Underlying Factors Behind Generation of Different Types of User-Generated Content - Impact of Individual and Brand/Product Level Factors in Generation of Brand-Oriented Content and Community-Oriented Content

Defined as groups of people who communicate with each other about brand and product via internet without restricted by geographical and ethnic origin constraints to accomplish collective goals, express mutual sentiments & commitments and entertainment, online brand communities are valuable source for marketing practitioners. Although content generation is heavily used in the literature, earlier studies assumes that user-generated content is monolith, and all aimed to brand. However, our experiences tell us that reality is far different from that. This study categorizes user generated content based on target audience, namely brand-oriented content and community-oriented content. Although both types of content are necessary for the success of the community, underlying factors behind what drives users to generate different types of content is unknown. By using equity theory, social determination theory, social comparison theory and social identity theory, this dissertation investigated how personal factors (extrinsic vs intrinsic motivations and independent vs interdependent self-construal of members) and brand/product factors (product visibility and brand luxury) drives members to generate brand-oriented content or community-oriented content. Study 1 explored how online brand community members’ motivations and self-construal impact types of user generated content. Results show that participants who have strong extrinsic motivations and independent self-construal have greater focus on generation of brand-oriented content relative to community-oriented content and participants who have strong intrinsic motivations and interdependent self-construal have greater focus on generation of community-oriented content relative to brand-oriented content. However, we couldn’t find any support for interaction of self-construal and motivations. Study 2 investigated whether product visibility has any impact on types of user generated content. Although more brand-oriented content is generated in online communities for less visible products, more community-oriented content is generated as well, and product visibility has no significant effect on content orientation. Study 3 explored influence of brand luxury on user generated content types. Findings show that brand luxury indeed has a significant main effect on content orientation, especially for community-oriented content generation. These three different studies show that how personal and brand/product level factors influence generation of different content types in online brand communities. Findings show that members’ engagement motivations for online brand communities impacts their target audience when they generate content in the brand communities. This dissertation also shows that online brand community members have tendency to perceive the other members as real-life colleagues and prioritize them when engaging the community, especially for luxury brands. Based on the findings, managerial implications and future research directions are also discussed

Geotechnical reconnaissance findings of the October 30 2020, Mw7.0 Samos Island (Aegean Sea) earthquake

On October 30, 2020 14:51 (UTC), a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.0 (USGS, EMSC) earthquake occurred in the Aegean Sea north of the island of Samos, Greece. Turkish and Hellenic geotechnical reconnaissance teams were deployed immediately after the event and their findings are documented herein. The predominantly observed failure mechanism was that of earthquake-induced liquefaction and its associated impacts. Such failures are presented and discussed together with a preliminary assessment of the performance of building foundations, slopes and deep excavations, retaining structures and quay walls. On the Anatolian side (Turkey), and with the exception of the Izmir-Bayrakli region where significant site effects were observed, no major geotechnical effects were observed in the form of foundation failures, surface manifestation of liquefaction and lateral soil spreading, rock falls/landslides, failures of deep excavations, retaining structures, quay walls, and subway tunnels. In Samos (Greece), evidence of liquefaction, lateral spreading and damage to quay walls in ports were observed on the northern side of the island. Despite the proximity to the fault (about 10 km), the amplitude and the duration of shaking, the associated liquefaction phenomena were not pervasive. It is further unclear whether the damage to quay walls was due to liquefaction of the underlying soil, or merely due to the inertia of those structures, in conjunction with the presence of soft (yet not necessarily liquefied) foundation soil. A number of rockfalls/landslides were observed but the relevant phenomena were not particularly severe. Similar to the Anatolian side, no failures of engineered retaining structures and major infrastructure such as dams, bridges, viaducts, tunnels were observed in the island of Samos which can be mostly attributed to the lack of such infrastructure