No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Public engagement with CEOs on social media: Motivations and relational outcomes
Abstract
This study provides one of the earliest empirical analyses to explore how and why publics engage with corporate CEOs on social media and why such engagement matters. It tested a conceptual model linking CEO-public engagement to the interpersonal communicative variables of perceived authenticity and approachability as well as organization-public relational outcomes. Through a web survey of 332 social media users, results showed that publics are primarily motivated by reasons of thought leadership and task attraction when they engage with CEOs on SNSs. CEO-public engagement showed significant positive effects on perceived CEO authenticity and approachability, which in turn, positively influenced public trust and satisfaction. Public engagement with CEOs on social media also directly influenced the quality of organization-public relationships.
... Estar en LinkedIn para los CEO implica la creación de un perfil profesional con el objetivo de construir una marca personal sólida y sobre todo fortalecer la interacción con públicos claves en el ámbito laboral de manera activa y directa (Capriotti, Martínez-Gras y Zeler, 2023;Capriotti, Oliveira y Carretón, 2023;Da Silva et al., 2023;Md Saad y Yaacob, 2021). Este medio social favorece la visibilidad y fomenta la participación de los ejecutivos en la comunicación institucional para construir relaciones significativas con públicos internos y externos (Conte et al., 2017;Men, 2015;Men y Tsai, 2016; Molina-Cañabate y Suau-Gomila, 2021; Serrano et al., 2020;Tsai y Men, 2017). En esta plataforma, los usuarios se reúnen para intercambiar opiniones, interactuar con marcas, establecer contactos laborales, y también, seguir a celebridades y figuras influyentes, que incorporan a los propios CEO (Fleck et al., 2014;Huaman-Ramirez y Merunka, 2021;Kemp, 2024;Treadway et al., 2009;Zeitoun et al., 2020). ...
... Como creadores de contenido, los CEO adaptan sus estrategias de participación en redes sociales, humanizando su imagen, creando conexión emocional, conversando de manera inmediata o publicando contenido entretenido para sus públicos (Kim y Sung, 2021;Malhotra y Malhotra, 2016;Manika et al., 2015;Md Saad y Yaacob, 2021;Men et al., 2018;Men y Tsai, 2016;Porter et al., 2015;Sandlin y Gracyalny, 2018;Tsai y Men, 2017;Wang y Huang, 2018;Wu et al., 2021). Por lo tanto, más que el "estar", lo que supone un mayor reto para los ejecutivos es el "actuar" en redes sociales (Saavedra y Capriotti, 2024b). ...
... El nivel de engagement establece el grado en el que los usuarios interactúan en las redes sociales (Capriotti, Martínez-Gras y Zeler, 2023;Cho et al., 2014;Conte et al., 2017;Men et al., 2018;Men y Tsai, 2016;Yue et al., 2023). Se pueden identificar tres tipos principales de interacción en las redes sociales: reacciones, comentarios y compartidos (Huang y Yeo, 2018;Ibrahim et al., 2022;Yim, 2019). ...
Este estudio investiga las estrategias de publicación de los directores ejecutivos (CEO) de empresas de América Latina en LinkedIn y su impacto en el engagement. Por ello, se examinan los niveles de actividad y los tipos de presencia, así como las tasas de engagement. A partir de un análisis cuantitativo, los resultados revelan que los ejecutivos de esta región tienen una frecuencia de publicación significativamente inferior en LinkedIn en comparación con los promedios recomendados por los expertos. Respecto al tipo de presencia, los CEO son “creadores de contenido” y publican principalmente contenido propio. El análisis del engagement evidencia discrepancias entre las publicaciones propias e híbridas. Debido a la originalidad del contenido propio, este recibe mejores tasas de engagement frente a los posteos híbridos. Los hallazgos revelan que la mayoría de los CEO latinoamericanos adoptan una estrategia de publicación de “embudo pasivo” en LinkedIn, que se caracteriza por una baja actividad y contenido propio. Llama la atención que los CEO con un enfoque más pasivo tienden a obtener tasas de engagement más altas en comparación de aquellos con un enfoque más activo. A partir de aquí se desprende que, si bien el contenido auténtico genera interacción, los CEO deben aprovechar el potencial de las publicaciones compartidas, que se caracterizan por fomentar el diálogo a partir de contenidos con diversas perspectivas, rasgo particular de los actores e instituciones del entorno empresarial. Esta investigación valora el potencial de los CEO comunicadores institucionales y proporciona pautas metodológicas para académicos y profesionales encargados de las estrategias de publicación de organizaciones y directivos de la región.
... The second limitation within relationship management scholarship focuses on the entities, or stakeholders, under study within OPR scholarship. Pages of public relations journals have been dedicated to examining the relationship management strategies and outcomes of OPR with donors (Harrison, 2023;Sisson, 2017;Waters, 2009), volunteers (Harrison et al., 2017;Pressgrove & McKeever, 2016), employees (Kang et al., 2023;Yue & Thelen, 2023), CEOs (Men & Tsai, 2016), victims of crises (Brown & White, 2010;Cheng & Fisk, 2022), constituents (Dong & Morehouse, 2022;Liu & Ni, 2021), the community (Johnston & Lane, 2019;Waymer et al., 2012), and influencers (Golan et al., 2021), among many others. Recently, research regarding the relationship between religious organizations and laity, or congregants, has been of interest to public relations scholars (Morehouse, 2021;Morehouse & Saffer, 2023;Waters & Bortree, 2012;Waters et al., 2011); however, research stretching beyond the bounds of traditional publics or stakeholders studied within the OPR literature remains scarce. ...
... Traditionally, public relations scholars position engagement as occurring within the relationship management perspective, specifically as an antecedent to or outcome of an organization-public relationship (Bortree & Seltzer, 2009;Men & Tsai, 2016;Sisson, 2017;Smitko, 2012). For example, research documents that an organization-public relationship can lead to engagement via likes and comments on social media (Sisson, 2017;Smitko, 2012), and engagement via likes and comments on social media can lead to organization-public relationships (Men & Tsai, 2014). ...
... A key set of relationships that megachurches desire to foster are relationships between the organization and congregants, and between organizational leaders and congregants. Previously, research has focused on one relationship or the other, or research only explores relationships with organizational leaders as a vehicle to strengthening OPR (Men & Tsai, 2016;Petersen & Martin, 1996;Tilson & Chao, 2002;Tilson & Venkateswaran, 2006;Tsai & Men, 2017). For example, Tilson and Venkateswaran (2006) focused on the relationship between religious clergy and worshippers, and results suggest Hindu temple administrators strive to maintain a positive relationship with worshippers primarily through controlled channels of communication (i.e. ...
Relationships are complex, multifaceted, and complicated phenomena, both in practice and study. Additionally, while research regarding the ways in which religious organizations practice public relations is growing, this area of public relations scholarship is still in its infancy with a limited understanding regarding the practice of public relations by religious organizations and the outcomes of their efforts. Thus, to contribute to gaps in public relations theorizing on relationship management and engagement, and gaps in the literature on religious organization and stakeholders, this study interviewed 28 megachurch communication employees to assess their rela-tional engagement strategies and goals. Findings reveal that religious organizations encourage the formation of six relationships between five entities through their public relations efforts. This study proposes the Devotional-Promotional Relational Engagement Model as a new model of relational engagement, which highlights the six strategic relationships organizations cultivate.
... The second conceptual task separates engagement indicators from engagement outcomes. Scholars often study relationship indicators and outcomes (e.g., satisfaction, control mutuality, loyalty), with some type of "engagement" (e.g., donor engagement) applied as both an indicator and outcome of engagement or organization-public relationships (Men & Tsai, 2016;O'Neil, 2007;Pressgrove & McKeever, 2016;Sisson, 2017;Seltzer & Zhang, 2010;Smitko, 2012;Waters, 2008). For example, Smitko (2012) argued that relationships lead to donor engagement, while Men and Tsai (2016) position social media engagement as leading to organization-public relationships. ...
... Scholars often study relationship indicators and outcomes (e.g., satisfaction, control mutuality, loyalty), with some type of "engagement" (e.g., donor engagement) applied as both an indicator and outcome of engagement or organization-public relationships (Men & Tsai, 2016;O'Neil, 2007;Pressgrove & McKeever, 2016;Sisson, 2017;Seltzer & Zhang, 2010;Smitko, 2012;Waters, 2008). For example, Smitko (2012) argued that relationships lead to donor engagement, while Men and Tsai (2016) position social media engagement as leading to organization-public relationships. However, when viewing relationships as a form of engagement, as Johnston and Taylor (2018) propose, we clarify and differentiate engagement indicators and outcomes from relational indicators and outcomes. ...
... To that end, researchers assume the impact of engagement or a relationship solely depends on the effectiveness of the public relations efforts (Yang & Taylor, 2021). For instance, researchers assess whether individuals' interactive behaviors (i.e., Facebook likes) lead to stronger organization-public relationships (Men & Tsai, 2016) or whether organization-public relationships lead individuals to have more indicators of societal engagement (i.e., donations) (O'Neil, 2007;Waters, 2008). Regardless of whether engagement or a relationship is the antecedent or outcome, the organization is at the center (Yang & Taylor, 2021). ...
... Scholars have connected trust to internal and external competitive advantages (e.g., Shockley-Zalabak et al., 2010;Weber et al., 2017). For instance, externally, trust has been associated with organizational reputation (Yang, 2007), public attitude and behavioral intention (Chang & Shen, 2020;Ki & Hon, 2007), public engagement (Men & Tsai, 2016), and customer satisfaction (Denton, 2009). Fombrun (1996) found that trust affords an organization the "benefit of the doubt in ambiguous situations" (p. ...
... Building on social identity theory (H. E. Tajfel, 1978), this finding demonstrates that organizational identification not only results in individuals experiencing a sense of belonging but may also result in them forming trusting relationships with their organizations, which is tied to organizational success (Denton, 2009;Dursun, 2015;Men & Tsai, 2016;Yang, 2007). This relationship between employees' organizational identification and organizational trust is noteworthy because previous research has found that trust aids employees during uncertain times (Shockley-Zalabak et al., 2010) and change (Lines et al., 2005). ...
