Influence of self-perceived creativity and social media use in predicting E-entrepreneurial intention

Entrepreneurship has gained widespread attention in the 21st century. This study aims to examine the direct effect of self-perceived creativity on e-entrepreneurship intention and the moderating effect of social media use on the relationship between self-perceived creativity and e-entrepreneurship intention. Data were gathered from 248 Omani entrepreneurs. The findings revealed that the direct effect of self-perceived creativity and social media use significantly influences e-entrepreneurship intention. Notably, the positive impact of self-perceived creativity on e-entrepreneurship intention was moderated by social media use. This study concluded that self-perceived creativity is a crucial factor at the start of the entrepreneurial process, as it contributes to designing new products and services. In addition, this study introduced social media use as a boundary condition on the relationship between self-perceived creativity and e-entrepreneurial intention. Therefore, this study differs from other studies, as it examines whether social media improves opportunities for entrepreneurs and works for discovering and generating opportunities.     

Reciprocal intention in knowledge seeking: Examining social exchange theory in an online professional community

The free-rider problem in an online professional community could, over time, undermine the wealth of the community and deplete the knowledge inventory to unacceptable levels. A knowledge seeker’s intention to reciprocate is motivated by perceived social benefits. An interpretation of intention to reciprocate cannot be fully addressed without investigating how knowledge seekers define the community support received in their knowledge-seeking process. This study suggests that perceived community support is the degree to which knowledge seekers perceive a supportive climate created by linking actors. An empirical study involving 471 knowledge seekers was conducted in an online professional community that seekers used to search for and acquire programming knowledge. The results indicated that knowledge seekers take perceived social benefits and perceived community support into account when forming an intention to reciprocate. In addition, perceived community support positively moderated the effect of knowledge-seeking effort on perceived social benefits. These findings contribute to the existing literature on knowledge-seeking by using social exchange theory to integrate perceived community support and better explain the intention of knowledge seekers to reciprocate in an online professional community. Theoretical and practical implications derived from the findings are further discussed.     

Examination of how social aspects moderate the relationship between task characteristics and usage of social communication technologies (SCTs) in organizations

Because of the increasing significance of social communication technologies within an organization, they have become a new form of information processing, resulting in business process transitions and increased benefits. By applying media richness theory and social theories, this study investigated how social communication technologies (SCTs) can be used by an employee to fit his/her task characteristics. Additionally, it also examined how the employee's social relationships moderated media usage in the current job environment and how this usage influenced the task performance. Five media were selected in this study (telephone, video conferencing, email, instant messaging, and blog). Using a hierarchical regression approach, we found that task characteristics were related to media usage, whereas social factors (social influence and social affinity) moderated the degree of the relationships. A few particular media and technologies seemed to perform well, however these are influenced by the social aspects. Moreover, the usage of social technologies results in positive task performance. The performance of a few specific technologies demonstrated binding effects (email performance was associated with instant messenger performance). In summary, we found that the usage of SCTs is instrumentally determined by the interaction between the task and social relationships.     

新媒体传播对转发意愿及品牌态度的影响研究

传统传播环境下企业营销传播活动对用户品牌态度形成具有显著影响,但社会化媒体的发展极大地改变了企业营销传播的生态环境,现阶段企业的社会化媒体传播并未获得预期影响力,需要从理论上对企业社会化媒体传播的策略及其影响因素进行创新性研究。本文采用实验研究方法,基于企业传播信息内容主题、信息源、传播策略与用户再传播意愿和品牌态度间关系的理论假设,实证研究发现:企业社会化媒体传播对用户品牌态度有正向显著影响;信息内容主题类型、信息源、传播组合策略对用户再传播意愿有显著影响;用户再传播意愿对用户品牌态度的影响不显著等。研究结论丰富了企业社会化媒体传播的理论研究,对企业社会化媒体传播实践具有指导意义。     

Predicting positive user responses to social media advertising: The roles of emotional appeal,informativeness, and creativity

As social network services become more pervasive, social media advertising emerges as an attractive vehicle for augmenting advertising effectiveness. To leverage this new means of marketing, one must understand what engages SNS users in a favorable online behavior (i.e., overtly indicating personal interest in, or support for, the exposed message by clicking the Like or Share button in Facebook), thereby resulting in an effective advertising campaign. This research conceptualizes SNS ad effectiveness as a concept encompassing emotional appeal, informativeness and creativity that all have a potential to contribute to a positive online behavior. It empirically investigates the antecedents of positive user behavior for a SNS ad based on the theory of reasoned action, the social influence theory, and a persuasion theory. It proposes and tests a conceptual model of the formation of online user’s behavioral responses with regards to SNS advertising. The results of our empirical tests of the model reveal that informativeness and advertising creativity were key drivers of favorable behavioral responses to an SNS ad and that intention to engage in favorable user responses was positively associated with purchase intention. Based on these findings, the paper suggests further research directions and offers implications for harnessing the full potential of the new SNS advertising platform.     

