The relationship between the firm's social media strategy and the consumers' engagement behavior in aviation

Social media platforms constitute a new frontline for brands to build relationships with their customers. Nevertheless, the literature on social media engagement behavior is unidimensional, as it focuses on customer engagement while neglecting the customer's influence on managerial decisions. The current paper goes a step further by applying the theory of the marketing firm (TMF). We investigated consumer-firm bilateral contingencies through three studies. The first study captures up to 60% of the variance in consumer responses given on Icelandair's Facebook page. The second study shows how customers engage with Icelandair's social media platforms. The third study illustrates the firm's social media strategy from a managerial perspective.     

An investigation of social media data during a product recall scandal

As social media has become an important part of modern daily life, users often share product opinions online and these tend to spike when large companies undergo crises. This paper investigates customer online responses to a large company crisis by uncovering hidden insights in social media comments and presents a framework for handling social media data and crisis management. Analysis of textual Facebook data from users responding to the 2013 horsemeat scandal is presented. In this study, we used a novel comprehensive data analysis framework alongside a text-mining framework to objectively classify and understand customer perceptions during this horsemeat scandal. This framework provides an effective approach for investigating customer perception during a company crisis and measures the effectiveness of crisis management practices which the company has adopted. Our analyses show that social media can provide important insights into customer behaviour during crisis communications.     

Communicating “pink”: an analysis of the communication strategies,transparency, and credibility of breast cancer social media sites

In public relations, the social media explosion has significantly impacted how organizations communicate to their various publics through sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Although previous studies have investigated dialogic communication and relationship building strategies in organizations, few have carried out this in terms of an organization's overall social media presence, especially with nonprofits. Research has found most nonprofits are not taking full advantage of social media. Moreover, the organizations that did use social media typically employed one‐way communication strategies focusing primarily on information dissemination. This study quantitatively analyzed the transparency and credibility of breast cancer nonprofits are participating on social media sites, specifically Facebook and Twitter, and how these sites affect perceptions of credibility and transparency. Overall, most top breast cancer nonprofits are active on both Twitter and Facebook but differ in terms of activity, credibility, and transparency. Organizations that tweeted more had more “likes”, more followers, and more overall tweets and were seen to be more transparent and credible by virtue of activity alone. This study also found a strong relationship between the transparency and credibility of the organization. Therefore, organizations need to use social media sites not only to communicate with their audiences but also to engage in dialogue on a regular basis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of greenwashing on online consumer engagement: A comparative study in France,Germany, Turkey,and the United Kingdom

The effect of the Volkswagen emission crisis in 2015, the biggest greenwashing event in recent years, on the online consumer engagement of Facebook brand pages was investigated in France, Germany, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. These countries have been selected for the reason that Volkswagen sales and diesel‐engine cars and the use of social media are quite common. For 6 years in these four countries, the likes, comments, and shares made by consumers on the Facebook brand page of Volkswagen have been examined. The monthly dataset covers January 2012 to December 2017. The obtained data were analyzed with autoregressive–moving average models. Despite a globally positive approach to green products, countries' attitudes toward greenwashing have been significantly different. The findings showed that online consumer engagement was negative in the United Kingdom and Turkey and in a positive direction in Germany, whereas there was no change in France in the fourth quarter of 2015.     

Understanding social influence in Facebook fundraising: Relationship strength,immediacy of needs,and number of donations

Crowdfunding through social media has presented challenges and opportunities for nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations. To better understand how organizations can harness the power of social media in fundraising, the current research examined the effects of different types of Facebook fundraising posts on donor engagement. Based on Social Impact Theory, three factors of social influence were investigated, including relationship strength with the fundraiser creator, immediacy or urgency of the fundraising need, and number of donations. An online experiment was conducted using samples recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A repeated measures test was performed to explore the effects of three social influence factors on perceived source credibility, feeling of social presence, attitude toward the post, and intention to click, share, and donate. Strongest main effects were found for immediacy of needs. Facebook fundraising posts for an urgent need generated much more positive responses than posts for a nonurgent need. Interaction effects were also found among three variables in perceived credibility and intention to click. Personal relevance and perceived risk moderated the effects of number of donations on intention to donate. Implications for nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations were discussed.     