... Much research has found benefits of organizational identification (see, Ashforth et al., 2008;Chen et al., 2015;Dunford et al., 2015;Loi et al., 2014;Prati & Zani, 2013;Thurston & Glendon, 2018;Van Knippenberg & Van Schie, 2000;Walumbwa et al., 2009;Wang et al., 2018) and trust have long served as a gold standard for businesses, governments, NGOs and the media (see, Blau, 1964;Chang & Shen, 2020;Hon & Grunig, 1999;Ki & Hon, 2007;Shockley-Zalabak et al., 2010;Men & Tsai, 2016;Watson, 2005;Weber et al., 2017), but little research directly connects purpose to these critical organizational outcomes. This study fills that gap. ...
The COVID-19 global pandemic drove many companies to reevaluate their approach to business and, as a result, some focused their efforts on leading with purpose. Purpose is an organization's fundamental goal that goes beyond profit maximization. It is an all-encompassing principle that guides everything the organization does and determines its strategies. Effective strategic communication is an essential element of purpose as it can empower employees to align their personal goals with organizational values and thus more closely identify with their organization. However, while the benefits of purpose are frequently proclaimed in practical literature, the impact of communicating purpose on employee outcomes remains unexplored in strategic communication research. To address this critical research gap, this study examined why and how communicating purpose could be an effective tactic in strategic communication. Specifically, this study introduced the concept of purpose and examined how purpose directed organizations’ actions in response to COVID-19 as well as the impact of purpose on employees’ organizational identification and trust. The findings offer practical implications regarding the importance of strategic communication about purpose in terms of building employee organizational identification and trust during times of change.
... Fern andez et al. (2022) posit that endorsement outcomes are an important objective of social media communication, owing to their appropriateness for amplifying brand awareness in these platforms. Moreover, a plethora of studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between social media engagement and a firm's performance, such as its sales (Yost et al., 2021), behavioural intentions (de Oliveira Santini et al., 2020), as well as perceptual, attitudinal, and relational outcomes (Men and Tsai, 2016). ...
... This finding contradicts some of the literature that has shown that, in general, social media engagement and perceptual, attitudinal, as well as relational outcomes are strongly related (Men and Tsai, 2016). We assume that this gap may be explained by the unique context of communicating companies' socio-political engagement, and femvertising in particular. ...
With the growing importance of conscientious branding, companies are increasingly adopting messages of female empowerment in their social media communications. However, this is not without risk, as stakeholders may be suspicious of femwashing. Therefore, companies need to develop appropriate messaging strategies to increase the effectiveness of their femvertising communications.
A between-subjects 3 × 1 online experiment was conducted to examine the influence of different messaging strategies (symbolic, philanthropic and explicit brand promises) and respective stakeholders' attributions of a company’s femvertising motives on brand equity and endorsement outcomes.
The results show that philanthropic and explicit brand promises have more positive effects on brand equity and endorsement outcomes than symbolic brand promises. In addition, motive attributions towards the firm’s femvertising messages were found to moderate the influence of message strategies on endorsement outcomes.
Previous research on the effects of femvertising has been inclined towards short-term performance factors like purchase intentions. This study contributes to the literature by examining its impacts on more strategic intangible assets such as brand equity. Furthermore, while prior studies on femvertising effects have so far focused primarily on the influence of recipients’ characteristics and less on the side of the communicators, this study illuminates the potential of different messaging strategies for effective femvertising communicating.
... Social networking sites (SNSs) like LinkedIn offer opportunities for startups to attract applicants (Kissel & Büttgen, 2015). CEO engagement on social media (SM) has been shown to positively impact brand relationships, stock returns, and public trust (Kim & Sung, 2021;Zhang & Wiersema, 2009;Men & Tsai, 2016). However, understanding CEO communication requires a consideration of employee electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on SNSs, as it influences potential applicants' evaluation of employer attractiveness (Collins & Stevens, 2002;Korzynski et al., 2020). ...
... An increasing number of CEOs communicate via social media, sharing both private and public information (Kim & Sung, 2021). This presence has been shown to positively impact organizational brand relationships and public perception (Kim & Sung, 2021;Men & Tsai, 2016). This study aims to examine the potential positive impact of CEO self-disclosure on LinkedIn on a company's employer brand. ...
This paper examines how chief executive officer (CEO) influencers and employee electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on LinkedIn impact a startup’s employer brand. Specifically, how startup CEO influencers’ self-disclosure and employees’ eWOM affect the perceived employer attractiveness, and the extent to which employee eWOM moderates the relationship between CEO self-disclosure and employer attractiveness. A 2 (self-disclosure: low vs. high) × 2 (eWOM: comment vs. no comment) between-subjects online experiment was conducted with a random sample of 228 students and young professionals. The findings demonstrate that low self-disclosure posts led to a significantly higher employer attractiveness than high self-disclosure posts. Moreover, employee eWOM moderated the relationship between CEO self-disclosure and employer attractiveness.
... Organizations need to tailor communication to stakeholders' information needs, making sure it is useful, relevant, and practical as a way to avoid falling into the trap of oversaturation of information. In other words, companies and brands need to embrace the mindset of stakeholder-based transparency, focusing not just on what they need to tell, but more on what stakeholders want or need to know via digital technologies (Men and Tsai, 2016). On the flip side, however, the access to digital technologies is still troubled by various forms of social inequality that have been present in our offline world for decades (DiMaggio et al., 2004). ...
... These scholars' studies have consistently shown that both reactive and proactive engagement contributes to stakeholder relational outcomes, such as trust, control mutuality, commitment, and satisfaction (Men and Tsai, 2013). In other words, companies' social media engagement can not only facilitate the reach of corporate messages; more importantly, they can encourage stakeholder interactions and two-way conversations, which, over time can enhance organization-public mutual understanding, foster stakeholder perception of organizational transparency and authenticity, build communities and collaboration, that eventually contribute to offline stakeholder relationships (Men and Tsai, 2016). ...
... Borgi (2023), in a meticulously conducted study that employed a comprehensive sample comprising 345 non-financial firms that are publicly listed on the Tadawul stock exchange over the time frame spanning from 2016 to 2019, presents compelling evidence indicating that the sociability of CEOs on social media platforms emerges as a pivotal characteristic that significantly influences the sociability of firms within the same medium. Men and Tsai (2016), within the framework of their research, conceptualize the sociability of CEOs primarily as the degree of visibility that these executives maintain across a variety of social media channels, which has become increasingly relevant in the contemporary corporate landscape. While traditional face-toface communication has been historically celebrated for its effectiveness in conveying a strong sense of social presence, recent scholarly investigations have begun to indicate that the interactive attributes intrinsic to social media can cultivate connections and a ...
The primary objective of this scholarly article is to rigorously investigate the influence that various demographic characteristics of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) exert on the timeliness of financial reporting (FRT) within the context of money deposit banks operating in Nigeria. In a more focused manner, this research specifically tested the hypothesis regarding the relationship between certain CEO characteristics-namely, the duration of their tenure in the role, their expertise in financial accounting, and their sociability-and the associated levels of Financial 39 UNIDEL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES (UJOMS)
... Khera studies the interaction between gender and fintech and examines gender gaps in leadership in the fintech industry (2022). Empirical analysis investigates the dynamics of public engagement with corporate CEOs on social media platforms, as well as the underlying motivations driving such engagement and its significance (Men, 2016). ...
This research examines the role that digital competence and the use of social networking sites (SNS) play in the workplace, focusing on female executives in the tourism sector. It analyzes the intersection between digital culture, technological innovation and its application in professional and everyday contexts. Despite the predominance of women in the sector, persistent gender gaps are observed in the workplace. It is argued that the domain of digital skills can act as a catalyst to mitigate these inequalities. The article offers an enriched definition of digital competence and examines its impact on job performance while addressing the risks and guidelines associated with the use of socio-digital networks. An analytical model is proposed to assess the job performance of female executives in tourism, focusing on digital technology and knowledge transfer. The results indicate a positive correlation between the versatile use of socio-digital networks and job performance. The importance of digital competence in the contemporary era is highlighted, and its implications for organizational culture, job satisfaction, academic performance and employee retention are discussed.
... The uncertainty surrounding the drivers and consequences of strategic leaders' engagement with social media is not isolated to Musk, or Twitter. Strategic leaders of all kinds from executives to politicians increasingly utilize a variety of social media platforms for good or ill (Kreiss & McGregor, 2018;Men et al., 2018;Men & Tsai, 2016). Malevolent activity such as misinforming, taunting, and provoking is sometimes curbed, but also tolerated by social media platforms themselves (Merrill & Oremus, 2021). ...
This chapter discusses both the benefits and risks of social media for strategic leaders, and develops a framework of leader social media engagement through a strategic lens. It first identifies key individual, organizational, and environmental attributes influencing the goals leaders may pursue through social media. It subsequently considers the impact of these goals on five social media engagement choices, and theorizes the impact of these choices on cognitive, affective, and relational strategic processes. The resulting framework aims to inspire future research at the intersection of social media and strategic leadership, as well as equip practitioners with a deeper understanding of the potential drivers and outcomes of their social media activity.
... Meningkatkan strategi komunikasi organisasi berdasarkan feedback dan data merupakan pendekatan yang berpusat pada pengguna, memastikan bahwa strategi tersebut relevan dan efektif dalam mencapai tujuan yang diinginkan. Menurut (Men and Tsai, 2016), penerapan sistematis feedback karyawan dan analisis data komunikasi dapat membantu organisasi menyesuaikan dan meningkatkan strategi komunikasinya secara berkelanjutan. Mereka menyarankan bahwa feedback yang diperoleh melalui survei, wawancara, dan platform media sosial dapat memberikan wawasan berharga tentang persepsi dan preferensi karyawan terhadap berbagai kanal dan pesan komunikasi. ...
Buku ini membahas tentang dinamika komunikasi organisasi, menyoroti strategi-strategi yang mendukung pencapaian kinerja unggul dalam konteks kerja sama tim dan kolaborasi efektif. Melalui paparan yang komprehensif dan aplikatif, pembaca akan diperkenalkan pada berbagai konsep dasar komunikasi organisasi serta praktek-praktek terbaik yang dapat diterapkan dalam berbagai jenis organisasi. Dari membangun budaya komunikasi yang inklusif hingga mengelola konflik dengan produktif, buku ini memberikan panduan yang berharga bagi para pemimpin dan anggota tim untuk meningkatkan efektivitas komunikasi mereka. Sebagai sumber inspirasi dan pengetahuan yang praktis, buku ini akan membantu membentuk fondasi yang kuat bagi pengembangan keterampilan komunikasi yang mendukung pertumbuhan dan keberhasilan organisasi di masa depan.
