Purpose Organizations are investing heavily in social media yet have little understanding of the effects of social media content on user engagement. This study aims to determine the distinct effects of informational, entertaining, remunerative and relational content on the passive and active engagement behavior of social media users. Design/methodology/approach Facebook Insights and NCapture are used to extract data from the Facebook pages of 12 wine brands over a 12-month period. A multivariate linear regression analysis investigates the effects of content on consuming, contributing and creating engagement behavior. Findings Results reveal distinct effects of rational and emotional appeals on social media engagement behavior. Rational appeals in social media have a superior effect in terms of facilitating active and passive engagement among social media users, whereas emotional appeals facilitate passive rather than highly active engagement behavior, despite the social and interactive nature of the digital media landscape. Research limitations/implications Results contribute directly to understanding engagement and customer experience with social media. Further theoretical and empirical examination in this area will aid in understanding the dynamic nature of the levels of engagement within social media. Practical implications Findings provide managers and practitioners with guidelines and opportunities for strategic development of social media content to enhance engagement among consumers in a social media forum. Originality/value This study is one of the first to empirically examine the construct of social media engagement behavior. It extends the utility of dual processing theory to demonstrate how rational and emotional message appeals result in online engagement.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Peer-to-peer interactions play an important role in the sharing economy and more specifically within Internet social networking sites (SNSs). However, little is known about the nature of these interactions and the role of reciprocity in the peer-to-peer exchanges facilitated by SNSs. We use the context of the Chinese Weibo SNS to explore this issue. Our research develops a conceptual model and hypotheses to examine the effects of reputation and emotion on reciprocal behaviours in the Chinese Weibo SNS. We conduct a study to test the influence of reputation on reciprocity and emotion in these peer-to-peer interactions. Our study shows that bridging behaviours, which create social status across heterogeneous groups, generate increased reciprocation as a direct effect. A second indicator of reputation, bonding behaviours that promote social resources within homogenous groups, do not have significant direct effects on intention to reciprocate. Both bridging and bonding behaviors create direct effects on evoked emotions, and emotions in turn have significant effects on the intention to reciprocate. We found that evoked emotions are an important mediator between bridging and bonding actions by one party in the sharing economy and the resulting intention to reciprocate by another party. Our findings contribute to developing a theoretical understanding of the role of reciprocity in peer-to-peer interactions in the sharing economy and more specifically in virtual environments. We show the functioning and appeal in the Chinese Weibo SNS depend heavily on reciprocal user behaviors including the exchange of emotional support, information and knowledge. Our findings show peer-to-peer interaction in SNSs create emotional responses, and these emotions mediate reciprocation. Actions by users with stronger reputations and higher status have stronger effects, which is consistent with the importance of social standing in China for fostering reciprocity in non-virtual business interactions. This suggests that offline habits are being emulated on the Internet.

No abstract

Prior research shows that negative engagement is conceptually different from positive engagement, and necessitates further understanding and measurement instruments. This study reports a series of four studies leading to conceptualization, development, and validation of a negative actor engagement scale for online knowledge-sharing platforms. An online learning service platform Piazza is chosen as the research context, where learners engage intensively in knowledge-sharing with one another as well as instructors. We conceptualize negative engagement as actors’ negative engagement dispositions (i.e., negative emotions and cognitions) during interactions on the platform. Negative engagement disposition is shown to be a second-order formative construct comprising four first-order reflective constructs—annoyance, social anxiety, failed expectations, and futility. The relationship between negative engagement disposition and its behavioral consequence of negative word-of-mouth is established. This is the first study to conceptualize and operationalize negative actor engagement.

Purpose The purpose of this research is to examine a downstream social marketing program that slows the typical decline in functional fitness and independence of adults over 55 with particular attention to the ROI and the efficiency of the program. Design/methodology/approach Within subjects quasi-experimental design. Findings The ExerStart program is cost-efficient and effective delivering an ROI of 33 per cent. The participants of the ExerStart social marketing program significantly improved functional fitness. Further, this program demonstrates that this result may be achieved with just four exercises rather than six. Practical implications A successful, cost-effective, high-retention social marketing program is outlined for social marketers who aim to increase the functional fitness and independence of adults over 55 years. Social implications Two societal benefits, the first is that it provides direction about how to efficiently prolong the independence of adults over 55 years, and the second is that it decreases pressure and costs on the healthcare system. This may be useful for policy makers and social marketers alike. Originality/value The authors contribute to the literature in two important ways. First, this paper details a cost-effective intervention that improves the physical fitness of a significant and growing portion of the community and suggests additional considerations for future ROI calculations. Second, this paper contributes methodologically by introducing the senior fitness test (a new criterion-referenced clinically relevant physical fitness standard specifically developed for seniors).