Roles of Social Media in Disseminating Health Information: An Exploratory Study in China

Social media have largely transformed the way how health information is disseminated. However, the literature is limited in understanding the applications and implications of social media in health information dissemination. In this exploratory research, we interview Chinese social media users with diverse demographics by asking a set of open-ended questions regarding their use of social media in gaining and sharing health information. This research-in-progress paper reports the results of a preliminary analysis of the qualitative data that we were able to collect from 27 respondents by the time of submission. We find social media to be a major or even the only channel of seeking and sharing health information. Despite a number of relative advantages, the uncertainty about credibility is a major concern of many respondents in practicing and sharing the information gained through social media. These findings provide valuable insights for both research and practice

How to Manage the Virtual Brand Community to Improve Brand Preference: Views from the Perceived Interactivity

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of perceived interactivity of virtual brand community on customer perceived value as well as on brand preference. Data collected through a survey with 221 respondents supported the research model. This study classifies perceived interactivity as either with community or with customer, and posited that these two types have different operating mechanisms toward perceived value including emotional value, information value and social value, and brand preference. However perceived interactivity with customer does not affect brand preference significantly. Adapted by S-O-R model, perceived value mediates the relationship between the degree of interactions on sites and brand preference. These two supplements on theoretical models clearly explain the source path of brand preference.

An Empirical Study of Real-Time Information-Receiving Using Industry 4.0 Technologies in Downstream Operations

Industry 4.0 requires firms to adopt the latest technology to be more effective. However, previous studies have not addressed customer engagement (CE) and its direct benefit (buying) and indirect benefits (referring, influencing, and feedback) using modern technologies such as industry 4.0. The present study analyses customer engagement in regard to real-time information receiving (RTIR) in the downstream operations implemented through software-as-a-service technology. The data is collected from 533 customers of small businesses in retail, food & beverages, and accommodation sectors. The study's empirical model is validated using the theory of information sharing (ToIS). The outcomes specify that RTIR is the antecedent of CE. The results show the mediation effect of customer orientation on RTIR and CE relationship. The study also confirms that gender moderates three out of the four examined relationships between RTIR and CE. Subsequently, our outcomes offer a deeper understanding of RTIR and CE, imbedded in ToIS. This article exposes industry practitioners to RTIR and CE in terms of direct benefit and indirect benefits with modern technologies in downstream operations. This study provides a new theoretical framework using ToIS to advance RTIR in downstream operations through SaaS and CE

Why We Cannot Resist Our Smartphones: Investigating Compulsive Use of Mobile SNS from a Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement Perspective

Compulsive smartphone use has attracted extensive social attention because of serious and even fatal outcomes associated with it. However, there has been little theory-driven research systematically investigating the mechanism of compulsive behavior in smartphone use. Although a significant line of literature exists in the area of personal-computer based technology addiction, the mechanism underpinning compulsive smartphone use differs significantly because the unique and specific characteristics of smartphones have given rise to a fundamentally different usage context with new usage behavioral patterns. In order to comprehensively theorize this issue, we first defined compulsive behavior in smartphone use, focusing on mobile social networking services (SNSs) in particular, and then extended the stimulus-response-reinforcement framework to investigate the theoretical network of compulsive use of mobile SNSs. We used online survey data from 368 active mobile SNS users in China to empirically test and validate the proposed model and hypotheses. Our results indicate that both positive and negative reinforcements, as well as the compensatory component, invoke the feeling of urge that leads to compulsive mobile SNS use. The positive effects of interactivity as an incentive stimulus on those reinforcements and compulsive mobile SNS use were also found to be significant

A media symbolism perspective on the choice of social sharing technologies

The emergence of social sharing technologies, including blogs, microblogs, personal social networking sites, social bookmarking, and forums, has diversified the media through which information content can be shared. This study anchors on the concept of media symbolism to theorize about social sharing technologies. Our theorization is validated through a set of social sharing data, containing focus group interviews and more than 1 million observations on the content sharing behavior of online users. The results indicate that individuals prefer microblogs and social bookmarking, which are more open to accessing shared content from third-party sources, to share commercial contents