... This mediation effect is also present in marketing and public relations research: for example, perceived affinity of online live-broadcasters tends to mediate the effect of exposure and online purchasing behavior . Perceived charisma of company CEO was found to mediate the relationship between exposure to public relations campaigns and further interaction with the company (Men & Tsai, 2016). ...
On Chinese social media, the stigmatization of homosexuals is tightly connected to the belief that they have a higher risk of contraction than others. However, scientists’ estimation of such risks is selectively framed on media outlets, and could cause confusion about and even polarization around the topic. In the theoretical framework of motivated reasoning, the current study showcases a cognition-intention link in the processing of scientific information regarding homosexuals’ high HIV/AIDS prevalence in China. An online survey experiment (N = 695) using different emphasis frames of the findings from a scientific report shows that ad hoc identification with homosexuals’ rights, and individualism, strongly moderates the direct effect of exposure to different messages on intention of message forwarding, and also the indirect effect mediated by the perception of scientists’ expertise.
... Para analizar la presencia de los CEO en redes sociales se seleccionaron seis de las plataformas sociales con mayor porcentaje de usuarios activos: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter y LinkedIn (We Are Social y Meltwater, 2023). Facebook es una de las redes preferidas por los públicos para comunicarse con sus líderes y el lugar donde estos pusieron en práctica los primeros principios dialógicos digitales (Conte et al., 2017;Men et al., 2018;Men y Tsai, 2016;Pakura y Rudeloff, 2020;Tsai y Men, 2017;Wang y Huang, 2018). YouTube es un espacio donde los CEO tienen la oportunidad de resolver situaciones de comunicación y construir confianza con los públicos de sus organizaciones (Manika et al., 2015;Sandlin y Gracyalny, 2018). ...
Convertidos en CEO sociales, los directores ejecutivos encontraron un nuevo espacio en las redes sociales para dialogar e interactuar con sus públicos. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar la presencia y la actividad de los CEO en las principales redes sociales y comparar las diferencias y las similitudes entre ejecutivos de empresas globales y latinoamericanas, según los ránquines Fortune Global 500 y América Economía 500, respectivamente. Se identificaron 537 perfiles en redes sociales de un total de 1.029 directores ejecutivos y se estudiaron 23.549 publicaciones propias y compartidas en LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok y YouTube. En los últimos años, los CEO aumentaron su presencia en redes sociales y la mayoría de ellos tienen perfiles activos, pero con volúmenes bajos de publicación. LinkedIn es la plataforma favorita de los ejecutivos. Los CEO americanos (a nivel global) y brasileños (a nivel latinoamericano) son los líderes en actividad en redes sociales. Los directores ejecutivos ignoran la recomendación de los expertos y tienen una participación “muy baja” en las redes sociales, sobre todo en LinkedIn y X/Twitter. Aunque, en comparación con los niveles de publicación alcanzados en otros estudios y sectores, los CEO mejoran su desempeño. El artículo ofrece a los académicos y profesionales un panorama general e integrador de la presencia y actividad de los CEO en plataformas sociales. Además, propone pautas metodológicas para futuras investigaciones y perfila tres tipos de CEO sociales: activos, moderados y pasivos.
... Today, consumers (as an important stakeholder type), especially younger generations, are vocal in expecting brands (and their leaders) to take stances. Facilitated by the ease of releasing content via modern media technologies, it is relatively easy for CEOs to engage (Men & Tsai, 2016) and even serve as public figures. Alongside social trends, this engagement is contributing to the emerging phenomenon of CEO activism (Chatterji & Toffel, 2019); in a post-brand neutrality era, leaders face a variety of challenges in releasing public stances while minimizing risk (Levick, 2022). ...
At the onset of a crisis, an initial organizational statement sets the tone for subsequent discussion. While existing literature provides strategic guidance, it offers limited insight into the message‐level execution of such statements. This study synthesizes insights from literature and trade publications to complement strategic literature by proposing a practical set of ‘crisis essentials’ which practitioners can leverage in composing an initial crisis statement. Upon identification of these elements from scholarly and industry literature, two online surveys presenting a hypothetical crisis scenario are released to Gen Z stakeholders and crisis communication practitioners in the United States; respondents rate the relative importance of each element. Gen Z was selected as the stakeholder population of interest due to their high activity on social media, their role as the talent which will be entering the workforce and eventually leadership roles, and the more limited existing analysis of this segment. Comparative analysis is conducted, based on two online surveys among adult individuals from these two populations, to evaluate whether gaps exist in stakeholder expectations and practitioner approaches. Findings reveal: the proposed elements (e.g., statement of the crisis, attribution, expert quote; 11 in total) were of nonzero importance to both Gen Z stakeholder respondents and crisis communication practitioner respondents, essentials related to the assuring stakeholders (e.g., action steps) were rated more highly than informational essentials (e.g., timeline), and importance ratings across survey samples were generally consistent. Practitioners should consider each of these proposed essentials when developing communication materials, and that while stakeholders expect sufficient information to understand a crisis event, they ultimately care about what the crisis means for the future of the organization. This study, grounded in crisis communication theory, provides a relevant, practical contribution to the implementation of effective strategic crisis communication in situations concerning Gen Z stakeholders.
... For example, individuals can engage in social media activities such as sharing, posting, and retweeting messages related to sociopolitical issue advocacy to express their positions. CDE-CPA also takes into account other features of social media engagement, such as inviting friends or colleagues to collectively engage in social media activities related to cause advocacy (Kang, 2014;Men & Tsai, 2016;Men et al., 2018). ...
Companies are often hesitant about the impacts of corporate political advocacy, whether to take a stance, and on which issues. This study conducted a 2 (value congruence vs. value incongruence) by 2 (issue relevance: low vs. high) online experiment to understand how these two factors affect consumers’ perceptions of the motives of a company engaging in corporate political advocacy, as well as how consumers’ perceptions of the company affect their supportive behaviors. The findings revealed that value congruence affects consumers’ perception that the company is acting in the public interest, which encourages them to support corporate advocacy regardless of whether the outcome of the advocacy is relevant to their lives. However, issue relevance can affect how strongly people oppose a company’s stance when they disagree. The findings indicate that the public service motive is a crucial predictor of consumers’ favorable perceptions of a company and their supportive behavioral responses to corporate political advocacy.
... This is unsurprising given the interactive and personal nature of social media, which serves to humanize the persona and therefore induces potentially strong PSI (Tsai & Men, 2017). These results confirm existing findings on leadership and CEO communication (Men & Tsai, 2016;Tsai & Men, 2017) and generalize them to the communication of employees. However, it should be noted that no significant differences were found between followers and non-followers, which contradicts prior studies (Breves et al., 2021;Rudeloff & Damms, 2023). ...
... This is unsurprising given the interactive and personal nature of social media, which serves to humanize the persona and therefore induces potentially strong PSI (Tsai & Men, 2017). These results confirm existing findings on leadership and CEO communication (Men & Tsai, 2016;Tsai & Men, 2017) and generalize them to the communication of employees. However, it should be noted that no significant differences were found between followers and non-followers, which contradicts prior studies (Breves et al., 2021;Rudeloff & Damms, 2023). ...
Due to the disruption of the media industry, strategic communication has become increasingly important for media companies to build intangible organizational assets such as brand equity. Against this backdrop, this article sheds light on the potential role of journalists to act as corporate influencers who
shape readers’ perceptions through parasocial interactions. An online survey was conducted, recruiting 461 participants via purposive sampling. Partial least square path modeling was conducted to test hypotheses. The results show that readers develop parasocial interactions with journalists. In turn, parasocial interactions increase the brand equity of the media company they work for. Furthermore, brand equity is positively related to the frequency with which readers use the company’s website, as well as their intention to subscribe to the news magazine. No significant differences between followers and non-followers
of journalists on social media were found. This article contributes to a better understanding of the role of employees for strategic communication. Specifically, we enrich the literature on employees as communicators by demonstrating their impact on external stakeholders. Furthermore, while research on influencers has been focused on the selling policy of companies, this study
demonstrates their impacts on brand equity as a strategic organizational asset.
... The rise of social media influences the way organizations communicate and build relationships with the public (Bonson & Ratkai, 2012;Men & Tsai, 2016). These social media platforms serve public relations functions for many organizations as outlets for news releases and dissemination of organizational information (Carpenter et al., 2016). ...
Technological advances influence the way organizations communicate and build relations with the public. Previous studies have explored digital dialogic communication in different organizational contexts; however, there is a paucity of studies that focus on dialogic communication in public institutions. This current study extends the investigation of online relationship building by exploring how a state college uses Facebook to facilitate dialogic communication with stakeholders. Through quantitative content analysis and key informant interviews, a complete enumeration of Facebook posts from January to December 2020 examined the use of dialogic features within the Facebook profile as well as in-depth interviews with the directors, office heads, and stakeholders. Results showed that the state college used a variety of dialogic internet principles on Facebook. Yet, one-way strategies were still more commonly used. The principle of conservation of visitors and organizational engagement for creating an online dialogue enhances public engagement outcomes of users' reactions, likes, shares, and comments. Moreover, findings from qualitative data demonstrate that a state college relied on social media more to disseminate information rather than a dialogic and interactive medium for governance.
... Such sense of togetherness and inclusiveness could enhance publics' identification with the nonprofit community (cf. Men & Tsai, 2016), leading to support for the cause. ...
Organizational leaders are increasingly expected to be visible and communicative on social media with organizations' public. Drawing theory and literature from dialogic communication and leadership communication, this study analyzed and compared how corporate and nonprofit executive leaders capitalized on various dialogic principles and social presence strategies for engagement purposes. We content‐analyzed Twitter posts from leaders in corporate and nonprofit sectors. Findings revealed notable differences in how corporate and nonprofit executives communicated with publics on Twitter. While leaders from both sectors posted information valuable to their stakeholders and used affective strategies to project a personable image and nurture relationships, nonprofit leaders focused on social influence, whereas corporate executives emphasized information dissemination. This study also showed mixed findings regarding the relationships between leaders' communication strategies and publics' social media engagement.
... Fetscherin investigated how certain aspects of the CEO as a persona (CEO experience and education, physical appearance, facial expressions) impact the CEO's image and, subsequently, company reputation and performance (Fetscherin, 2015). In the course of quantitative research, it was also proven that public engagement with CEOs on social media directly influences the quality of organization-public relationships (Men, Tsai, 2016). Saad and Yaacob stated that the CEO's personal branding gives the company's brand a human dimension by allowing brands to create an emotional connection with the online users and become parts of their lives (Saad, Yaacob, 2021). ...
