Purpose In view of the increased impact of social media, non-profit organizations (NPOs) should review their management model for stakeholder relationships. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of factors on the use of Twitter by NPOs as a mechanism for disclosing information and dialogue with their stakeholders, and in particular: “donor dependence,” “fundraising expenses,” “organizational age,” “organizational size,” “online community size,” “network activity” and “board size.” Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of Twitter use as a strategic communication tool was conducted and a multivariable linear regression analysis was performed. Findings Smaller organizations and those with a larger online community are the most interested in implementing Twitter as a one or two-way communication strategy. Likewise, the NPOs with the highest degree of donor dependence strive most in the use of contents of Twitter as one-way communication mechanism. Social implications This study contributes to a better understanding of social media implementation in the NPO sector and advances the identification of the main causes that motivate NPOs to improve their accountability through social media. Originality/value The paper’s subject is relatively innovative due to the scarce studies focussing on social media used by NPOs. In spite of the advantages offered by Twitter, few studies have specifically addressed NPOs’ current use of this platform, and fewer still have analyzed the factors that motivate them to use this tool.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine European citizen engagement for enhancing emergency management and, more specifically, in the context of the terrorist attacks which occurred in Paris, France on November 15, 2015. To do so, two main research questions are raised. First, are there differences in the levels of citizen engagement between the country affected, France, and other European countries? Second, what factors foster a high level of citizen engagement in France? Design/methodology/approach -First, a comparative content analysis of the Facebook pages of local governments in France and other capital cities of the European Union (EU) was carried. Second, a multivariate regression analysis was performed.Findings -Although the level of online citizen engagement was greater in France than in the other EU cities analyzed, similarities were detected in the messages sent, responses and moment of participation. Moreover, there are certain types of online social behavior that encourage interactive conversations among citizens as well as between citizens and their local governments. Practical implications -This research enables local governments to understand the similarities and differences between citizens and local governments from the affected country and those from outside it when using social media to engage in emergency management. It also provides further insight for managers of local governments in the country affected with regards to the need to be aware of the influence of online collective behavior that emerges from the information they publish. As a result, the attainment of a high level of citizens' participation in their social media can differ. Originality/value -This paper advances in the scarce knowledge of high levels of online engagement (conversational interactions) in emergency situations.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyze drivers for the proactive disclosure of information via the web in Colombian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as a strategy for fostering their legitimacy and responding to the institutional pressure to which they are subjected. Design/methodology/approach -The web sites of 196 NGOs from Colombia have been analyzed, first, via an Online Transparency Index that is consistent with Cronbach a coefficient and later, by performing a Tobit regression analysis. Findings -The proactive online disclosure of information in Colombian NGOs is very low. In spite of the high distrust of the resource management they receive, the financial information is the least aspect disclosed in their web pages. In addition, the larger NGOs are the entities that most disclose information via their web site. Likewise, the factors of "internationalization", "donations", "community services" and "dependence on voluntary work" show a positive effect on certain aspects of the online disclosure of information analyzed. Practical implications -The lack of web use as a strategy for a proactive disclosure of information is clearly observed. Therefore, both obligatory and voluntary accountability mechanisms should be more aware of the need for fostering the benefits of a web site, as being transparent in a proactive manner will increase trust in this sector. Originality/value -As the majority of the research papers related to online disclosure are focused on the corporate and public sector, this study addresses the issue of the NGO sector and particularly aims to contribute to the scarce literature regarding web use of entities from developing countries.