Do Organizational Personification and Personality Matter? The Effect of Interaction and Conversational Tone on Relationship Quality in Social Media

Abstract

The current study reveals that an organization can increase its personification and personality dimensions on social networking sites by adopting an interpersonal approach of communication (i.e., increased interaction, conversational tone). This personification of the organization led to an increased perceived relationship investment, eventually leading to an increased perceived relationship quality toward the organization. Five personality dimensions were examined, and of these the sincerity dimension mediated the influence of personification on perceived relationship investment. This finding suggests that sincerity might be an important dimension for organization-public relationship building.

Responding Effectively to Customer Feedback on Twitter: A Mixed Methods Study of Webcare Styles

“…Previous work (e.g. Kelleher 2009;Sung and Kim 2018) has recommended the adoption of an informal style for webcare. Our results, however, show that an informal style is not necessarily more effective than a formal style.…”

“…Kelleher (2009), for example, finds that by exhibiting a conversational human voice, defined as "an engaging and natural style of organizational communication" (Kelleher 2009: 177), companies can foster consumers' trust and satisfaction. Similarly, Sung and Kim (2018) show that by adopting a conversational tone in their social media posts and responses to customer questions, companies can elicit more positive attitudes. Other studies offer a more nuanced picture.…”

“…Kelleher (2009), for example, gives no indication of what linguistic markers characterize a conversational human voice. Similarly, Sung and Kim (2018) do not specify what features were manipulated to achieve a conversational communication style in the materials presented to participants in their experiment; the authors merely state that "the messages in the conversational tone condition were developed using a more conversational style of communication" (Sung and Kim 2018: 10). One notable exception to this general tendency is Gretry et al (2017), who draw on linguistics literature (Biber 1988;Delin 2005;Pearce 2005) to identify a set of fourteen features typical of an informal communication style, including verb contractions (e.g.…”

Passing the test: Lessons from a school district’s discourse of renewal before, during and after Hurricane Harvey

“…This case study views the Fort Bend school district's response before, during and after Hurricane Harvey through the lens of organizational and social legitimacy theory, as well as through the lens of a discourse of renewal. The first of these theories—organizational and social legitimacy—provides a broad context for the district's actions, because it helps researchers take stock of an organization's values and how those match or clash with a broader community's experience of the organization, especially during recovery from a disaster (Dowling & Pfeffer, 1975; Fidan & Balci, 2018; Garriga & Mele, 2004; Massey, 2001; Suchman, 1995; Sung & Kim, 2018). Providing a different lens for analysis, the discourse of renewal theory allows researchers and practitioners to sort through organizational communication and its leaders’ management strategies, such as the school district's actions in response to a devastating hurricane.…”

“…Communication in a crisis often intersects with the use of social media to reach stakeholders in a timely manner. This kind of communication in social media channels must be personalized and humanized to build positive relationships and to bolster legitimacy, because stakeholders “make sense of the organization's active communication efforts … and, in turn, reward the organization with better perceived relationship quality” (Sung & Kim, 2018, para. 54).…”