... In addition, Men & Tsai [21] mentioned that social media has a management function on public engagement interactions by organizing through social media. Kang [22] in his research results also found that the success of public sector organizations in media ledges has a reliance on strategy and public involvement to build partnerships or collaborations with other actors. ...
... Citra dari suatu organisasi merupakan asset yang akan menyebabkan organisasi mendapatkan pandangan positif dari publik dan berbagai persepsi yang baik dan juga tidak baik yang akan mempengaruhi perkembangan organisasi selanjutnya. (Men, L. R., & Tsai, 2016). Adanya citra organisasi yang dilakukan organisasi yaitu Bea Cukai Surakarta untuk membuat konsumen merasa dekat dan turut serta memberikan dampak akan menjadikan kepuasan konsumen mereka terhadap kinerja organisasi meningkat Indeks kepuasan pengguna jasa di KPPBC Surakarta mengalami fluktuasi yang tidak signifikan selama lima tahun terakhir (Keuangan, 2020 ...
Komunikasi interpersonal merupakan teknik komunikasi kerap kali dipergunakan untuk memudahkan pelayanan kepada konsumen serta dapat meningkatkan citra organisasi sebuah organisasi. Komunikasi interpersonal masih dianggap kurang penting dalam pengelolaan organisasi, karena kurangnya pemahaman pimpinan atau SDM yang terdapat di dalamnya. Tujuan pembuatan riset ini ialah memastikan dampak dari upaya atau kontribusi Kantor Bea Cukai Surakarta melalui komunikasi interpersonal, kampanye media sosial terhadap kepuasan konsumen melalui citra organisasi sebagai variabel intervening. Metode penelitian ini ialah kuantitatif dengan perolehan data melalui 100 responden menggunakan purposive sampling. Data didapat melalui kuesioner. Analisis penelitian menggunakan smart PLS. Hasil Penelitian menyebutkan citra organisasi berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan konsumen dan citra organisasi mampu memediasi hubungan komunikasi interpersonal dan kampanye media sosial terhadap kepuasan konsumen. Kontribusi penelitian menunjukkan bahwa komunikasi interpersonal, kampanye media sosial berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan konsumen, komunikasi interpersonal dan kampanye media sosial berpengaruh terhadap citra organisasi. Substansi penelitian memberikan kontribusi kepada kantor bea cukai berupa komunikasi interpersonal dan citra organisasi serta kampanye sosial media akan memberikan dampak yang penting bagi keberhasilan lembaga dalam mencapai tujuannya untuk menertibkan pemungutan bea dan cukai. Kantor bea cukai diharapkan dapat memberikan sebuah kontribusi yang mampu untuk memajukan lembaga melalui komunikasi interpersonal, kampanye media sosial yang dimulai dari pihak internal organisasi.
... Managers necessitate trust in expertise and commitment to workers, while welcoming their interest in the basic leadership process (Whitener et al., 1998). Trust in leadership, also conceptualized as "trust in management, " has been related to positive organizational results, including the aim for job satisfaction, turnover, and satisfaction with investment in basic leadership, overall execution, organizational engagement, and commitment (Kiffin-Petersen and Cordery, 2003;Dirks and Skarlicki, 2004;Lchner, 2013;Men and Tsai, 2016). Managers could use trust to obtain commitment and decision support. ...
The possibility of accomplishing sustainable objectives is largely connected to the management and flourishing of an organizational system which keeps human capital engaged and committed. Our study investigated the association of inspirational leadership and innovative communication with employee engagement and commitment under the lens of leader member exchange theory. Specifically, we emphasized the mediating role of mutual trust in connection to social sustainability facets. A survey of data from employees in the manufacturing sector of Yunnan, China was utilized to test the hypothesized model. The study findings reported a significant association and came to the conclusion that a leader’s inspirational behavior coupled with innovative communication is a significant predictor of engagement and commitment in socially sustainable organizations. Moreover, mutual trust significantly mediated the relationship of innovative communication and inspirational leadership with employee engagement and commitment reaching the social perspective of sustainability. The current study added to the literature of sustainable organization by pointing out the social dimensions of sustainability.
... Duh e, 2017; Lock, 2019;McLean et al., 2021), as well as (2) social media platforms and tactics in particular (e.g. Allagui and Breslow, 2016;Buhmann et al., 2021;Ewing et al., 2019;Freberg, 2022;Lutrell et al., 2021;Men and Tsai, 2016;Valentini, 2015;Ver ci c et al., 2015;Wilson et al., 2020;Wright and Hinson, 2017)including different cultural contexts (e.g. Al-Kandari et al., 2019) and (3) big data, automation and artificial intelligence (e.g. ...
Purpose
This article studies the digitalization of corporate communications and the emergence of communication technology (CommTech). The authors show communicators' expectations regarding digitalization, gauge the current level of digitalization across communication departments and agencies and examine the effectiveness of strategic approaches to manage digitalization.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conceptualize the phenomenon of CommTech and propose a framework for studying CommTech's emergence and consequences by combining (1) recent theorizing on digitalization in corporate communications, (2) the concept of digital maturity from information systems research and (3) a socio-technical approach to analyze the development of work systems. The authors apply this framework in a quantitative study ( n = 2,664) among communication practitioners from 46 countries.
Findings
While digitalization of both communication activities and the underlying support infrastructure is seen as critically important among communicators, a large fraction of communication departments and agencies are still assessed as digitally immature. Further, data reveal the relevance of different (technology, tasks, structure and people) dimensions of digitalization strategies and the influence of such strategies on the digital maturity of communications.
Practical implications
The framework and empirical instruments developed in this study help practitioners to uncover and evaluate the level of digital maturity of communication departments and agencies. This allows to identify current challenges and future opportunities for improvement.
Originality/value
The authors propose a concise definition for the much-debated concept of CommTech and develop a new theoretical framework for understanding CommTech's emergence and consequences in the profession. This empirical work constitutes the first large-scale study on the digital maturity of communication departments and agencies.
... Given that there are so many brand variants and an increasingly diverse marketplace, it is necessary to undertake more in-depth studies related to consumer engagement (Dessart, Veloutsou, & Morgan-Thomas, 2015) by (1) using experimental designs with regard to source credibility with experimental types of photos, both selfies and in groups; (2) using gender moderation variables to determine the differences in possession envy between men and women when looking at celebgram influencers; (3) studies are required regarding the correlation of wellknown brands to new celebgrams or well-known celebgrams to new brands. Thus, an effective engagement strategy will be found in using celebgrams as influencers (Men & Tsai, 2016). Second, given that marketing on social media e-WOM is a strong antecedent to consumer purchase intention (Wang & Yu, 2017), studies are required regarding celebgram popularity (i.e., number of followers) and brand popularity (i.e., number of likes and comments), peer content analysis, and product reviews. ...
Businessmen's marketing strategies that take advantage of the fame of celebgrams as influencers are incredibly appropriate in the social media era. The present study deals with the dynamics of celebgram trustworthiness and social interaction with their followers in relation to possession envy and consumer purchase intention. To test the proposed model, the researchers collected data from 181 respondents in Indonesia through an online survey and analyzed it using the Smart PLS. The results of the present study showed that celebgram trustworthiness had no positive effect on possession envy but it had a positive effect on consumer purchase intention. Furthermore, para-social interactions had a positive effect on possession envy and consumer purchase intention and possession envy had a positive effect on consumer purchase intention. The present study provides a theoretical contribution to the literature on retail and consumer services and offers managerial implications for instafamous-based marketing.
Prosocial and sustainable behaviors have emerged as key elements for luxury brands today, catalyzing a significant transformation in their strategies. In this context, the present study investigates whether influencers are reflecting these brands' efforts to align their image with ethical and sustainable values and, if so, determining the engagement level generated by such posts. Two types of analysis are employed on social media content: topic analysis using Latent Dirichlet Allocation and regression. The findings indicate that influencers do mention issues related to the prosocial and sustainable domain when discussing luxury brands, although not predominantly. However, these types of posts do not generate higher engagement, with this indicator being moderated by the type of influencer. These results challenge the effectiveness of prosocial content, underscoring the need for a more nuanced evaluation. In the business sphere, brands must strategically consider the inclusion of prosocial and sustainable content, tailoring their approaches based on the influencer type to optimize the impact on engagement.
In this chapter, the crucial concept of vision adoption within organizations is thoroughly explored. The chapter emphasizes the need for leaders to go back to an earlier phase of the vision development process in order to increase stakeholder involvement and commitment to the shared vision. It delves into the challenges associated with imposing a vision on an organization and advocates for meaningful stakeholder participation from the beginning. The chapter also outlines the essential principles and strategies for successful vision adoption, including the pivotal role of communication, crystallization, and vision translation. Furthermore, it introduces the author’s distinctive insights on the role of collective learning, strategy emergence, and organizational communication in increasing vision acceptance. Overall, this chapter provides valuable insights into the intricacies of vision adoption and offers practical guidance for leaders aiming to implement a shared vision within their organizations.
The impact of technology developments on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is examined in this chapter. It looks at how different stakeholders' changing needs for CSR disclosure and the interdependent interactions between them are being shaped by the way new technologies are being used. Understanding the profound effects that technology will have on CSR disclosure as it develops is essential for both companies and society at large. The way businesses engage with stakeholders has been significantly impacted by the development of Internet technology at every step, from the pre-Internet period to Web 2.0. This chapter will critically analyze how technology has transformed CSR disclosure and how stakeholder interaction has been shaped by these technological advancements. Additionally, this chapter offers solutions for related problems in the age of social media.
This chapter discusses both the benefits and risks of social media for strategic leaders, and develops a framework of leader social media engagement through a strategic lens. It first identifies key individual, organizational, and environmental attributes influencing the goals leaders may pursue through social media. It subsequently considers the impact of these goals on five social media engagement choices, and theorizes the impact of these choices on cognitive, affective, and relational strategic processes. The resulting framework aims to inspire future research at the intersection of social media and strategic leadership, as well as equip practitioners with a deeper understanding of the potential drivers and outcomes of their social media activity.
Pesquisa mostra que praticamente metade dos líderes prefere se ausentar do LinkedIn, mas a análise dos 5% mais atuantes na plataforma revela caminhos para lidar com riscos e colher benefícios reputacionais.
