1,913 research outputs found
How social media brand community development impacts consumer engagement and value formation; perspectives from the cosmetics industry
Social media and social media brand communities (SMBCs) are powerful tools for long-term consumer-brand relationship building. As a result, SMBCs are becoming significant marketing channels. Despite the wide use and adoption of SMBCs, further research is called for, as both practitioners and academics lack an understanding of the processes taking place within SMBCs. This study aims to contribute to knowledge of: (1) consumer engagement, (2) value formation in SMBCs, and (3) establishing the relationship between consumer engagement and value formation within the SMBC environment. This thesis adopts netnography, a method commonly employed to explore online communities in the social media environment.
Three cosmetics brands were selected for this study. The selection was driven by geographical location, posting frequency and user activity. Data were retrospectively collected from Facebook SMBCs between 1st December 2019 and 31st January 2020. The data analysis employed thematic analysis techniques and was further guided by netnographic procedural steps, encompassing 25 distinct data operations. In total, 87 conversation threads were examined, which included 6,401 consumer comments.
The findings present a typology of brand posts consisting of five overarching themes: presentation of offerings, belongingness building, engagement building, value-led, and educational. The research also identified a consumer comment typology consisting of four overarching themes brand-centred communication, cognitive-centred communication, conversation-centred communication, and personal experience-centred communication. Additionally, the thesis explores value formation processes within SMBCs, and the value types formed through consumer-to-consumer value formation interaction, brand-to-consumer value formation interaction, consumer-to-brand value formation interaction, as well as individual value formation processes, i.e., customer independent value formation and brand independent value facilitation.
Through the findings, thesis broadens knowledge of the implication of SMBC development on consumer engagement. Additionally, this study extends the scope of value formation beyond service marketing, providing valuable insights into how value is created and perceived in the context of SMBCs. This research is also of significance for practice as it offers guidance and insight into how different brand posts can facilitate SMBC development, and, in turn, consumer engagement and value formation.
The research provides a link between SMBC development and consumer engagement, highlighting the importance of SMBCs in the successful facilitation of consumer engagement. In particular, it provides evidence that the development of an SMBC has a significant impact on consumer engagement. The typology of brand posts that this study generates highlights the link between the types of posts published by the brand and SMBC development. In addition, the typology of consumer posts also suggests that there is a link between the types of comments published by consumers and the degree of SMBC development. As a result, the findings indicate significant growth in the variety of topics discussed within more developed SMBCs alongside a shift within the topics discussed. The study also investigates value formation within SMBCs, thereby enhancing the understanding of how SMBCs can facilitate value formation. By doing so, this research successfully extends the value formation lens predominantly applied in service marketing. In particular, the findings highlight the role of different actors in enabling the formation of different value types. Furthermore, the research emphasises the value of SMBCs as knowledge repositories as important virtual spaces for both brands and consumers. The findings facilitate understanding of the importance of SMBCs in value formation processes, contributing to advancing knowledge of the role of SMBCs in the development of consumer engagement and value formation.
The thesis presents a contextualised conceptual framework of value formation within SMBCs, that captures different interactions taking place in the SMBC environment but also draws attention to the different value types generated through interaction between different actors. Finally, the thesis offers a conceptual framework of SMBCs, consumer engagement and value formation, which captures the correlation between the three researched concepts
UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024
The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp
UMSL Bulletin 2022-2023
The 2022-2023 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp
UNPUBLISHING THE NEWS: AN ASSESSMENT OF U.S. PUBLIC OPINION, NEWSROOM ACCOUNTABILITY, AND JOURNALISTS’ AUTHORITY AS “THE FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY”
Unpublishing, or the manipulation, deindexing, or removal of published content on a news organization’s website, is a hotly debated issue in the news industry that disrupts fundamental beliefs about the nature of news and the roles of journalists. This dissertation’s premise is that unpublishing as a phenomenon challenges the authority of journalism as “the first draft of history,” questions the assumed relevance of traditional norms, and creates an opportunity to reconsider how news organizations demonstrate their accountability to the public. The study identifies public opinions related to unpublishing practices and approval of related journalistic norms through a public opinion survey of 1,350 U.S. adults. In tandem, a qualitative analysis of 62 editorial policies related to unpublishing offers the first inventory and assessment of emerging journalistic practices and the normative values journalists demonstrate through them. These contributions are valuable to both the academy and the news industry, as they identify a path forward for future research and provide desired guidance to U.S. news organizations. Findings suggest that in response to the unpublishing phenomenon, American journalists defend their professionalism primarily through the traditional professional paradigm of accuracy, invoking it to legitimize new guidelines whether those policies permitted or denounced unpublishing as a newsroom practice. Findings also show newsrooms are pledging increased levels of accountability to their communities and society at large, but how they might demonstrate that accountability more tactically was absent from policy discourse. In addition, both American adults and news organizations place a high value on the accuracy of previously published news content, yet the groups’ temporal conceptions of accuracy must be reconciled. Ultimately, the unpublishing phenomenon presents an opportunity for journalists to redefine their notions of accountability to their communities. Based on these findings, the study concludes with a call for American news organizations to abandon claims as the “first draft of history” in the digital era and assume the role of information custodians, proactively establishing and managing the lifecycle of content.Doctor of Philosoph
The influence of CEO leadership on organizational learning in internationalizing high-tech companies in China
This research explores how CEO leadership affects the learning process of internationalizing high-tech companies. There has been a growing recognition of the role of leadership in the international learning process. For example, scholars have discussed the influence of several factors, such as leaders’ cognition, decision-making style, and entrepreneurship, on international learning process. Moreover, CEO leadership has been treated as an important factor that can affect a company’s organizational learning. However, very few studies have discussed the role of leadership in the organizational learning process of companies’ internationalization. Based on a review of existing research gaps in the role of leadership in organizational and international learning literature, this research seeks to gain rich insights into how leadership influences organizational learning in high-tech companies’ internationalizing in the Chinese context. This research focused on two common leadership styles in China, authoritarian leadership and empowering leadership. These two leadership styles can be explained through Chinese traditional philosophy and from the lens of power, authoritarian leadership and empowering leadership are deserved to be compared.
