Brand Response to Consumer Backlash in Social Media: A Typology

The use of social media by consumers to admonish firms for their conduct has become increasingly common. Such backlash can take many forms and often occurs rapidly, spreads widely and is highly visible. The potential damage to brands can be severe if these situations are not dealt with effectively. To date, the issue has been examined relatively superficially in a range of disciplines without specific regard to the management of consumer-brand relationships in online environments. Our research examines the nature of company reactions to social media backlash and conceptualises a typology that categorises reputational damage and effective response. We present four typical reactionary scenarios and conclude that insufficient research exists in this domain proportionate to the level of consumer-brand social media discourse to the peril of practitioners operating via these channel

Why the caged bird sings: cultural factors underlying the use of online social networks among Saudi Arabian and UK users

The 21st century has seen a dramatic rise in Internet access and connectivity across the world. To date, only a small amount of research has been published on the subject of culture and Internet usage. This thesis investigates whether, and how, individuals from two different cultures (Saudi Arabia and the UK) engage with online social networks (OSNs) differently, and what might be the underlying psychological factors explaining such differences. A first qualitative study used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA; Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009) to investigate motivations for using OSNs among Saudi and British participants. Both groups reported that they used OSNs to present a positive self-image, while desiring to maintain a sense of their ‘genuine’ self in online interactions. For Saudi participants, OSNs also provided opportunities for selfexpression that were otherwise unavailable. British participants reported using OSNs for relationship maintenance. A second qualitative study also looked at motivations, but narrowed the focus to identity motives, applying motivated identity construction theory (Vignoles, 2011) to a thematic analysis of tweets written by citizens of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Motives for meaning, belonging, distinctiveness, continuity, efficacy, and self-esteem were all detectable in the tweets of both Saudi and British users. The manner in which these motives were pursued varied according to the cultural context of users within the affordances of the online context in which they were communicating. The research project then aimed to establish a way of measuring differences in online self-presentation strategies, by developing the online self-presentation strategies scale (OSPSS). Items were selected using exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM). The scale was incorporated in a large-scale (N = 694) quantitative study of Saudi and British OSN users that measured self-presentation strategies, motivations of OSNs use and target audience. Mediation analyses were conducted to find out whether cultural differences in these dimensions were explained by two forms of cultural variation: relational mobility and Schwartz’ theory of basic values. Self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence values and relational mobility, more than openness to change vs. conservation values, accounted for mean differences between the groups in motives, targeted audiences and self-presentation strategies. Together the studies reveal observable differences in the ways in which people from Saudi Arabia and the UK engage with OSNs. These are partially explained by the affordances that social media provide, which compensate for the unavailability of certain modes of expression and communication within offline cultural contexts, and by cultural differences in value priorities