This chapter explores the effects of technological advancements on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. It examines how the evolving use of new technology is reshaping the demand for CSR disclosure from diverse stakeholders and the interconnected dynamics between them. As technology continues to evolve, understanding its far-reaching impact on CSR disclosure is critical for businesses and society as a whole. The evolution of Internet technologies at all stages, from the pre-Internet era to Web 2.0, dramatically affects the way firms interact with stakeholders. This chapter will critically examine the transformative impact of technology in CSR disclosure, as well as how these technologies in turn shape stakeholder engagement. This chapter also provides suggestions for addressing corresponding challenges in the social media era.
Drawing insights from leadership, public relations, and communication literature, this study aimed to advance the theorization of leadership communication in disruptive crisis times. Specifically, leadership communication attributes of transparency, authenticity, empathy, and optimism (TAEO) were connected to a central internal communication outcome, employee trust. Through an online survey with 1,044 full-time employees working across diverse industry sectors in the U.S., this study also tested the potential mediators of feelings of uncertainty and psychological well-being. Structural equation modeling analysis results showed that CEO communication attributes of TAEO during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced employees’ feeling of uncertainty and enhanced their psychological well-being, which in turn, boosted employee trust toward the organization. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
This research examines the influence of CEO versus brand communication on public engagement and digital activism during the Russia-Ukraine war. Brand communication refers to messages sent out through an organization's social media accounts, whereas CEO communication comes from the executive's personal account. The authors depart from an analysis of 236,119 tweets investigating the effects of message sender (CEO vs. brand), message framing (self vs. other), and message appeal (informational vs. emotional) on engagement (i.e., likes, retweets, and replies). To further understand, they subsequently deploy a 2×2 between-subjects design (N=608) that introduces scenarios where either a CEO or brand proposes a public policy campaign, advocating support for U.S. citizens (self-framing) or Ukrainian civilians (other-framing). Key findings reveal that CEO communications foster greater engagement and digital activism than brand messages. CEO communication that merges self-framed with informational or other-framed with emotional appeals outperforms brand messages regarding public engagement. Additionally, CEO campaigns centered on Ukrainian civilians amplify digital activism, mirroring findings when brands approach the war's implications for U.S. citizens. Together, these insights unveil the intricate dance of message sender, framing, and appeal during global geopolitical events, providing vital knowledge for organizations and policymakers aiming to optimize public backing in times of war.
Organization-public relationships (OPRs) have been central to public relations theorizing for decades. Guided by Broom et al. (1997)’s foundational three-stage model of OPRs, this study contributes to the public relations literature by conducting the first meta-analysis of the associations between each of the four dimensions of OPRs (trust, satisfaction, commitment, and control mutuality) and their most frequently studied antecedents and outcomes. A total of 454 correlations from 67 empirical studies (N = 30, 223) were included in the analysis. The results confirmed the strong correlations among OPRs and the nine most frequently studied antecedents: engagement, involvement, authenticity, transparency, interactivity, two-way communication, interpersonal communication, mediated communication, and symmetrical communication. The research also confirmed the strong connections among OPRs and six commonly researched outcomes: reputation, attitudes, positive word-of-mouth communication, purchase intentions, advocacy, and information seeking. We identified the sampling method, employee-organization relationships (EORs), organization type, and country as significant moderators for certain relationships. Overall, the findings support OPRs as a mature and well-supported theory that continues integrating with other public relations theories. Findings also enrich the three-stage model of OPRs with integrated empirical evidence. Areas for future scholarship are discussed relevant to the insignificant potential moderators, such as channel and crisis topic, along with important limitations in the extant scholarship.
Objetivo: Analisar a relação entre o uso da mídia social do LinkedIn pelos CEOs para divulgação de informações corporativas e a prática de gerenciamento de resultados. Método: Realizou-se uma pesquisa com as empresas brasileiras pertentes ao IBrX100. Foram operacionalizadas regressões Ordinary Least Squares. O período de análise correspondeu ao tempo de atuação do último CEO. Resultados: Os achados evidenciaram uma relação positiva entre o uso do LinkedIn pelos CEOs com a prática de gerenciamento de resultados por accruals, entretanto, esta mesma relação não foi identificada para o gerenciamento de resultado por atividades reais. O teste de sensibilidade realizado indicou que, o uso do LinkedIn pelos CEOs se relaciona positivamente com as práticas de AEM tanto para aumentar, como para reduzir os lucros das empresas analisadas. Contribuições: O estudo contribui ao identificar que as mídias sociais podem ser utilizadas para mascarar práticas gerenciais que reduzem a qualidade da informação contábil, corroborando com a hipótese da opacidade. Tal hipótese prevê que o CEO com maior reputação e poder está negativamente associado à qualidade dos lucros. Ademais, contribui ao evidenciar que o uso corporativo das mídias sociais pode ir além da divulgação de informações, de modo a afetar a qualidade da informação contábil.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) orientation and its communication are becoming more essential for organizations. The influence of the CSR orientation of CEOs on the online reputation of the firm has received little research attention. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of CSR related messages posted by CEOs on Twitter, helpful in building social capital, which in turn impacts online reputation of the firm by analysing the themes of the tweets posted by CEOs on social media platforms such as Twitter. Using a sample of 1,99,748 tweets of Fortune and Forbes CEOs, themes of the tweets were identified with the help of topic modeling, and content analysis was performed using a five-point Likert scale to investigate the influences of CEOs’ orientation towards four dimensions of CSR—economic, legal, ethical and discretionary on online reputation of the firm. The findings highlight the importance of leading CEOs’ inclination towards CSR on online reputation of the firm. The findings revealed that CEOs’ orientation towards economic, legal, ethical and discretionary dimensions of CSR on social media significantly impacts online reputation of the firm. This study emphasises on critical aspects of CSR discussions on social media platform and provides several practical recommendations to firms and CEOs.KeywordsCSRTwitterSocial mediaSocial network sitesSocial media analytics
Citizen engagement is a terminology that has changed in the current period, starting from citizen involvement until now known as citizen engagement. Citizen engagement is the willingness and ability of regular people to band together, negotiate, and take action on topics they perceive to be important. This paper focused on investigating citizen engagement on government social media. Related to this, the use of government social media is still experiencing difficulties in order to increase the attitude of public involvement towards government social media where the public get all information services and announcements related to the government. To overcome this problem, a citizen engagement model needs to be developed significantly to increase or promote CE on GSM. In summary, the citizen engagement model is able to become a significant guide in presenting all the important factors that need to be possessed in encourage citizen engagement attitudes towards GSM. This essay seeks to develop a model that includes all of these factors. These factors have been identified by the Systematic Literature Review analysis (SLR) method and then applied significantly to increase knowledge about the new contribution in the field of citizen engagement models from the point of view of government social media platforms which become very significant now days.KeywordsCitizen EngagementSocial MediaGSMCE Model on GSM
The banking industry performs credit score analysis as an efficient credit risk assessment method to determine a customer’s creditworthiness. In the banking industry, machine learning could be used for a variety of uses involving data analysis. A method of data analysis that is capable of self-regulation has been made possible by the development of modern techniques, such as classification approaches. The classification method is a form of supervised learning in which the computer acquires knowledge from the provided input data and then utilizes it to classify the dataset, which is used for training purposes. This study presents a comparative analysis of the various machine learning algorithms that are utilized to evaluate credit risk. The methods are used by utilizing the German Credit dataset that was collected from Kaggle, which consists of 1,000 instances and 11 attributes, all of which are used to determine if transactions are good or bad. The findings of data analysis using Logistic Regression, Linear Discriminant Analysis, Gaussian Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbors Classifier, Decision Tree Classifier, Support Vector Machines, and Random Forest are compared and contrasted in this study. The findings demonstrated that the Random Forest algorithm forecasted credit risk effectively.KeywordsCredit RiskBankingMachine LearningPredictionFeatures
Despite various efforts in management studies, the literature has neglected to explore the strategic use of public language, defined as the external communication by the CEO, in entrepreneurial settings. This study hypothesizes that entrepreneurial strategic intent leads to the intended clarity to achieve the desired business goals on a theoretical basis of upper echelons theory, sense-making and active audience theory. The analytical procedure included linguistic analysis for readability and simplicity of the public language of Tesla and four other incumbents based on the corpus spoken by CEOs under official settings. The findings reveal that Tesla’s CEO delivered intended clarity, delivering the most comprehensible information to the stakeholders, as hypothesized in the research design. This article contributes to the literature by suggesting a novel S-P-I model that investigates the ‘Strategic intent– Public language–Intended clarity’ flow. Managerial implications advise organizations adequately manage their public language to have desired results.
CEOs can improve the non-financial performance of the firm by posting CSR initiatives of their firms on social media. CEOs can enhance stakeholder support behaviours and their perspective towards them by disseminating information about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. A company’s reputation, stakeholder-company relationships, and other non-financial performance are all improved over time through these actions. This chapter highlights the necessity for CEOs to more actively involve stakeholders in CSR activities using social media because stakeholder’s inadequate awareness of and negative perception towards firm’s CSR activities continue to be significantly hampered in the firm’s attempts to maximize the non-financial performance of the firm through their CSR initiatives. This chapter highlights the importance of social media usage for CSR communication. This chapter presents five action plans that define how CEOs and senior executives can use social media platforms for CSR communication. The chapter highlights that the success of CSR communication can be influenced by many factors, including message content, social media communication platforms, and communication strategies (one-way or two-way communication).KeywordsCEOsSocial mediaNon-financial performanceCSRCommunicationSenior executivesManagers
Purpose
Engaging with stakeholders in “a personal, intimate way” (Men and Tsai, 2016, p. 932) or “includ[ing] the ‘personal touch’” (Kent and Taylor, 1998, p. 323) is often seen as desirable in internal communication management. While the importance of personal communication is undisputed from the perspectives of internal communication, its communicators, and from internal stakeholders, this is not true when it comes to the dimensions and characteristics that constitute an experience of communication as feeling personal. The present study aims to explore what makes communication personal from the employees' perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used the Q methodology and Q method, thus focusing on an individual's subjective perspective. The Q methodology was implemented in the form of a Q-sort survey exploring the perceptions of 32 German employees (selected from a representative cross-section of 400 employees in Germany, using a balanced-block design to maximize heterogeneity).
Findings
The results show that while direct and dyadic communication is often perceived as personal, many other dimensions and characteristics are also considered “personal” in both the literature and based on stakeholder perceptions. The Q-sort survey revealed four perception types whose perceptions of communication as “personal” vary widely, with all these types rejecting non-human communicators.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the limited understanding of employees' perceptions of internal communication as “personal.” It shows how the Q methodology and Q method—a rarely used perspective—can complement existing theoretical and empirical research on internal communication. For internal communication management, the findings show that a “one-size-fits-all” approach must be questioned and that a communication team's involvement in personal communication can have negative consequences.
