development has its strengths and weaknesses, and using the two together has the benefit of mitigating some weaknesses and combining the strengths. Analyzing trust development over time contributes to enhance computer mediated collaboration in both theoretical research and practical application.     

A motives framework of social media website use: A survey of young Americans

Social media is increasingly important in daily life and is an especially important social interaction mechanism for young people. Although research has been conducted evaluating user types based on motives for using social media, no such framework has been extended to social media websites. We extend previous research by evaluating the underlying structure of social media website usage motivations using a 13 item survey and evaluations from 19 different social media websites administered to 1686 young Americans. Using a multidimensional scaling approach, we uncover 2 major motive dimensions underlying social media website use: fun-related and content-specific. Based on the derived dimensions, we generate a graphical “quadrant” system for classifying social media websites and depict all 19 social media sites based on their quadrant. We propose that our quadrant system can be used by other researchers to further refine understanding of social media website usage motives.     

Understanding the impact of social media usage among organizations

This study investigates the antecedents and impact of social media usage in organizations. This study uses the technology, organization, and environment framework and includes certain antecedent factors that are specific to social media usage in organizations. The items to measure different purposes of social media usage in organizations were developed, which contribute to the enhancement of social media usage measurement. This study develops and tests an integrated model that contributes to the scholarly research on social media and information systems. The study also helps organizations to understand the benefits of social media usage and provides a justification for investments in social media by organizations.     

Understanding the use of social media by organisations for crisis communication

Many businesses have commenced using social media for crisis communication with stakeholders. However there is little guidance in literature to assist organisational crisis managers with the selection of an appropriate crisis response strategy. Traditional theories on crisis communication may not adequately represent the social media context. This study took a qualitative approach and explored organisational use of social media for crisis communication at seventeen large Australian organisations. An analysis of 15,650 Facebook and Twitter messages was conducted, drawing on the lens of Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) (Coombs & Holladay, 2002). Findings suggested that when large Australian organisations responded to crises via social media, they lacked an awareness of the potential of social media for crisis communication. Organisations often did not respond to stakeholder messages or selected crisis response strategies that may increase reputational risk. The paper contributes important understandings of organisational social media use for crisis communication. It also assists crisis managers by providing six crisis response positions and a taxonomy of social media crisis messages that stakeholders may send to organisations. Key implications are discussed.     

Understanding compulsive social media use: The premise of complementing self-conceptions mismatch with technology

Some anecdotal accounts and research reports have suggested that obsessive social media involvement could turn into a compulsive behavior among university students. Unfortunately, the research that sheds light on the possible conditional nature of that relationship is scarce at best. Therefore, this study tries to address this issue by developing a contingency-based model and tests it using data gathered from a sample of university students. The model postulates that compulsive social media use arises due to self-awareness factors, and together they in turn predict problematic learning outcomes. It also postulates that these relationships are moderated by the influence of technological factors. The results indicate that self-esteem has a significant negative influence on compulsive social media use and that interaction anxiousness has a significant positive influence on the same. The results also reveal that only compulsive social media use has a significant direct influence on problematic learning outcomes; and that social media complementarity plays a moderating role in the model. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice.     

The effects of social media based brand communities on brand community markers,value creation practices,brand trust and brand loyalty

Social media based brand communities are communities initiated on the platform of social media. In this article, we explore whether brand communities based on social media (a special type of online brand communities) have positive effects on the main community elements and value creation practices in the communities as well as on brand trust and brand loyalty. A survey based empirical study with 441 respondents was conducted. The results of structural equation modeling show that brand communities established on social media have positive effects on community markers (i.e., shared consciousness, shared rituals and traditions, and obligations to society), which have positive effects on value creation practices (i.e., social networking, community engagement, impressions management, and brand use). Such communities could enhance brand loyalty through brand use and impression management practices. We show that brand trust has a full mediating role in converting value creation practices into brand loyalty. Implications for practice and future research opportunities are discussed.     