Understanding trust influencing factors in social media communication: A qualitative study

Based on five types of trust, this research explores trust influencing factors in peer-to-peer interpersonal communication, group communication and mass communication. Previous research has mainly focused on trust and the corresponding antecedents in electronic commerce communication and online collaboration. This study extends the literature on trust influencing factors in social media communication. A trust traffic light model is used to illustrate the importance of keywords, drawn from interviews with 115 participants who use WeChat frequently. Salient trust factors were found and further elaborated through qualitative analysis. Furthermore, we developed a trust cognitive onion model to illustrate the interactions of trust factors.     

Why do small and medium enterprises use social media marketing and what is the impact: Empirical insights from India

Increasingly firms are looking to use social media to connect with different stakeholders as plans on building presence on such platforms are becoming part of top-level strategy. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that would help the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of India to adopt Social Media Marketing (SMM) mechanisms for improving their business impact. Adoption of SMM by SMEs has considerable impact on the improvement of business outcome of the SMEs. A theoretical model has been developed with the help of theory borrowed from TAM and UTAUT2 with some modifications to explore this impact through business performance, sales, connect with customers, identify customer' needs and creativity of the employees. The theoretical model has been validated empirically using a survey of 310 firms and subsequent analysis have been carried out using structured equation modelling. The results highlight that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and compatibility positively affect impact of SMM after adoption by the SMEs. The facilitating conditions have insignificant impact whereas cost has a significant but negative impact on the use of SMM by SMEs. Since there are a few studies in this context, the study contributes to existing literature on the impact of SMM in SMEs in an emerging economy.     

社交媒体时代中国智库国际传播机遇、现状与提升路径

智库作为战略与政策研究和决策咨询机构,其国际影响力是全球化时代一个国家软实力的重要表现,是综合国力的重要组成部分,而增强智库的国际传播力是智库国际影响力塑造的关键举措和国家对外传播的重要战略。当今时代,国际社交媒体作为智库对外传播的重要渠道,加强中国智库在国际社交媒体平台的传播力是提升其国际影响力的主要方向。文章分析社交媒体时代为中国智库国际传播带来的机遇,比较中国智库与国际知名智库在利用国际社交媒体进行对外传播方面的差异,进而提出社交媒体时代中国智库国际传播力提升的有效路径,为中国智库国际化传播的建设,尤其是中国智库通过国际社交媒体提升国际传播力,提供参考和借鉴。分析发现中国智库与国外智库在国际传播力方面存在明显差距,建议中国智库在当下的社交媒体时代将智库国际传播能力视为核心业务能力体系的重要组成部分,构建并增强“思想—资源—信息—传播”四大智库关键网络,实施国际化战略、开放化战略、学术圈战略、“朋友圈”战略、思想力战略、宏议题战略、社交媒体战略、红播主战略的组合战略以提升我国智库的国际传播力。     

A symbolic interactionism perspective of using social media for personal and business communication

Achieving the anticipated business benefits of a social medium is important as organizations diligently invest in different social media platforms. While much previous research assumes that social media helps organizations to communicate with customers, less is known about whether customers embrace using social media to interact with organizations. It is important to understand the role of social media for business communication from the customers’ perspective, as this may significantly deviate from the organizations’ own communicative intentions. In this exploratory case study of the Moon Struck hotel in China, we investigate both how customers interpret the hotel’s use of WeChat official account for business communication and how customers respond to messages received from Moon Struck’s WeChat account. Adopting a symbolic interactionism perspective, we surprisingly find that WeChat personal accounts and Moon Struck’s official account offer radically different meanings to followers. Specifically, WeChat personal account symbolizes a sociality-oriented meaning (e.g., relationship and image building), while Moon Struck’s WeChat official account symbolizes information broadcasting-related meaning (e.g., selling, advertising, and branding). Both technological features and the distance of relationships among users contribute to the constructed symbolic meaning of technology, subsequently affecting users’ WeChat use patterns. The theoretical implications of this study are discussed and recommendations are made for future research and practice.     

Role of technology attraction and parasocial interaction in social shopping websites

Attraction is an essential factor in interactions between individuals. Some existing studies have examined multiple dimensions of attraction including social, physical, and task attraction. However, the mechanism behind these three attraction dimensions and parasocial interaction in social shopping websites has not been well examined. This study adopts technology attraction theory and parasocial interaction theory to analyze how three types of technology attraction affect parasocial interaction, which consequently influences users’ social commerce intention. This study conducted a survey to analyze the proposed empirical model and analyzed data from 248 social shopping website users. The results indicate that social attraction and task attraction positively and directly affect the users’ parasocial interaction. In contrast, physical attraction indirectly influences users’ parasocial interaction via social attraction and task attraction, respectively. Parasocial interaction consequently influences users’ social commerce intention. Discussion, limitations, and implications of the study are presented.     