The increasing importance of corporate social responsibility over recent decades has led research on its drivers to grow exponentially. However, the mystery of different levels of commitment despite comparable firm characteristics related to size, such as financial resources and similar external pressures, has still not been completely unravelled. Given that corporate engagement in social responsibility is not only shaped by firm characteristics but also – and even especially – by the preferences and motivations of its leaders, this study explores how CEOs’ reputational ambitions moderate the relationship between firm size and corporate social responsibility. We argue that CEOs who actively manage their reputation are more aware of the reputation-enhancing potential of corporate social responsibility. We test our ideas with a cross-sectional sample of 128 listed companies from seven Western European countries, operationalising CEOs’ reputation management with a novel measure based on their self-presentation and posting behaviour on LinkedIn. Our results show support for a weakening influence of CEOs’ reputation management on the positive relationship between firm size and corporate social responsibility controversies, but we do not find support for a strengthening effect on corporate social responsibility performance. In light of the fact that adequate corporate social responsibility performance involves more than just staying away from scandals, our findings indicate that CEOs who actively present themselves as environmentally and socially committed are more likely to do so in response to the pressure and current trend of being green and social than out of a real commitment.
Purpose
Social networks were created to connect with friends. Therefore, communication in social networks allows addressing individual contacts of each user and is often rather private by nature. Organizations can use this to communicate frequently and personally with their stakeholders. Therefore, this study investigates how organizations use personalization in their social media communication.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative content analysis of Facebook posts from ten large companies ( N = 500). The posts were analyzed regarding the sub dimensions of personalization, individualization and privatization, as well as type of post, tonality, emotions, user reactions and topics.
Findings
Companies at least partially personalize their communication on Facebook. Overall, 28% of all posts were personalized. Personalized posts were almost always positive regarding tonality and mostly positive regarding emotions. While the personalized posts in this study have fewer user reactions than non-personalized posts, they still have a rather high absolute number of reactions. Regarding personal characteristics, results show that professional competence and appearance were mainly addressed. Concerning privatization, only very few posts showed an individual in a private setting.
Originality/value
The present work gives an overview of how personalized posts differ from non-personalized posts and looks at depicted individuals as well as the use of private elements. By applying the conceptualization of Van Aelst et al. (2012) and by looking at organizations’ use of personalization on the social media platform Facebook, it sheds light on an area that has not been the center of attention so far and helps to expand the current state of personalization research.
Management and organization scholarships have paid increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Less is known about the historical processes leading to the institutionalization of CSR reporting. We bridge the gap by coding and analyzing a digital archive of multinational enterprises' historical websites between 1997 and 2009. Combining in‐depth case studies of detailed environmental disclosure histories of three companies with quantitative summaries of 263 such companies, we find that these companies learned to define the CSR term and adjust their disclosing behaviors gradually, from ad hoc mentioning of idiosyncratic themes to disclosing proliferating themes, often in the dedicated separate website section. Accompanying this change was the growth of global initiatives such as Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiatives and their disclosure guidelines. These findings not only illuminate a historical perspective but also epitomize the dialectical relationship between business and institutional pressures.
Given the need for more research into consumer digital engagement in response to corporate political advocacy (CPA) within the public relations body of knowledge, this study examines CPA in the scholarly literature on business ethics and public relations. To advance the understanding of CPA, particularly how to measure behavioral outcomes of CPA, we develop and validate an original scale with four dimensions from two domains. The first domain of CPA outcomes is consumer digital engagement (CDE-CPA), which considers a variety of sociopolitical activities on social media and degrees of behavioral effort required for these activities. The second is political consumerism, which measures consumer political preference expression through purchasing behavior including buycotting and boycotting. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed.
Social Media is a platform where people socialize virtually. There are several social media platforms such as
Facebook, whatsapp, Twitter, Quora, LinkedIn, YouTube and many more which are all used to acquaint with people
across the globe by sharing their lifestyle status, Opinions, interests and also to create Awareness amongst each other.
Social Media has impacted modern World on a very high scale. It can also be called as a first ever virtual creation that
has revolutionized the world by Toppling governments; by keeping people on toes regarding day to day news, fashion,
trends; by Sharing information's, bold facts which never reached common man in the recorded history. It is also
providing a voice to common man which he/she never realized that he/she ever had. Human race has never been this
aware; never pushed its potential to this extent. Never were our lives this easier, aware and revolutionary. Although
there are several factors that made this world as it is today, it's evident that Social Media is to be thanked the most. As
people are sharing pretty much everything about themselves with each other over the servers using social media
platforms, their data's are stored in the databases which are hawked by corporate companies to promote their products
by Mining, analyzing, predicting the data in the database. Sports Brand like Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and Puma use
this data from different social media such as Facebook, Instagram to promote their product using the users search site
records. This paper proposes a framework to develop a Social Media which is exclusively staunched to a distinct
domain such as Sports, Fashion, Music which makes mining of data and promoting of products efficient without much
hassle. Proposed Framework is further narrowed down to Sports domain for better understanding of the framework
that's been explained.
Keywords: Social Media, Facebook, Instagram, Advertisement, Promotion, Platform, data Mining, Interests, Hassle
Free, Under Armour, Nike, Sports, Tournament Bizz, Sponsor.
The advent of Web 2.0 technologies has enabled the efficient creation and distribution of user-generated content (UGC), resulting in vast changes in the online media landscape. For instance, the proliferation of UGC has made a strong impact on consumers, media suppliers, and marketing professionals while necessitating research in order to understand both the short and long-term implications of this media content. This exploratory study (n = 325) seeks to investigate consumer consumption and creation of UGC and the attitudinal factors that contribute to these actions. The data confirm the established relationship between attitude and behavior and indicate attitude serves as a mediating factor between the use and creation of UGC. With regard to the creation of UGC, the ego-defensive and social functions of attitude were found to have the most explanatory power.
This study proposes and tests a conceptual model that not only measures public engagement with corporate pages on social networking sites, but also evaluates the influence of such engagement on important perceptual, relational, and behavioral outcomes. Study results provide empirical evidence of the positive effects of public engagement on perceived corporate authenticity, organizational transparency, organization–public relationships, and public advocacy. Findings underscore the importance of public engagement via social media on enhancing perceived corporate transparency and authenticity, and thereby cultivating strong relationships. Additionally, organization–public relationships emerged as a deciding factor driving the effects of public engagement on advocacy behaviors.
We present a theory detailing the processes through which CEO charisma affects participants outside the organization. In order to reach this goal, the model extends the range of current theory beyond internal organizational members, linking CEO charisma to those outsiders key to organizational effectiveness: institutional intermediaries and external stakeholders. We discuss several implications suggested by this framework to facilitate future research in this area.
The current study investigates how leadership influences internal public relations by building the linkage between transformational leadership, the use of communication channels, symmetrical communication, and employee satisfaction. Furthermore, it examines the effectiveness of various internal communication channels. Through a web survey of 400 employees working in medium-sized and large corporations in the United States, the study showed that transformational leadership positively influences the organization's symmetrical internal communication and employee relational satisfaction. Transformational leaders most often use information-rich face-to-face channels to communicate with followers. Leaders' use of face-to-face channels is positively associated with employee satisfaction. Employees mostly prefer emails to receive information from the organization regarding new decisions, policies, events, or changes, followed by general employee meetings and interpersonal communication with managers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The principle of engagement underlies much of the relational and organization–public communication research. Unfortunately, the principle of engagement suffers from a lack of clarity in the public relations literature. Use of the term engagement varies widely. This article clarifies the principle of engagement by positioning it within dialogue theory. We posit a conceptualization of engagement as: Engagement is part of dialogue and through engagement, organizations and publics can make decisions that create social capital. Engagement is both an orientation that influences interactions and the approach that guides the process of interactions among groups.
The concept of public engagement has suffered from a lack of a clear theoretical definition and sound operationalization. This study conceptualized and operationalized public engagement at the individual level and tested the micro-model of public engagement in relation to key public relations concepts and supportive behavioral intentions. Further, the study tried to bring the affective component into public relations scholarship by introducing engagement as a behavioral motivator that elicits individual publics' supportive behaviors toward an organization. The results showed the proposed 13-item scale of public engagement was sound in reliability and validity and found support for the proposed model as well as the mediation of public engagement.
This study contributes to relationship management research by introducing a new construct—authenticity—as the mediating variable between symmetrical communication and relationship quality, and investigating the behavioral outcomes of perceived organization–public relationship quality. We propose a structural model of symmetrical communication, authentic organizational behavior, organization–public relationships, and two behavioral outcomes—positive and negative messaging. The results support all the hypothesized linkages, and shed new light on the process of relationship management.
This article delineates the distinctions between mediated and parasocial relationships before outlining the key aspects of parasocial theory and suggesting that the theory be expanded to consistently include parasocial attachment as a category distinct from parasocial relationships. Parasocial theory involves interactions, relationships and attachments between people of differing status such that one person is well known to the other but that knowing is not reciprocated. As media become more pervasive in the day-to-day lives of individuals, it becomes more and more important to understand the mechanisms whereby parasocial interaction, relationships, and attachments function in both development and social life. This paper proposed an integrated theory of parasocial dynamics, drawing principally from communications studies and psychology, while also recognizing the contributions of sociology and anthropology. Parasocial attachment is proposed to be a form of classical human attachment as defined by Bowlby (1969) and Ainsworth (1978), and the qualities and characteristics that define the other two identified forms of attachment, infant-caregiver and adult romantic, apply equally well to parasocial attachment.