Handbook of Well-Being

It is a pleasure to bring to you the eHandbook of Subjective Well-Being, the science of when and why people experience and evaluate their lives in positive ways, including aspects such as positive feelings, life satisfaction, and optimism. There are chapters in this eHandbook on the philosophy and history of well-being, as well as reviews of empirical research on the ways to assess well-being, the circumstances that predict it, the outcomes that it produces, the societal policies that enhance it, and many other social, biological, and cultural processes that help us understand why some people are happy and satisfied with their lives, while others are not. There are also chapters on theories of well-being, such as the baseline or set-point models. We believe that Open publication is the wave of the future (Jhangiani & Biswas-Diener, 2017). Therefore, we are presenting the handbook in an electronic format so that it is widely available to everyone around the world. The handbook is entirely open and free – anyone can read and use it without cost. This is important to us as we desire to lower knowledge barriers for individuals and communities, especially because it provides access to students, educators, and scholars who do not have substantial financial resources. We are not certain if this is the first free and open handbook in the behavioral sciences, but hopefully it will not be the last. In the past the prohibitive price of many handbooks have made them available only to scholars or institutions in wealthy nations, and this is unfortunate. We believe scientific scholarship should be available to all. The field of subjective well-being has grown at rapid pace over the last several decades, and many discoveries have been made. When Ed Diener began his research within the field in 1981 there were about 130 studies published that year on the topic, as shown using a Google Scholar search on “subjective well-being.” Eighteen years later when Shigehiro Oishi earned his Ph.D. in 2000 there were 1,640 publications that year on the topic, and when Louis Tay was awarded a Ph.D. in 2011 there were 10,400 publications about subjective well-being. Finally, in 2016 there were 18,300 publications – in that single year alone! In other words, during the time that Diener has been studying the topic, scholarship on subjective well-being has grown over 100-fold! It is not merely the number of published studies that has grown, but there have been enormous leaps forward in our understanding. In the 1980s, there were questions about the reliability and validity of subjective well-being assessments, and the components that underlie it. One notable advance is our understanding and measurement of well-being. We now know a great deal about the validity of self-report measures, as well as the core evaluative and affective components that make up subjective well-being. Further, scholars have a much greater understanding of the processes by which people report their subjective well-being, and various biases or artifacts that may influence these reports. In 1982 many studies were focused on demographic factors such as income, sex, and age that were correlated with subjective well-being. By 2016 we understood much more about temperament and other internal factors that influence happiness, as well as some of the outcomes in behavior that subjective well-being helps produce (e.g., income, performance, physical health, longevity). In the 1980s, researchers assumed that people adapt to almost any life event, and that different life events only have a short-term effect on subjective well-being. A number of large-scale longitudinal studies later showed that that is not the case. By now we know what kinds of life events affect our subjective well-being, how much, and for roughly how long. In the 1980s researchers believed that economic growth would not increase the happiness of a given nation. Now we know when economic growth tends to increase the happiness of a given nation. Additionally, we know much more about the biology of subjective well-being, and an enormous amount more about culture and well-being, a field that was almost nonexistent in 1982. With the advent of positive psychology, we are also beginning to examine practices and interventions that can raise subjective well-being. Given the broad interest in subjective well-being in multiple fields like psychology, economics, political science, and sociology, there have been important developments made toward understanding how societies differ in well-being. This understanding led to the development of national accounts of well-being – societies using well-being measures to help inform policy deliberations. This advance changes the focus of governments away from a narrow emphasis on economic development to a broader view which sees government policies as designed to raise human well-being. We were fortunate to have so many leading scholars of subjective well-being and related topics contribute to this volume. We might be slightly biased but most of the chapters in this eHandbook are truly superb. Not only do they provide a broad coverage of a large number of areas, but many of the chapters present new ways of thinking about these areas. Below is a brief overview of each of the sections in this volume: In Section 1 we begin the volume with chapters on philosophical, historical, and religious thinking on well-being through the ages. Next, we cover the methods and measures used in the scientific study of well-being. Section 2 is devoted to theories of well-being such as the top-down theory, activity theory, goal theory, self-determination theory, and evolutionary theory. Section 3 covers the personality, genetics, hormones, and neuroscience of well-being. Then, demographic factors such as age, gender, race, religion, and marital status are discussed. Section 4 is devoted to how domains of life – such as work, finance, close relationships, and leisure – are related to overall subjective well-being. Section 5 covers the various outcomes of subjective well-being, ranging from work outcomes, to cognitive outcomes, to health, and finally relationship outcomes. Section 6 covers interventions to increase subjective well-being. Finally, Section 7 is devoted to cultural, geographical, and historical variations in subjective well-being. This eHandbook presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive understanding of subjective well-being – and it is freely available to all! The editors would like to extend their thanks to several individuals who have been critical to the success of the handbook. First, our gratitude is immense toward Chris Wiese, Keya Biswas-Diener, and Danielle Geerling, who organized and kept the entire venture on track. Their hard work and organizational skills were wonderful, and the book would not have been possible without them. Second, we extend our thanks to the Diener Education Fund, a charitable organization devoted to education that in part made this project possible. In particular we express deep gratitude to Mary Alice and Frank Diener. Not only did their help make this eHandbook possible, but their lives stood as shining examples of the way to pursue well-being!https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/psychfacbooks/1008/thumbnail.jp

Shut Up and Take My Money: Engaging Facebook Communities to Build the Brand Narrative

Social media is revolutionizing the way firms manage their brands. A broad variety of platforms provide businesses an opportunity to engage in bidirectional dialogue with their customers, the effect of which is to enhance the brand/consumer relationship. This paper contends that virtual brand communities of the type that form through social media have an important role to play in the development of a brand’s personality. Using a case study approach we demonstrate how one firm has adopted Facebook to provide their brand community with a voice which contributes to the development of the brand narrative. We find that by using well-crafted content the firm elicits the support of their community and that this interaction contributes to the development of the brand ethos