The role of social media in the engagement and information processes of social CRM

This study furthers investigation into exactly how Social CRM (S-CRM) is different from traditional CRM, and models the interrelationships between its capabilities. It is underpinned in dynamic capabilities theory, to explain how social media, as a resource all organizations use, can lead to differing performance outcomes. It is underpinned in seminal research into traditional CRM, but which does not cater for the disruptive nature of social media. We outline how S-CRM is a second-order dynamic capability consistng of a set of first-order integrative dynamic capabiliies that, when properly interrelated, lead to performance outcomes. We particularly model the role of S-CRM front- and back-office technology capabilities, customer engagement initiatives, and social information processes in driving customer relationship performance. Findings show that S-CRM is different from traditional CRM in a range of ways in the front- and back-offices, and provide a framework for researcher and managers in information systems and marketing to operate at strategic and tactical levels within S-CRM, while being congisant of both.     

Examining continuance use on social network and micro-blogging sites: Different roles of self-image and peer influence

Social network sites (SNS) and micro-blogging sites are popular yet distinctive social media. Previous studies have focused on one type of social media and thus overlook how the distinctive features of SNS and micro-blogging sites may affect underlying motivational mechanisms. To address this research gap, we draw from the self-regulation framework and propose a research model to explain how different appraisal factors (i.e., self-image and peer influence) affect continuance use through emotional responses (i.e., a sense of belonging and satisfaction). Furthermore, we argue that the effects of these appraisal and emotional factors are different across types of social media. We tested our research model by survey data collected from SNS and micro-blogging sites. The results confirm our hypotheses: First, self-image is a more significant factor in increasing SNS users’ sense of belonging and satisfaction, while peer influence has a greater effect on micro-blogging sites users’ sense of belonging and satisfaction. Second, the sense of belonging explains the greater variance of continuance intention in SNS as compared with satisfaction. A few theoretical and practical implications are discussed related to our findings on different motivational mechanisms.     

Determining factors in the adoption and recommendation of mobile wallet services in India: Analysis of the effect of innovativeness,stress to use and social influence

Potential for the use of mobile wallet is enormous and it is drawing attention as an alternative mode of payment worldwide. The present research aims to provide important insights into the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) and UTAUT2 (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) models. This study develops a conceptual model to determine the most significant factors influencing user's intention, perceived satisfaction and recommendation to use mobile wallet. The research model included 206 responses from an online and manual survey in India. Our study tested the moderating effect of innovativeness, stress to use and social influence on user's perceived satisfaction and recommendation to use mobile wallet services. We found that ease of use, usefulness, perceived risk, attitude, to have significant effect on user's intention, which further influenced user's perceived satisfaction and recommendation to use mobile wallet services. We also determined the significant moderating effect of stress to use and social influence on user's perceived satisfaction and recommendation to mobile wallet services. This study provides an integrated framework for academicians to measure the moderating effect of psychological, social and risk factors on technology acceptance. It can also help practitioners by identifying important factors affecting user's decision, which further affects user's perceived satisfaction and recommendation to use mobile wallet services.     

Social media enablers and inhibitors: Understanding their relationships in a social networking site context

This study extends and tests the dual factor model of technology usage (Cenfetelli, 2004, Cenfetelli and Schwarz, 2011), which recognizes enablers and inhibitors as two distinct constructs in the context of social media. We test the effect of two enablers: perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment on perceived communication quality and social media continuance intention. We advance the understanding of the conceptualization of inhibitors from object-based, social-based, behavioral-based, and affective-based perspectives. We investigate the moderating effects of affective-based inhibitors (i.e., perceived social media distress and perceived social media anxiety) and the direct effects of object-based inhibitor (rapid change), social-based inhibitor (i.e., distorted reputation), and behavioral-based inhibitor (perceived complexity) on communication quality and continuance intention. To test the hypotheses, we collected data using an Online Crowdsourcing Markets (OCMs) technique. Using a sample of 268 Facebook users, our findings suggest perceived enjoyment is the main enabler, whereas perceived complexity is the main inhibitor of social media continuance intention. The findings also suggest that perceived social media anxiety moderates the relationships between (1) perceived complexity and perceived enjoyment, (2) perceived complexity and perceived usefulness, and (3) perceived complexity and perceived communication quality. We also find distorted reputation has a positive effect on perceived complexity but rapid change does not have a significant effect on perceived complexity. Perceived communication quality also significantly influences social media continuance intention. Our study confirms the dual factor model of technology usage and advances social media research by demonstrating that inhibitors are distinct from enablers.     