Twitter is a relatively new social media website and a good option for celebrities who want to chat with their fans without having to give away personal access information. This paper presents an analysis of a sample of the Twitter accounts of 12 entertainment media celebrities, 6 males and 6 females, all taken from 2009-2012 Twitter feeds. Since little is known about Twitter, a grounded theory approach for this study was used. Twitter can be used to learn about parasocial interaction, the unreciprocated interaction between individuals of differing status and knowledge of one another. This analysis provides a first step in that endeavor. Results showed that there was a great deal of variety from celebrity to celebrity in the ways Twitter was being used. All coded celebrities used Twitter to communicate both with other celebrities and with members of the public or fans about their work as well as personal likes and dislikes, conveying information that revealed personal activities that are not typically shared in other forums. Although fans connecting with celebrities via Twitter have some limited access to communicate with the celebrity, we conclude that the relationship is still parasocial in spite of the occasional reply a fan might receive. Our analysis showed that for celebrities who were using Twitter, the dialogue is serious, meaningful, and appears to have impact for those participating. In the last two to three years, social media have proliferated on the Internet. Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, and LiveJournal made it possible for people who had minimal Internet skills to set up personal pages wherein they could share a daily posting of thoughts, philosophies and ideals, photographs, web links and other items of interest with an audience. Celebrities also have availed themselves of social media, but in each of the above cases, in order to give access to audience members or fans, the application often gave away an undesirable level of access to personal information. MySpace is a good example of this. On one's MySpace page are a list of friends and their pages, personal photographs, and other potentially
The present study experimentally investigated the interplay between interpersonal communication and health message exposure in relation to alcohol consumption intentions. Participants were 174 students who took part in a study on the effects of an antialcohol message. At baseline, the authors assessed intention to refrain from binge drinking. At the second wave (2 weeks later), participants were assigned to the conditions of a 2 (antialcohol message or no-alcohol message) × 2 (alcohol conversation or control conversation) between-subjects design, after which intention was again assessed. Results showed that when participants talked about alcohol (instead of the control topic) and were not exposed to an antialcohol message, they were less inclined to refrain from binge drinking, an effect that was not visible when participants talked about alcohol after viewing an antialcohol message. These findings suggest that health campaign exposure moderates the influence of interpersonal communication on health variables.
This research examines how non-profit organizations can build and strengthen relationships with donors using the social media tool Twitter. Strong relationships are what lead to donor engagement in a non-profit cause, and the participatory culture that grows online as a result of using Twitter can help to initiate and build relationships with online donors. In this research, tweets were collected from two non-profit organizations, Care2 and United Way Toronto, and one for-profit corporation, Ford Motor Company. The textual construction of the tweets was analyzed using discourse analysis and a rhetorical framework as methodologies. Two main communication theories – the Social-Judgement Theory and the Social Networking Theory – emerged from the analyzed data and were driving forces behind the results. When applied to the data, it was evident that both these theories supported and illustrated ways to build and strengthen relationships using the social media tool, Twitter.
The use of interactivity as a variable in empirical investigations has dramatically increased with the emergence of new communication channels such as the world wide web. Though many scholars have employed the concept in analyses, theoretical and operational definitions are exceedingly scattered and incoherent. Accordingly, the purpose of this project is to engender a detailed explication of interactivity that could bring some consensus to how the concept should be theoretically and operationally defined. Following Chaffee’s (1991) framework for concept explication, we generate new theoretical and operational definitions that may be central to future work in this area. In particular, we suggest that interactivity is both a media and psychological factor that varies across communication technologies, communication contexts, and people’s perceptions.
Purpose
– Social network sites (SNSs) have been recognized as an important marketing communication tool for marketers to connect with today's internet‐savvy consumers. At the same time, the popularity of SNSs has become a worldwide phenomenon with the rise of many local SNSs. The purpose of this paper is to examine cultural differences in the use of communication appeals on corporate pages of leading SNSs in two culturally distinct countries, China and the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study employs a content analysis to identify cultural orientations observed in communication appeals of the corporate pages on leading SNSs in China (Renren) and the USA (Facebook).
Findings
– Appeals to interdependence, popularity, high social status, luxury, emotions, and symbolic association are more frequently used in societies with a more collectivistic, greater power distance, and high‐context culture such as in China; whereas appeals to individuality and hedonism are more frequently used in an individualistic society like the USA. Overall, findings indicate that communication appeals on SNSs reflect the dominant cultural values in each country.
Originality/value
– Despite the numerous hypes and speculations regarding the effectiveness of SNSs as a marketing tool, few studies have explored how marketers use SNSs to interact with consumers. Findings based on this study advance our understanding of marketing communications on social media from a cross‐cultural perspective. The paper provides new evidence indicating that global marketers should adapt their communication strategies and styles when communicating with consumers in different societies on SNSs. The authors also provide guidelines for the localization attempts.
Purpose
The advent of the internet and in particular the interactive features of Web 2.0 in recent years have led to an explosion of interest in customer engagement. The opportunities presented by social media to help build close relationships with customers seem to have excited practitioners in a wide variety of industries worldwide. Academic scholarship on customer engagement, however, has lagged practice and its theoretical foundation is relatively underdeveloped and a better understanding of the concept is essential to develop strategies for customer engagement. This paper seeks to address some of these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper attempts to enhance understanding of customer engagement by examining practitioner views of customer engagement, linking it to the marketing concept, market orientation, and relationship marketing, modeling the customer engagement cycle, and developing a customer engagement matrix.
Findings
The paper develops a model of the customer engagement cycle with connection, interaction, satisfaction, retention, loyalty, advocacy, and engagement as stages in the cycle. It arrays customers in a customer engagement matrix according to the degree of relational exchange and emotional bonds that characterize their relationship with sellers. Four types of relationships emerge: transactional customers, delighted customers, loyal customers, and fans.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is an initial attempt to develop a theoretical framework for customer engagement and further research is required to better understand several aspects of the framework. Future research can also investigate questions stemming from this research, for instance, how different Web 2.0 tools may be used to build customer engagement in consumer and business markets.
Practical implications
Customer engagement turns customers into fans. But for customers to become fans they have to progress through the stages of the customer engagement cycle. In addition to current fans, sellers need a mix of transactional, delighted, and loyal customers who can be turned into fans in the future. A mix of digital and nondigital technologies can be employed to facilitate customers' transition through the stages in the customer engagement cycle.
Originality/value
The paper develops a conceptual model of customer engagement that improves understanding of the concept and provides the foundation for strategies to better satisfy customers using Web 2.0 tools like social media.
The goal of this study was to re-examine McCroskey, Valencic, and Richmond's findings about the impact of a teacher's temperament on her or his students by examining the findings in a different context, the supervisor-subordinate relationship in organizational settings. This study measured a supervisor's temperament to see if it affected a subordinate's job satisfaction, motivation, and perceptions of supervisor credibility, sociocommunicative style, and approachability. Results indicated a positive relationship between supervisor psychoticism and subordinate job satisfaction and motivation, while supervisor extraversion and neuroticism negatively related to subordinate job satisfaction and motivation. Furthermore, results indicated a positive relationship between supervisor extraversion and subordinate perceptions of supervisor responsiveness, and a negative relationship between supervisor neuroticism and psychoticism and subordinate perceptions of supervisor responsiveness. Overall, a supervisor's temperament was shown to affect subordinate perceptions of supervisor communicative behavior.
Although the literature on organizational values is plentiful, little is known about the process of formulating them. Both in theory and practice, stakeholder groups are treated dramatically differently when it comes to their engagement in the values formulation process and there is no consensus on whether, whom, and how much to involve when adopting values statements. The aim of the current article is to offer a model for stakeholder engagement in the process of formulating organizational values statements. Three distinct levels of engagement are proposed—information, consultation, and partnership. The model rests on the idea that the higher the impact of the values statement on stakeholders, the higher the level of their engagement. The model was tested in four banking sector organizations operating in Estonia.
Social network sites like MySpace and Facebook serve as "networked publics." As with unmediated publics like parks and malls, youth use networked publics to gather, socialize with their peers, and make sense of and help build the culture around them. This article examines American youth engagement in networked publics and considers how properties unique to such mediated environments (e.g., persistence, searchability, replicability, and invisible audiences) affect the ways in which youth interact with one another. Ethnographic data is used to analyze how youth recognize these structural properties and find innovative ways of making these systems serve their purposes. Issues like privacy and impression management are explored through the practices of teens and youth participation in social network sites is situated in a historical discussion of youth's freedom and mobility in the United States.
Organizations face unique challenges in communicating interactively online with publics that comprise dauntingly large numbers of individuals. This online survey examined the perceptions of people who had experienced interactive communication with a large consumer-tech-industry company via organizational blogs. Those reporting the greatest exposure to the blogs in this study were more likely to perceive the organization as communicating with a conversational voice. Conversational human voice and communicated relational commitment (relational maintenance strategies) correlated positively with trust, satisfaction, commitment, and control mutuality (relational outcomes). Building on prior research, this survey supports a model of distributed public relations-one in which key outcomes of public relations are fostered by a wide range of people communicating interactively while representing an organization.
This analysis considers the impact of the top managers in an organization on the organization's outcomes, specifically strategic choices and performance levels. The focus is not on the chief executive alone, but rather on the entire top management team. Using a macro view, these organizational outcomes are perceived to be related to the values and cognitive bases of those high-power individuals in the organization. In developing the model, emphasis is on the background characteristics of the top managers as opposed to the psychological dimensions. A series of propositions that should be tested to support the upper echelons theory are presented. The topics of these propositions include age, functional track, other career experiences, education, socioeconomic roots, financial position, and group characteristics. The creation of this model is just the beginning of the work that is necessary to evaluate and understand the upper echelons theory. Further input is needed from areas such as the executive recruiting industry. Additionally, clinical and statistical studies are both necessary to fully develop this theory. (SRD)
When Chiquita Brands considered relocating its corporate headquarters, competing cities started Twitter campaigns to influence the decision by communicating directly with the chief executive officer. As he used the new microblogging channel, some of his previously private communication became public, some personal communication became professional, and some professional communication became personal. The case shows how social media can significantly affect chief executive officers’ communication by encouraging boundary crossing. Understanding the connections between the private versus public and personal versus professional rhetorical categories will help business communicators make wise choices as technology continues to introduce new social media and other channel options.
Brand pages on social networking sites (SNSs) have become the key platform where consumers interact with brands. This study explored the types of consumer engagement with brand pages on Facebook as well as the motivations and antecedents that drive such engagement. Given the participatory and communal nature of SNSs, this study focused on the effects of social media dependency and three social relationship factors, including parasocial interaction, perceived source credibility, and community identification on consumer engagement with Facebook brand pages. A web survey was conducted to understand the motivations and antecedents of consumer engagement. The results confirm that, with the exception of perceived credibility, relationship-oriented factors played a significant role in inducing consumer engagement on SNSs.
The importance of social media engagement as an influential factor for cultivating quality organization-public relationships has been increasingly recognized by strategic communication scholars and professionals. However, there exist few theoretical deliberations on the underlying mechanisms of organization-public engagement on social media. This study focused on organization-public engagement and relationship management via social networking sites. We proposed and tested an integrative model that incorporated the antecedents of social media dependency, parasocial interaction, and community identification, as well as the effects of user engagement on relational outcomes of trust, satisfaction, and commitment. Acknowledging the worldwide popularity of social networking sites, the proposed model was tested among users of leading social networking site in China (i.e., Renren, Sina Weibo), the country with the world's largest Internet population and second-largest economy. The study findings well supported the proposed conceptual model. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are also provided.