From meaning-less to meaning-nest using literary texts to improve writing skills at B1 level

Can we implement our English courses with literary excerpts? Can we use literary texts in a communicative approach? What is the added value literature in the L2 classroom? High school students in Italy start studying English Literature in the third year of high school, at the age of 16, while their whole past experience in the learning of English has been merely based on the spoken language. Most course books show sample of “real” conversations for the sole purpose of practicing functions and grammar, improving pronunciation and developing vocabulary. However, through literature students may have the opportunity to investigate language at a deeper level including style, register, tone, a more creative use of vocabulary and idioms, metaphors, and a wide use of imagery that they can see in the excerpt which serve as a model, in order to develop their own writing skills. Besides, literature conveys meaning, and through quality literature we can address important issues of today’s world and allow students to develop critical thinking, raise awareness on multiculturalism and enhance their personal growth.¿Podemos mejorar y desarrollar nuestras clases de inglés a través de la literatura y utilizar los textos literarios de forma comunicativa? ¿Cuál es el valor adicional de utilizar la literatura en las clases de idiomas? Los estudiantes de escuela superior en Italia comienzan a estudiar literatura inglesa en “terza liceo” a la edad de 16 años, sin ninguna experiencia anterior ya que el aprendizaje de inglés se basa principalmente en el estudio de la lengua hablada. La mayoría de los libros muestran ejemplos de conversación “real” para practicar gramática, mejorar pronunciación y desarrollar vocabulario. Sin embargo, por medio de la literatura lo estudiantes pueden tener la oportunidad de analizar la lengua de manera más profunda incluyendo el estilo, el registro, el tono, el uso más creativo del vocabulario, los modos de decir, las metáforas y utilizando la imaginación, tal y como como aparecen en el texto literario que sirve de modelo para desarrollar su capacidad de escritura. Además, la literatura tiene significado por sí misma, ya que a través de ella es posible hablar del mundo actual y permitir a los alumnos desarrollar el pensamiento crítico, desarrollar la conciencia sobre el multiculturalismo y desarrollarse ellos mismos

Communication Trends in the Post-Literacy Era: Polylingualism, Multimodality and Multiculturalism As Preconditions for New Creativity : monograph

The monograph presents the research results of the discussion held at the Fifth International Research Conference “Communication trends in the post-literacy era: polylingualism, multimodality and multiculturalism as prerequisites for new creativity” (Ekaterinburg, UrFU, November 26–28, 2020). The book is a result of joint efforts by the research group “Multilingualism and Interculturalism in the Post-Literacy Era”. The research results are presented in the form of sections that consistently reveal the features of modern media culture; its contradictory manifestations associated with both positive and negative consequences of mass media use; the positive role of new media in education during the COVID‑19 pandemic; creative potential of contemporary art and mediation, contemporary art and media environment. The collective monograph will be of interest to researchers in media culture, media education, media art and tools of social networks and new media in modern education, primarily in teaching foreign languages and Russian as a foreign language, in the professional education of journalists and specialists in the field of media communications.Published with the support of RFBR grant 20‑011‑22081 “The Fifth International Research Conference “Communication trends in the post-literacy era: polylingualism, multimodality and multiculturalism as prerequisites for new creativity”

BUILDING STUDENTS’ CHARACTER BY ENGAGING SOCIAL STUDIES ISSUES IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

This paper focuses on analyzing the importance of character building in language teaching, and finding ways how to take advantages from engaging social studies issues within a pedagogical framework. Using social studies issues as topics in teaching English not only enable students to effectively acquire a foreign language with the knowledge and skills but also raise their awareness and critical thinking of our society problems. The globalization with its positive and negative affects has made our generation carried away by the currents of change of being a stranger in their own backyard and forget our own cultural identities. Many of the scenes and themes shown on the television, Internet and other media channels often run down the values and ideas of our national positive characters traits. In this point of view, teaching language by engaging social studies issues to build students’ character and national identity can enhance students understanding toward the importance of its moral values as their inspiration to be a better person, and improve their English as well. This paper will describe how an engagement of social studies issues can be an alternative learning tool utilized in language teaching to develop students’ character and national identity. Also, to provide the benefit from this approach students can get in learning English