The Social Network?: Nonprofit Constituent Engagement Through Social Media

Social media has become an important part of public relations for nonprofit organizations. Social media has the potential to engage stakeholders and constituents of nonprofit organizations. However, little scholarly attention has been focused on how users react to social media posts by nonprofit organizations. To enhance understanding of how organizational social media activity affects users’ engagement, this study examines Facebook and Twitter utilization and user response of nonprofit advocacy groups. The analysis reveals that users respond differently to stimuli across platforms.     

Live Streamers on Twitch.tv as Social Media Influencers: Chances and Challenges for Strategic Communication

ABSTRACT

Twitch.tv is one of the most successful online live streaming platforms in the world, with 200 million viewers, 2 million regular “streamers,” and a market value of over $1billion. In this paper, we offer a first conceptualization of streamers as social media influencers, and how effectively they can perform strategic communication for sponsors. We draw on extensive ethnographic research and over a hundred semi-structured interviews with streamers to address two questions: first, how does Twitch operate as a platform for strategic communication; second, what skills do streamers need to be successful influencers? In the first case, we show Twitch is well suited to influencing, in large part due to its integration of data analytics, while streamers are using these tools to adopt a business-oriented mindset; in the second case, we show the importance of authenticity to both streamers and clients, and how channels of different sizes offer strategic communication opportunities. The article contributes to the emerging literature on Twitch, developing insights from influencing and strategic communication, but given the increasing scope of live streaming, we also argue the phenomenon – particularly when combined with the economic dynamics of influencing – is just as important for making sense of the wider media landscape today.     

Measuring Heterogeneous Price Effects for Home Acquisition Programs in At‐Risk Regions

Any entity offering flood insurance, whether it is private or government‐administered such as the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), faces the challenge of solvency. This is especially true for the NFIP, where homeowner affordability criteria limit the opportunity to charge fully risk‐based premiums. One solution is to remove the highest flood risk properties from the insurer's book of business. Acquisition (buyout) of flood‐prone structures is a potentially permanent solution that eliminates the highest risk properties while providing homeowners with financial assistance to relocate in a less risky location. To encourage participation, homeowners are offered a preflood fair market value of their damaged (or at risk of damage) structures. Although many factors have been shown to affect a homeowner's decision to accept an acquisition offer, very little research has been devoted to the influence of price or monetary incentive offered on homeowners' willingness to participate in acquisition programs. We estimate a pooled probit model and employ a bootstrap methodology to determine the effects of hypothetical home price offers on homeowners' acquisition decisions. We do so while controlling for environmental factors, property characteristics, and homeowner sociodemographic characteristics. Results show that price indeed has a positive effect on likelihood of accepting an acquisition contract. Furthermore, estimated homeowner supply curves differ significantly based on the damage status of the acquisition offer, as well as homeowner and property characteristics.     

The rural telecommuter surplus in Southwestern Ontario,Canada

This paper asks the question: what kind of economic benefits do rural telecommuters experience in Southwestern Ontario? This is a relevant question in Canada where, according to Statistics Canada (2017) one in 14 people work from home. This paper presents an overview of the current literature on telecommuting. We estimate the telecommuter surplus in Southwestern Ontario where the region is currently deploying one of Canada's largest publicly-funded ultra-high-speed broadband initiatives known as SouthWest Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT). The analysis is based on SWIFT residential and farm surveys (n?=?3948) conducted in 2017. We find that an average telecommuter's surplus in terms of costs saved, including opportunity cost ranges from $8820 to $23964 per annum per telecommuter, depending on the number of days telecommuted per week for home and primary residence dwelling type. The social net benefits of telecommuting differ from its private net benefit (the focus of our paper) since the former includes both positive and negative externalities associated with telecommuting such as reduced traffic congestion, reduced probability of road accidents, as well as some workers shirking their duties (a negative impact). We leave this for future work.     

On academic publishing,the myth of the East–West nexus,and tourism scholars in a regime era – a commentary on “The global permutations of the Western publication regime” by Erik Cohen,Scott A. Cohen,and Victor T. King

The article, “The global permutations of the Western publication regime” (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2016.1272556), inspires this short commentary. I respond directly to two points made in the original article about academic publishing and divisions between the “East” and “West” and make an additional point about the role of tourism scholars in these debates. My reason for writing this commentary is twofold: to take seriously the publishing regime’s influence in academia around the world and to challenge a universalizing critique of its features.     

Challenging the principles of ecotourism: insights from entrepreneurs on environmental and economic sustainability in Langkawi,Malaysia

Ecotourism is a normative concept defined and driven by generalized principles concerning local livelihoods and conservation of natural and cultural environments. Supply-side studies considering the applicability of these principles in practice are limited. In particular, an understanding of how entrepreneurialism shapes ecotourism is largely absent from the literature. We investigate the intersection of entrepreneurialism, ecotourism, and governance using a case study of actors at the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park (KKGP) in Langkawi, Malaysia, which has seen a rapid rise in entrepreneurial “ecotourism” activities. However, levels of competition between actors, their perceptions of ecotourism, and the challenges and tensions they face are unknown. To address this, a “hierarchy of entrepreneurship” is presented, grouping actors into three tiers: governing institutions, tour companies, and independent entrepreneurs, from whom qualitative data are elicited. Opinions and contestations between and among tiers are elucidated around themes including how understandings of ecotourism influence entrepreneurial strategies, and how challenges and tensions may inhibit the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of ecotourism at KKGP. The study demonstrates that the normative dogma guiding how ecotourism should be practised must be balanced against the diverse understandings, motivations, and capacities of ecotourism entrepreneurs on the ground and the effectiveness of governance systems.     

Negotiation,bargaining, and discounts: generating WoM and local tourism development at the Tabriz bazaar,Iran

This paper examines the effects of negotiation intention, bargaining propensity, and discount satisfaction on word-of-mouth (WoM) behaviours for tourists visiting Tabriz bazaar, Iran. Data from 615-survey respondents highlight that tourists are motivated to conduct WoM behaviour when they are experientially satisfied with the opportunity to negotiate and bargain, and when they are satisfied with the discount they receive. This paper makes theoretical contributions to social exchange theory and presents managerial implications for policy-makers to generate tourism development.     

Ethical Sensemaking in Impact Investing: Reasons and Motives in the Chinese Renewable Energy Sector

Journal of Business Ethics - Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered products have started to permeate various spheres of our lives. One of the most controversial of such products is the sex robot, an...     

如何选择核级流体系统元件供应商

随着核电行业的重新振兴,世界各地开始兴建许多新的大型核电项目,导致有核级资质的元件产品供应商短缺。在20世纪后30年,核工业的衰退使得供应商锐减,一些元件供应商破产倒闭,其它的则放弃了维护成本昂贵的核电认证项目。今天,随着核电行业的复兴,公用事业公司、工程公司、建设公司和大型设备供应商发现在寻找具有广泛产品线及有能力在合理时间内交付产品的合格元件供应商方面有很大困难。