How Can Information Systems Strengthen Virtual Communities? Perspective of Media Richness Theory

Media richness was known as important in designing information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, no studies have examined how the four aspects of media richness could help fuel users’ commitment to virtual communities, indicating a gap. Hence, we use media richness theory and initiate to use its key elements (i.e., message certainty and message unequivocality) to construct a research framework. We collected 1,971 responses from virtual communities in online games and used structural equation modeling for testing the hypotheses. We found that immediate feedback and personal focus are positively related to message certainty and message unequivocality that are further positively related to network convergence and interdependence, thus contributing to commitment to virtual communities. This study is the first formally incorporating and testing the key elements of media richness, i.e., message certainty and message unequivocality, and examining how media richness of information systems could fuel users’ commitment to virtual communities

The applications of social media in sports marketing

n the era of big data, sports consumer's activities in social media become valuable assets to sports marketers. In this paper, the authors review extant literature regarding how to effectively use social media to promote sports as well as how to effectively analyze social media data to support business decisions. Methods: The literature review method. Results: Our findings suggest that sports marketers can use social media to achieve the following goals, such as facilitating marketing communication campaigns, adding values to sports products and services, creating a two-way communication between sports brands and consumers, supporting sports sponsorship program, and forging brand communities. As to how to effectively analyze social media data to support business decisions, extent literature suggests that sports marketers to undertake traffic and engagement analysis on their social media sites as well as to conduct sentiment analysis to probe customer's opinions. These insights can support various aspects of business decisions, such as marketing communication management, consumer's voice probing, and sales predictions. Conclusion: Social media are ubiquitous in the sports marketing and consumption practices. In the era of big data, these ＂footprints＂ can now be effectively analyzed to generate insights to support business decisions. Recommendations to both the sports marketing practices and research are also addressed

Identity Communication in Virtual Teams: Insights from Interviews with Working Professionals

Organizations are increasingly using virtual teams to gain competitive advantages in the marketplace, but managers face a tradeoff between the benefits that such virtual teams provide and their inherent weaknesses. This paper examines identity communication in virtual environments, arguing that identity communication can counteract some of the negative aspects of virtual teamwork. Using coded transcriptions from 35 semi-structured interviews with working professionals who participate in virtual teams, we explore the process of identity communication in virtual teams and the role of technology in influencing and enabling these processes. Using established identity and media theories as a guide, we formulate, and then refine, a framework to summarize consistent themes in the interview data. Our findings lay the groundwork for future theoretical development in this relevant area of research, and we argue that further advances in this domain will allow organizations to more effectively leverage a virtual workforce with effective collaboration technologies

The acceptance of social media video for knowledge acquisition, sharing and application: A comparative study among YouYube users and TikTok users’ for medical purposes

YouTube and TikTok have gained increasing recognition as social network sites to support online knowledge acquisition, sharing, and application via social media platforms in the medical field. This study examines which aspect of TikTok and YouTube stimulates doctors, nurses, and any other YouTube and TikTok in the medical setting, to rely on them as sources of knowledge acquisition and sharing to keep their medical repertoire updated. A hybrid model is designed to investigate users’ acceptance of YouTube and TikTok as social media platforms. The model focuses on four main external factors: Content richness, innovativeness, satisfaction, and enjoyment. These factors are connected with two TAM constructs which are perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. The results have shown that both YouTube and TikTok are affected by PEOU, PU, personal innovativeness, flow theory, and content richness. Both social media networks provide up-to-date sources described as useful, enjoyable, and relevant. Nevertheless, the comparative results have shown that YouTube has deeply influenced users’ medical perception and knowledge compared to TikTok. It is created for the very mere purpose of socialization and self-expression. In contrast, YouTube is used for educational and non-educational purposes due to the type of uploaded content and time management. Therefore, TikTok developers and influencers should initiate highly specialized videos and create content that raises awareness of medical field issues

The Role of Media Synchronicity Fit and Sense of Community in Live Streaming Platforms

To understand viewers’ sense of community in the live streaming environment, this research synthesizes media synchronicity theory and sense of community theory to develop a theoretical framework. We aim to examine the antecedents and consequences of the sense of community in live streaming platforms. We expect that viewers’ actual communication purpose (e.g., conveyance or convergence) will influence viewers\u27 sense of community in the live streaming context and further impact their activities in traditional third-party online communities. We first use experiments to validate the mechanism in our theoretical model and then collect observational data from Twitch, a popular live streaming platform, to test our hypotheses. Our results will provide theoretical contributions to the live streaming, online community, and communication literature. Our findings will provide practical implications for streamers in the live streaming platform

Social Media and Green Marketing Strategies: An exploratory study of selected leading companies

Social media has become the most popular communication channel. Large amounts of information flows are being exchanged between users. The information shared on social media is seen as more reliable than the information found on traditional media. Companies have already incorporated social media as one of their communication channels. However, the evolution of social media has occurred in such a brief period that companies are uncertain of the appropriate amount to invest in these technologies. The percentage invested on an average marketing budget for social media in companies still accounts for less than 1%. Within companies’ marketing strategies, green marketing constitutes the focus that companies use to promote their green products and sustainability initiatives. The results from the research of this thesis showed that companies are using various communication channels to expose their commitment with social and environmental challenges. Websites contain detailed information about companies’ sustainability profiles, so they have become the main channel of information between companies and stakeholders. Second to these websites Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the social media channels that also depict a glimpse of the sustainability strategies that are detailed on companies’ websites. Social media is being used to increase reliability of companies’ sustainability claims through the use of pictures, videos, and other hypermedia that support companies’ taking actions in real life activities. Moreover, corporations have come to the realization that not all social media platforms are suitable for engaging stakeholders in longer sustainability discussions. Corporations have instead started to create sustainability blogs within their websites to encourage higher levels of engagement within their various stakeholders. Yet companies still rely on a high information push on social media, which leaves a large floor to develop further strategies that can encourage people to join initiatives that urge a stronger commitment with sustainability

The sociomateriality of organisational life: considering technology in management research

Drawing on a specific scenario from a contemporary workplace, I review some of the dominant ways that management scholars have addressed technology over the past five decades. I will demonstrate that while materiality is an integral aspect of organisational activity, it has either been ignored by management research or investigated through an ontology of separateness that cannot account for the multiple and dynamic ways in which the social and the material are constitutively entangled in everyday life. I will end by pointing to some possible alternative perspectives that may have the potential to help management scholars take seriously the distributed and complex sociomaterial configurations that form and perform contemporary organisations

OPAL Community Environment Report

The Open Air Laboratories network, or OPAL, as it quickly became known, was launched in 2007 following a successful application to the Big Lottery Fund It was the first time that Big Lottery funding on this scale had been awarded to academic institutions. The University of Central Lancashire led by Dr Mark Toogood was responsible for understanding public engagement with OPAL. The Open Air Laboratories (OPAL)network is a nationwide partnership comprising of ten universities and five organisations with grants awarded totalling £14.4 million. • Over half a million people have participated in the OPAL programme. OPAL activities are carried out by people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, including 10,000 people in ‘hard to reach’ communities. • OPAL opens people’s eyes to the natural world. Nearly half (44%) of OPAL survey participants said that this was the first time that they had carried out a nature survey. 90% of participants have learnt something new. • OPAL has the ability to change people’s behaviour. Almost half (43%) of respondents said OPAL had changed the way they thought about the environment and more than a third (37%) said they will change their behaviour towards it. • In addition to raising environmental awareness, OPAL also improves personal well-being by motivating people to spend time outdoors doing something positive, while connecting with people and nature