This study proposes and tests a conceptual model that not only measures public engagement with corporate pages on social networking sites, but also evaluates the influence of such engagement on important perceptual, relational, and behavioral outcomes. Study results provide empirical evidence of the positive effects of public engagement on perceived corporate authenticity, organizational transparency, organization–public relationships, and public advocacy. Findings underscore the importance of public engagement via social media on enhancing perceived corporate transparency and authenticity, and thereby cultivating strong relationships. Additionally, organization–public relationships emerged as a deciding factor driving the effects of public engagement on advocacy behaviors.
Publics tend to use social networking sites mainly for interpersonal communication purposes. Corporate communication focusing on promotional activities, thus, might create negative sentiments toward the organization within those platforms. This experimental study examined the effect of organizations’ interpersonal approaches to communication (e.g., nonpromotional messages, high interactivity) in social networking sites using real and fictitious companies. Our results suggest that publics consider corporate activities in social networking sites more negatively when they perceive those platforms as a personal space. However, publics evaluate an organization more positively when it is highly interactive with its publics on these platforms. Finally, publics who perceive the platform as a personal space have a more positive attitude toward the organization when the organization is both highly interactive and employs nonpromotional messages.
This paper examines blogs by three senior politicians as examples of governing at a distance. It considers how the translation of policy messages might be supported by what Scannell has called the 'for-everyone-as-someone' structure of communication. Three communicative characteristics of the blogs are considered: politicians' attempts to seem like ordinary people; their efforts to manage time and appear spontaneous; and their claims to be conversing with and listening to the public. The paper concludes by raising questions about the consequences of digitally mediated intimacy for democratic representation.
This study investigates the influence of (1) viewing situations (solo vs.
group-viewing) and (2) interpersonal communication in a group-viewing
situation on television entertainment. In a field study combining a survey and
video observation, (1) entertainment of participants watching television alone
or in a group, and (2) entertainment between different groups was compared.
To assess interpersonal communication while watching television, group verbal
and nonverbal communication behavior was recorded. Results suggest that the
presence of others did not influence viewers’ core enjoyment. Further, while
the amount of nonverbal communication behavior did not affect viewers’ core
enjoyment, particular topics of conversation influenced specific enjoyment
qualities, with conversations indicating involvement in the television show
intensifying viewers’ empathy, and conversations indicating emotional experiences
while watching television decreasing viewers’ suspense. Results are discussed
regarding nonverbal and verbal mechanisms that underlie entertainment
in different social conditions.
This study analyzed a social media campaign promoting child welfare to explore the associations among people's social media use, their engagement with different social media platforms (blog, Facebook page, Twitter account), and three intended behavioral outcomes (social media behavior, offline communication behavior, and helping behavior). An online survey of 73 participants shows that people's use of each social media platform was significantly related to their engagement with it at a bivariate level (when the other control variables were not considered). Social media use was also related to all three behavioral outcomes. Additionally, users’ engagement played a significant mediating role in the relationship between their social media use and their offline communication behavior.
Purpose - Chief executives (CEOs) have turned to blogging. This research asks: do CEO blogs attract commenters leading to genuine discussion and community building?
Design/methodology/approach - The thirty most popular CEO blogs are analysed, community structure is graphically represented using social network analysis, measuring cohesion using connectedness. A review of content assesses whether richness and type of media affect community-building.
Findings - By modelling a CEO blog as an affiliation network the structure is exposed. Community cohesiveness is assessed using a measure of connectedness. The connectedness ranking differs from the original Technorati Rank (TR) although the top blog in both is the same. Community building relates more to external reputation, writing style, or topicality than to the type of media used.
Practical implications - CEO bloggers must engage commenters to build community. TR and connectedness scores measure different things but both affect community building. CEO blogs with high community scores post regularly, attract many comments and have an active core membership that bind the community. Top scoring CEO blogs build community and stimulate genuine discussion. Mid ranking blogs have little cross-post commenting and a fragmented network. Others attract few comments with low connectedness. ‘Wilderness’ blogs may have no commenters. This suggests inefficient use of valuable CEO time. Because CEO credibility affects CEO blog success, a low-ranking blog depreciates CEO’s reputation indicating little social capital
Originality/value - There is little research into CEO blogging, this research contributes to the understanding of CEO blogging and community building.
Many of the relationship cultivation strategies and the dialogic principles assume symmetrical communication is taking place. However, significant amounts of information are shared in a one-way manner. Although they have fallen out of favor with many academics, the four models of public relations can provide significant insights into how organizations communicate. Using the models as the guiding framework, this brief study examines how nonprofit organizations from the Philanthropy 200 communicate on Twitter. The findings reveal that the organizations are more likely to use one-way models despite the potential for dialogue and community building on the social networking site.
The article examines the use of social media by Internet users related to advertising and marketing, called "consumers' online brand-related activities (COBRA)." Interviews are conducted with such Internet users through instant messaging as to their motivations for engaging with brands and brand name products through social media. It was found that a desire for information, a desire for entertainment and the possibility of reward were the primary motivations for COBRA activity by Internet users, with entertainment being the primary motivation for the generation of brand-related social media content.
This study advances our understanding of relationship cultivation on social media from a cross-cultural perspective. We examined how companies use popular social network sites (SNSs) to facilitate dialogues with publics in two culturally distinct countries: China and the United States. We employed a content analysis of 50 corporate pages with 500 corporate posts and 500 user posts from each country. Overall, companies in both countries have recognized the importance of SNSs in relationship development and employed the appropriate online strategies (disclosure, information dissemination, and interactivity and involvement), but the specific tactics vary across the two markets. Furthermore, cultural differences among the types of corporate posts and public posts on SNSs indicate that culture plays a significant role in shaping the dialogue between organizations and publics in different countries. Implications for corporate relationship management practice in the global market in the digital era are discussed.
Previous studies of advocacy groups’ Web sites suggest that the use of dialogic strategies could lead to greater dialogic communication. This study examined whether dialogic strategies utilized by environmental advocacy groups via their social networking profiles lead to greater dialogic engagement between organizations and visitors. This study offers the first examination of the relationship between the creation of an online space for dialogue and actual dialogic engagement by identifying and measuring six dialogic outcomes.
This article explores the concept of relationships in the theory and practice of public relations. Even though the public relations function builds and maintains organizations' relationships with publics, we found few definitions of such relationships in public relations literature. We also found the same paucity of useful definitions in the literature of other fields in which the concept of relationships is central.
Using a phenomenological approach, the study sets out to discover whether it can derive a concept of good teaching from a group of university lecturers and the extent to which it compares and contrasts with a corresponding student concept of good teaching. The subjects were all mature adults, usually postgraduate, and often practising professionals with a wide experience of the university system. A single concept of what the students thought of as good teaching, and two categories ('pre-existing' and 'reflective') of what the teachers thought of as good teaching were developed. The extent to which these concepts overlap-and fail to overlap even after reflection-is used to discuss the importance of developing appropriate metacognitive strategies in human adult learning so that each group (teachers and learners) becomes more aware of what the other is attempting to do. The importance of out-of-class behaviours is seen as particularly valuable in this respect.
A revised Leader Authenticity Scale was designed for use in determining the authenticity of both educational leaders and leaders outside of educational settings. The initial Leader Authenticity Scale had focused on ascertaining a school principal's authenticity as perceived by the school's faculty and staff. A Staff Authenticity Scale, derived from a Teacher Authenticity Scale and designed for use in educational and non-educational organizations, was also developed and tested. Leader and staff authenticity were related as predicted to organizational health, organizational climate, and leader effectiveness. A causal model predicting organizational health and organizational climate from leader authenticity and staff authenticity was constructed.
Corporate reputation is defined as a construct representing aggregated perceptions of people in and around companies. A corporate personality scale was developed to measure identities as internal perceptions and images as external perceptions with the same instrument. We report here an application of this instrument and the replication of a previous study conducted by Davies and Chun in 2002 (Corporate reputation review 5(2/3): 144–158), by comparing two similar companies operating in the same industry. Perceptions of employees, students, journalists and professional colleagues were measured for each company. The reputations of the two companies were different in synchronization of perceptions of respondent groups for each company (one high and one low) and in their comparative scores from different respondent groups. The study discovered that two companies could be equally successful in performance while their reputations can be significantly different. The second significant theoretical implication of the study was the finding that a composite, aggregate measure of a corporate reputation can obscure as much as reveal perceptions of different valuing groups. The main practical implication of the study is that companies can achieve comparable performances despite having different personalities both in profile and in coherence. This implies that executives need to observe their organizations through various views, which should allow them more freedom of action and experimentation.
This study examined the organization–public relationship between citizens and their political parties against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential general election. Employing a telephone survey of registered voters (n = 508), we investigated the interaction of politically relevant relationship antecedents, relationship cultivation strategies used by political parties, perceptions of the organization–public relationship between voters and their party, and outcomes of the relationship to test a model of political organization–public relationships (POPRs). Time, interpersonal trust, mediated communication, interpersonal communication, and dialogic communication emerged as significant predictors of POPR strength. The findings lay the groundwork for further investigation of POPRs.
Public relations researchers and practitioners acknowledge the importance of chief executive officers (CEOs) to the function and to organizational image, but studies of CEOs in media coverage are rare. This study used content analysis of 4 newspapers during the period from 1990 through 2000 to assess trends in the salience and valence of CEO press coverage and to examine dimensions of CEO images in the coverage. Results suggest increasing salience and a somewhat positive valence in coverage, as well as a sharp focus on competency and personal dimensions of CEO images. The study contributes to a thin literature on the topic by developing a baseline of data about CEOs and press coverage and by assessing implications of the findings for theory and practice.
Four factors (reciprocity, feedback perceptiveness, feedback responsiveness, and feedback permissiveness) are related to employees' satisfaction with immediate supervision in this industrial communication field study.
Using a post-test only experimental design with control group, this study investigated the impact of blogs on relationship management during a crisis. Participants (N = 109) were exposed to a personal blog (n = 45), organizational blog (n = 46), or control (n = 18). Results indicate blogs impact the perception of the level of crisis an organization experiences. Additionally, relationships created through blogs impact the perception of crisis. Use and credibility were also investigated.