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 reciprocal effects of social network site use and the disposition for self-disclosure: A longitudinal study

Since the advent of social network sites (SNSs), scholars have critically discussed the psychological and societal implication of online self-disclosure. Does Facebook change our willingness to disclose personal information? The present study proposes that the use of SNSs and the psychological disposition for self-disclosure interact reciprocally: Individuals with a stronger disposition show a higher tendency to use SNSs (selection effect). At the same time, frequent SNS use increases the wish to self-disclose online, because self-disclosing behaviors are reinforced through social capital within the SNS environment (socialization effect). In a longitudinal panel study, 488 users of SNSs were surveyed twice in a 6 months interval. Data were analyzed using structure equation modeling. The proposed reciprocal effects of SNS activities and self-disclosure were supported by the data: The disposition for online self-disclosure had a positive longitudinal effect on SNS use which in turn positively influenced the disposition for online self-disclosure. Both effects were moderated by the amount of social capital users received as a consequence of their SNS use.     

Understanding active and passive users: the effects of an active user using normal, hard and unreliable technologies on user assessment of trust in technology and co-user

The aim of this study was to understand how passive users perceive the trustworthiness of active users and technologies under varying technological conditions. An experimental study was designed to vary the functioning of technologies that active users interacted with, while passive users observed these interactions. Active and passive user ratings of technology and partner were collected. Exploratory data analysis suggests that passive users developed perceptions of technologies based on the functioning of the technology and how the active user interacted with the technology. Findings from this research have implications for the design of technologies in environments where active and passive users interact with technologies in different ways. Future work in this area should explore interventions that lead to enhanced affective engagement and trust calibration.     

Internet anxiety: An empirical study of the effects of personality,beliefs, and social support

We examined sources of Internet anxiety; specifically modeling the ties from broad dispositional traits (computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, and personal innovativeness with IT), beliefs about the work environment (about the adequacy of resources and trust in technology), and two forms of social support for IT (leader and peer support) to individuals’ anxiety about using Internet applications. We tested our model using respondents who participated in virtual teams during a 16-week period. Our findings suggested that Internet anxiety was affected both by the users’ personality and by beliefs that can be influenced by providing adequate resources to support the technology, encourage trust in technology, and working to assure users that leaders and peers are supportive of their using the technology. Our findings suggest that by providing appropriate resources and fostering a supportive environment, leaders could reduce Internet anxiety and thus influence the use of technology in the workplace in ways that benefit organizations.     

#Gettinghealthy: The perceived influence of social media on young adult health behaviors

Young adults (18–25 years old) spend a majority of their waking hours with technology and young adulthood is an important developmental time period for establishing lasting health behaviors. Considering the relevance of technology and health during young adulthood the current study explored young adults (N = 34) perceptions of social media’s (e.g., social networking) influence on their health behaviors (i.e., diet and exercise) using a social ecological framework. Data was collected through eight focus groups and four individual interviews. Three themes were identified through phenomenological qualitative analysis. Young adults perceived that technology could be both a barrier and a motivator for exercise. Social media was also credited with expanding food choices through creating access to a variety of recipes, providing a venue for showcasing the food young adults eat or prepare, and distracting young adults from making positive food choices. Participants also reported that it is common to post statuses or pictures relating to exercise practices on social media during young adulthood. Young adults indicated that these posts could be inspirational or misused, depending on the context. Results are discussed in terms of theory and preliminary implications.     

Understanding the interplay of social commerce affordances and swift guanxi: An empirical study

Prior studies highlight consumer behavior in social commerce from the perspective of relational exchange, while culture-driven aspects have been neglected. Given cultural uniqueness in China, this study develops a research model to explore the effects of key social commerce affordances on swift guanxi dimensions and subsequent purchase intention. Data from 450 agricultural product consumers in social commerce were used in PLS analysis for testing the proposed research model. The results indicate that interactivity, stickiness, and word of mouth exert positive effects on mutual understanding, reciprocal favor, and relationship harmony, to various degrees. In turn, swift guanxi dimensions are determinants of consumers’ purchase intention in social commerce.     