科学传播系统视角下的科技期刊与大众媒体合作

【目的】探讨科技期刊与大众媒体的合作对于期刊的引用和管理的影响及这种互动与科学传播体系的关系。【方法】 以实证手段分析中国媒体报道科技论文与科技论文引用率的相关性,并从科学传播体制层面探讨媒体与期刊的互动。【结果】 中国媒体报道与期刊论文的更高影响力具有相关性,但我国科技期刊在系统性利用科学传播资源方面尚显不足。【结论】要从中国科学传播系统出发,充分考虑科技期刊、科研工作者和科学新闻的不同需求及论文的新闻发布对各方的不同影响,制定基于论文成果的开放科学传播平台与战略。     

Examining the relationship between sociomaterial practices enacted in the organizational use of social media and the emerging role of organizational generativity

The growth of social media has enabled new operating methods and sparked organizational optimism in social technologies. We must broadly and distinctively identify the practices enacted in the organizational use of social technologies, understand how these practices influence each other, and the mechanisms driving their achievement. This paper deduces the sociomaterial practices enacted in the organizational use of social media and the augmenting generative capabilities. We surveyed seventy-three (73) organizations, collected 267 usable responses and applied structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques to analyze the data. The paper offers two contributions. First, we utilize the affordances-in-practice perspective to identify and categorize organizational practices enacted on social media, including functional, symbolic, and interactive practices. Then, we highlight the role of organizational generativity in facilitating these practices. Generativity represents the ability to revitalize, procreate, and introduce new ways of acting in dynamic or transient situations. Overall, our findings show how social media practices relate to organizational generativity and the mediating role of symbolic-driven practices.     

我国大陆31个省级行政区社会科学类期刊影响力分析与评价

【目的】 分析和评价我国大陆31个省级行政区社会科学类期刊的影响力。【方法】 以我国31个省级行政区的社会科学类期刊为研究对象,对期刊复合影响因子、综合影响因子、影响力指数(CI)、2015年下载量、2015年下载率、基金论文比、期刊分区进行了较为详细的对比分析,探讨各地区期刊的影响力。【结果】 标准化CI平均值大于1的省级行政区为北京市(1.446)、上海市(1.355)、重庆市(1.173)、湖北省(1.010),CI值最低的4个省级行政区分别为海南省(0.510)、内蒙古自治区(0.497)、贵州省(0.403)、河北省(0.391);标准化复合影响因子平均值大于1的省级行政区为上海市(1.431)、北京市(1.264)、重庆市(1.210)、四川省(1.035),较低的4个省级行政区为内蒙古自治区(0.562)、贵州省(0.563)、河北省(0.544)、安徽省(0.652)。【结论】 我国大陆31个省级行政区期刊发展水平极不平衡,期刊数量和影响力分布与各地区教育、文化、社会发展水平密切相关。     

Inside out and outside in: How the COVID-19 pandemic affects self-disclosure on social media

As social distancing and lockdown orders grew more pervasive, individuals increasingly turned to social media for support, entertainment, and connection to others. We posit that global health emergencies - specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic - change how and what individuals self-disclose on social media. We argue that IS research needs to consider how privacy (self-focused) and social (other-focused) calculus have moved some issues outside in (caused by a shift in what is considered socially appropriate) and others inside out (caused by a shift in what information should be shared for the public good). We identify a series of directions for future research that hold potential for furthering our understanding of online self-disclosure and its factors during health emergencies.     

Role of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in user social media acceptance within workspace: Assessing unobserved heterogeneity

This study develops and empirically tests a theoretical extension of a technology acceptance model that integrates intrinsic and extrinsic motivators into IT acceptance to predict the adoption of social media within the workspace. The model was tested using cross-sectional data collected from different workplaces in different geographic regions. To detect the homogeneity of users’ behavior, we used a response-based procedure for partial least squares. The model was strongly supported for the global model. Our results revealed the existence of distinct adoption behaviors for different groups within the overall sample. These findings advance theory and contribute to future research on social media adoption.     

Facebook usage and mental health: An empirical study of role of non-directional social comparisons in the UK

The present paper explores the relationship between nature of Facebook usage, non-directional comparisons and depressive syndromes. The extant research on linkage between social media usage and mental health is inconclusive. The paper uses data collected through an online survey of 399 Facebook users in the UK. A Facebook frequency rating scale was developed and validated as a part of the study. The Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure was modified and used to measure social comparison. The depressive syndromes were captured by the modified Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The Rank Theory of Depression was used a guiding framework. The data collection had focused on the 20–29 year olds, as justified by the literature.The study found a negative relationship between active Facebook use and non-directional social comparisons. The relationship was reversed in the case of passive usage. There is small but significant causal linkage between increased non-directional social comparisons and depressive symptoms among the users.