Reinventing the rattling tin: How UK charities use Facebook in fundraising

Using a multicase study approach, this paper explores how the three biggest UK cancer charities by donations use Facebook in their fundraising campaigns, in order to facilitate understanding of the dynamics of philanthropic asking in a social networking site‐mediated environment. The analysis reveals that Facebook is primarily used to strengthen relationships with supporters, mainly via humanising the brand, fostering obligations, and encouraging social interaction. The mobilization of these relationships in fundraising is facilitated by persuasive strategies, including public recognition, authority, and the fostering of a sense of efficacy among fans, and the most common outcome of this mobilization is public endorsement of charities' fundraising campaigns via sharing. At a time when harsh public spending cuts have left gaps in charity funding that need to be filled by philanthropy, this study aims to make a practical contribution to knowledge by examining what works and how in Facebook fundraising.     

Can social media lead to labor market discrimination? Evidence from a field experiment

In this paper, we investigate the role of social media as a source of information for recruiters to discriminate applicants. We set up a field experiment over a 12‐month period, involving more than 800 applications from two fictitious applicants which differed in their perceived origins, which is an information available only from their Facebook profiles. During the experiment, an unexpected change in the Facebook layout reduced the salience of the information available on social media profiles. Before this change, a significant 41.7% gap between the two applicants callback rates highlights that personal online profiles are used by recruiters as a source of information to discriminate against applicants of foreign origin. After the layout change that mitigates our signal, the difference in callback rates fades away. This result suggests that the screening conducted by the employers does not go beyond the main pages of profiles. It also illustrates that design choices made by online platforms may have important consequences on the extent of discrimination.     

Corporate Sustainable Development and Marketing Communications on Social Media: Fortune 500 Enterprises

This study proposes a measurement to evaluate corporate sustainability marketing communications on social media implemented by Fortune 500 enterprises. The results reveal significant differences between sustainability marketing communications in blogs and on Facebook. This study makes theoretical contributions by proposing a customer‐centric SMC framework that integrates sustainability issues, stimulation of sustainable mindsets and encouragement of sustainable consumption. It also demonstrates how corporate sustainability marketing communications differ on different social media. In addition, practical suggestions are provided. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Social media,an emerging platform for relationship building: A study of engagement with nongovernment organizations in India

The purpose of this study is to explore the major determinants of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) engagement and relationship building on social media in India. Netnography with a metaphoric grounded analysis is used for the data analysis to identify these determinants, and a conceptual framework is proposed to inform the strategic direction of NGOs. The findings suggest that supporters engage with NGOs largely for personal and organizational reasons. Emotions, trust, and information needs emerge as the primary personal drivers for engagement, whereas organizational accountability, performance, brand image, and transparency emerge as organizational drivers. Behavioural intention mediates the relationship between the drivers of engagement and supporter contributions. The study suggests that as the number of supporters on social media platforms is rapidly increasing, NGOs should recognize the importance of the supporter experience while designing their marketing strategies. Given the peculiarity of supporter behaviour in relationship building by NGOs, the inclusion of more supporters may improve the welfare of society.     

Bach,Beethoven, and benefactors: Facebook engagement between symphonies and their stakeholders

• This study analyzes Facebook engagement among the nation's symphonies and their stakeholder publics. Factors such as reliance on donor contributions, program revenues, government grants, investment income, and total assets are proposed as contributing factors in predicting effective stakeholder relations. Public relations scholarship emphasizes the significance of relationships between the organization and its stakeholders and argues that positive relationships are integral to organizational success. Stewardship theory suggests nonprofits rely on a number of tools, including relationship nurturing, to sustain relationships with supportive publics. Scholars have increasingly identified stewardship as an effective method by which to build and maintain relationships. This study assesses one particular aspect of stewardship – relationship nurturing – and the attributes of nonprofit organizations that are successfully cultivating relationships with their stakeholders via social media. We find that benefactors matter. As dependence on stakeholder contributions increases so does stakeholder engagement via Facebook. Findings regarding program revenues and total assets are also significant.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How does industry use social networking sites? An analysis of corporate dialogic uses of Facebook,Twitter, YouTube,and LinkedIn by industry type