Understanding social networking sites adoption in China: A comparison of pre-adoption and post-adoption

Prior experience is an important determinant factor of individual behavior. This paper developed a theoretical model to predict the adoption intention of pre-adopters and post-adopters on social networking sites based on the theory of planned behavior. Using data from online surveys of netizens in China, the proposed model was tested in the context of pre-adoption and post-adoption by using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Then, multi-groups analysis was explored to compare the difference between the two groups. The results show that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control have significant effect on the adoption intention of pre-adopters and post-adopters, and there is no significant difference between the two groups. In addition, information, meeting new people, and conformity motivations have the same significant effect on both groups. However, entertainment motivation has a significant effect on pre-adopters but connecting with old friends has none; in contrast, connecting with old friends has significant effect on post-adopters while entertainment motivation has no significant effect.     

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.     

Explaining physicians’ acceptance of EHCR systems: An extension of TAM with trust and risk factors

This paper explains physicians’ acceptance, in terms of usage intentions, of a central component of health information technology: electronic health care records (EHCR systems). For this purpose, the original version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which included perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards usage, and usage intentions, is extended with trust and risk-related factors such as physicians’ perceptions of institutional trust, perceived risk, and information integrity. The results stress the special importance of attitudinal factors (attitude towards usage and perceived institutional trust) and cognitive instrumental processes (mainly, usefulness perceptions) in determining physicians’ intention to use EHCR systems. Perceptions of institutional trust exerted strong direct effects on physicians’ perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude towards the use of EHCR systems. In addition, trust fully mediated the influences of perceived risk and information integrity perceptions on physicians’ acceptance of EHCR systems.     

Interpersonal knowledge exchange in China: The impact of guanxi and social media

The employees of professional service firms regularly engage in various knowledge-related activities, including the seeking and sharing of knowledge with other people; we refer to this process as interpersonal knowledge exchange (IKE). Two prominent drivers of IKE in China are the socio-cultural concept of guanxi and social media. We conduct an interpretive investigation into IKE, collecting qualitative data from employees in three Chinese organizations. We explore how guanxi lubricates the social media-based communication practices that are central to IKE in China. We report and generalise our findings into theoretical propositions, discuss the practical implications, and identify opportunities for future research.     

Cultural differences in social networking site use: A comparative study of China and the United States

This research compared social networking site (SNS) use in a collectivistic culture, China, and an individualistic culture, the United States (US). Over 400 college student participants from a Southwestern University in Chongqing, China, and 490 college participants from a Midwestern University in the US completed a survey about their use of SNSs – time spent, importance and motives for use. They then rated themselves on a variety of personal characteristics, namely the Big Five Personality factors, Loneliness, Shyness and Life Satisfaction. Results revealed cultural differences in SNS use. US participants spent more time in SNS, considered them to be more important and had more friends in SNSs than did Chinese participants. Self-ratings of personal characteristics also differed in the two cultures as did the personal characteristics that predicted SNS use. In general, personal characteristics were less effective in predicting SNS use in China than in the US. Findings suggest that in collectivistic cultures the importance of the family, friends and one’s groups may be partly responsible for Chinese participants’ lesser use of SNSs, whereas in individualistic cultures the importance of self and having more but less close and enduring friendships may be partly responsible for US participants’ greater use of SNSs. Personal characteristics predicted SNS use in both cultures but were stronger predictors in an individualistic culture than in a collectivistic, consistent with the emphasis on self in the former and on family, friends and one’s groups in the latter. Future research is needed to identify whether cultural values always take precedence over personal characteristics and motives in determining behavior in the virtual world.     

A dynamic longitudinal examination of social media use,needs, and gratifications among college students

This study extends the U&G theoretical perspective to account for the situated, adaptive, and dynamic nature of mediated cognition and behavior. It specifies dynamic uses and gratifications of social media (compared to other media) in the everyday lives of college students using experience sampling data across 4 weeks. The study tests and quantifies reciprocal causal relationships between needs, social media use, and gratifications, as well as their self-sustaining endogenous (i.e., feedback) effects. Social media use is significantly driven by all four categories of needs examined (emotional, cognitive, social, and habitual), but only gratifies some of them. Ungratified needs accumulate over time and drive subsequent social media use. Interpersonal social environments also affect social media use. In particular, solitude and interpersonal support increase social media use, and moderate the effects of needs on social media use.