This research adopts a qualitative approach based on 8 case studies of Chinese high-tech internationalizing companies. Semi-structured interviews with the CEO and at least two senior managers were carried out in each case. This research contributes to international learning process literature. CEO leadership is proposed as a key factor that can influence each construct associated with the international learning process and cause different international learning processes. This research also contributes to both leadership and internationalization literature as it uses organizational learning as a bridge linking leadership and internationalization. Different leadership styles could cause different internationalization outcomes in performance and management perspectives due to different international learning processes. Moreover, CEO leadership could be changed during companies’ internationalization process
The potential delictual liability of non-vaccinating parents in South Africa
Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2023.This thesis explores the potential delictual liability of non-vaccinating parents in South Africa for the harm caused to another by failing to have their child vaccinated. The South African common-law delict is explored with specific reference to the five common-law delictual elements, as well as the three historic actions: the actio iniuriarum; the Germanic action for pain and suffering; and the actio legis Aquiliae.
In Chapter 1, the reader is introduced to the research topic, and specifically the issue of non-vaccination, what it entails for purposes of this thesis, and why the non-vaccination of a child may potentially attract delictual liability. Chapter 2 explores non-vaccination in greater detail, including the importance of vaccination, a short overview of the history of non-vaccination, and why non-vaccination is still regarded as a global health threat. Non-vaccination is considered against a constitutional backdrop in Chapter 3 to establish whether children have an express or implied constitutional right to vaccination and whether or not parents have a corresponding duty to vaccinate their children. Chapter 3 also considers the common-law rights of parents as well as the role of the Children’s Act in the constitutional conundrum. Foreign-law considerations regarding the potential civil liability of non-vaccinating parents are considered in Chapter 4 with reference to foreign case law and legislation. The South African common-law delict is explored in Chapter 5 and each delictual element is considered in detail to establish whether non-vaccinating parents could possibly face delictual liability for the harm caused to others by their failure to have their child vaccinated. In Chapter 6 recommendations for statutory reform are made with reference to the consequences of imposing delictual liability and to assist litigants in a delictual suit. Chapter 7 concludes the thesis with a short summary of the chapters and concluding remarks.
Keywords: non-vaccination; anti-vax; delictual liability; children’s rights; negligence; torts; duties; breach; best interests; common-law delict; wrongfulness; harm; conduct; causation; fault.Skye FoundationPrivate LawLLDUnrestricte
An American Knightmare: Joker, Fandom, and Malicious Movie Meaning-Making
This monograph concerns the long-standing communication problem of how individuals can identify and resist the influence of unethical public speakers. Scholarship on the issue of what Socrates & Plato called the “Evil Lover” – i.e., the ill-intended rhetor – began with the Greek philosophers, but has carried into [post]Modern anxieties. For instance, the study of Nazi propaganda machines, and the rhetoric of Hitler himself, rejuvenated interest in the study of speech and communication in the U.S. and Europe. Whereas unscrupulous sophists used lectures and legal forums, and Hitler used a microphone, contemporary Evil Lovers primarily draw on new, internet-related tools to share their malicious influence. These new tools of influence are both more far-reaching and more subtle than the traditional practices of listening to a designated speaker appearing at an overtly political event. Rhetorician Ashley Hinck has recently noted the ways that popular culture – communication about texts which are commonly accessible and shared – are now significant sites through which citizens learn moral and political values. Accordingly, the talk of internet influencers who interpret popular texts for other fans has the potential to constitute strong persuasive power regarding ethics and civic responsibility.
The present work identifies and responds to a particular case example of popular culture text that has been recently, and frequently, leveraged in moral and civic discourses: Todd Phillips’ Joker. Specifically, this study takes a hermeneutic approach to understanding responses, especially those explicitly invoking political ideology, to Joker as a method of examining civic meaning-making. A special emphasis is placed on the online film criticisms of Joker from white nationalist movie fans, who clearly exemplify ways that media responses can be leveraged by unethical speakers (i.e., Evil Lovers) and subtly diffused. The study conveys that these racist movie fans can embed values related to “trolling,” incelism, and xenophobia into otherwise seemingly innocuous talk about film. While the sharing of such speech does not immediately mean its positive reception, this kind of communication yet constitutes a new and understudied attack on democratic values such as justice and equity. The case of white nationalist movie fan film criticism therefore reflects a particular brand of communicative strategy for contemporary Evil Lovers in communicating unethical messages under the covert guise of mundane movie talk
- …