This study examines the corporate dialogic uses of four types of social networking sites (SNSs) (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn) with the public and their differences by industry type. The results suggest that corporations have integrated SNS uses, and use SNSs in different ways according to the characteristics and purposes provided by each SNS. In most cases, retailers and communications and transportation companies actively use SNSs and frequently interact with the public. In addition, Facebook was the leading tool for the dialogic feedback loop, as the dialogic interaction index of Facebook was much higher than that of Twitter.     

Reflections of associations and foundations’ applications in new media to increase the quality in disabled people’s lives

Associations and foundations (that support these associations) play a vital role in increasing the life quality of the society in general, and the disabled people in particular. Civil society organizations which place a significant emphasis on the society’s well-being play an active role both in the promotion of disabled people’s rights and the provision of equal opportunities for their active participation in social life. Disabled people represent a disadvantaged group in the society because they experience disadvantages in economic and social life. This study focuses on new media usage of nonprofit oriented associations that are established to support disabled people in Northern Cyprus as a developing country. The content analysis as a quantitative research methodology is used to analyze the Disabled Associations’ and some foundations’ web sites and their official Facebook pages to interpret their identities, their way of communication and their social responsibility projects for increasing the quality of life of disabled people and raising public awareness on disabled people’s rights.

     

Measuring public opinion via digital footprints

Do digital traces accurately reflect individual preferences? Can signals from social media be used to measure public opinion? This paper provides evidence in favour of these hypotheses. We test a regression and post-stratification strategy that combines samples of digital traces with a stratification frame containing individual-level socio-economic data, in order to generate area forecasts of the outcome social phenomena of interest. In our example, we forecast the two-party vote of Democrats and Republicans in the 2018 Texas congressional district and Senate election. Our implementation assumes we can observe, and sample, individuals signaling their preference by favoring one virtual location over another; in our case, visiting Democrat versus Republican Facebook pages during the election campaign. Over the course of seven weeks preceding the mid-term elections we generate vote share forecasts which do not use any traditional survey data as input. Our results indicate that individuals leave digital traces that reflect their preferences.     

Does joining social media groups help to reduce students’ dropout within the first university year?

Using observational data, the aim of our study paper was to investigate whether university students’ dropout within the first year is influenced by participation in social media groups such as Facebook pages created and run by other students. Specifically, in this paper such participation is considered as a treatment and represents a means to help promote and strengthen social relationships amongst students but also to help share information on courses and other material useful for studying and preparing for exams. For this purpose, data from a sample survey of students enrolled in a major Italian university were used. Given a non-random treatment assignment, analysis was carried out using propensity score matching (PSM) in order to correct for selection bias due to a set of observable pretreatment covariates. Several matching techniques and sensitivity analyses suggested that the results were robust for estimating an average treatment effect on the treated group. The estimated effect indicated that participation in social media groups is effective for lowering the dropout rate.     

Regional engagement of locally anchored firms and its influence on socio-economic development in two peripheral regions over time

Abstract

This article sets out to explore the ways locally anchored firms in peripheral regions influence regional social capital through regional engagement and how this contributes to socio-economic development. Through regional engagement firms shape regional contexts by generating concrete outcomes, such as setting up schools (structural aspect) and by possibly influencing regional bonding and bridging social capital (social aspect). To examine the effects of regional engagement and its possible influence on bonding and bridging social capital of regional firms, an analytical framework is developed distinguishing between inclusive/exclusive agency for inclusive/exclusive benefit. This article focuses on regional engagement in two Swiss peripheral regions, which have followed different development paths in spite of their common institutional framework and geographical proximity. This study aims to gain insight into the ‘how’ of regional engagement and its influence on regional social capital and to examine the assumption of higher levels of regional social capital in a dynamic region from a long-term perspective (ca. 1850–2015). The findings of the qualitative research show that the dynamic Rhine Valley indeed disposes of higher levels of regional social capital than the less dynamic Toggenburg, which is related to the willingness of firms and other actors to collaborate for regional interests.     

Dynamics of social economy self-organized on social media: following social entrepreneur forum and social economy network on Facebook

Since the Korean government enacted the Social Enterprise Promotion Act of 2007 aiming to foster and support social enterprises, discourse on the social economy has proliferated both quantitatively and qualitatively. One explanation for this phenomenon is that government-driven policies have dominantly led social enterprises to the ecology of the social economy. To cope with pernicious issues such as unemployment, growing demand for welfare, and the widening gap between rich and poor, however, it cannot be discounted that social activists and nonprofits also have facilitated the development of social enterprises by building online and offline networks. To fill this niche of applying these concepts to the Asian context, this research aims to investigate the ecology of the social economy by analyzing critical stakeholders and keywords embedded in self-organizing networks on social media. This case is critical and attractive to researchers and practitioners not only because the discourse on social economy has not been fully examined but also because self-organizing networks on social media act as social capital among stakeholders and thus offer valuable insights into dealing with the enduring problems that government-driven policies seem unsolvable. By analyzing the evolution of self-organizing social economy networks and social entrepreneurs on Facebook, this research provides policy implications for other Asian countries with underdeveloped social economies and theoretically contributes to the field of public policy analysis and management.     

Exploring social media usage in the public sector: Public employees' perceptions of ICT's usefulness in delivering value added

The present paper explores the effectiveness of the implementation and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the public sector, with a specific focus on the role of social media in improving both public decision-making processes and the quality of public services. We sought to deepen knowledge on this issue by disseminating structured questionnaires to Italian public servants, questioning them about the potentialities and criticalities of social media use in the public sector. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the data.The paper has two main goals. First, we aim to explore public servants' evaluation of social media's impact on public decision-making processes. Second, we are interested in understanding the main socio-demographic variables affecting public servants' perceptions about the importance of social media in these processes. This paper enriches the literature on public sector use of ICT and advances topical discussion on organizational change and decision-making processes in public administrations. In so doing, the paper reveals interesting practical and policy implications by highlighting the key aspects affecting social media's effectiveness and usefulness in the decision-making process and its impact on the public services delivered to the citizenry.     

Exploring sources and outcomes of trust and commitment to nonprofit organizations: The case of Amnesty International Portugal

The interactions between customers and organizations have been regarded as a core aspect in cocreating and developing new products and practices. The current study explores these interactions in the context of citizens and nonprofit organizations. The study comprises two parts: (a) a qualitative approach using interviews and the analysis of social networks to better understand the organization's social media marketing practices and corresponding outcomes and (b) a quantitative approach to analyze antecedents and outcomes of trust and being committed to participate in a nonprofit organization such as Amnesty International. From the qualitative approach, the findings highlight that Amnesty International uses social media (Facebook) to share information, and citizens tend to consider sharing posts, but they do not express new ideas or interact with the organization. These findings contribute to structure the model analyzed in the second stage of the research. Regarding the qualitative approach, the results show that organizational credibility is the most significant driver of trust followed by communicative ability. Affectively commitment to participation and relationship perception act as outcomes of overall commitment.     

Virtual stewardship in the age of new media: have nonprofit organizations' moved beyond Web 1.0 strategies?

• Stewardship has been identified as an important relationship cultivation strategy. The four dimensions of stewardship—reciprocity, responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing—consist of one‐way and two‐way messaging strategies that can be carried out in a variety of manners on the Internet using both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies. Through a content analysis of the Nonprofit Times 100 organizations, this study found that nonprofit organizations overwhelmingly prefer to use their website to cultivate relationships with their stakeholders with stewardship strategies. Despite the hype of social media technologies, including Facebook, there remain many significant questions and obstacles to seeing nonprofits truly embrace social media communication.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.