Search results

In order to develop a common framework for strategic planning and evaluation, the Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) of Oxford undertook a process for defining digital audiences, undertaking user research to inform a new audience framework, which, in turn, is feeding a new approach and the application of the research across the Libraries’ web redevelopment. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

GLAM used qualitative and quantitative techniques to understand how visitors engaged with GLAM digitally: visitor shadowing, exit interviews, diary studies, remote interviews, social media and data evaluation. From these, GLAM focussed on motivational archetypes that apply to visitors across the institutions as well as pen portraits to support those archetypes, and a template for creating new portraits.

The framework helped GLAM develop digital priorities and outline how digital output met the needs of all audiences from a bottom-up user perspective, rather than only through top-down institutional decision making. Most relevant here, learning from the user research hugely informed the Bodleian Libraries’ website redevelopment. The Bodleian Libraries’ work within that framework shows that such a body of research is not solely high level; it can be applied on an institutional and project level to great effect.

Focussing on motivations rather than demographics is a less common way to approach digital audiences. Developing such a cohesive framework for digital audiences before undertaking strategic planning and specific development projects proved a valuable piece of work from which other institutions can learn.

Students interact with information in many ways throughout the day, code switching between modes depending on their needs. Educators are finally realizing that composing in more than one mode is not only important, but also necessary. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of the academic library, the ACRL Framework and information literacy instruction in creating ethical, inspired users.

This paper looks at previously published work on multimodal discourse, how libraries have supported modes in the past and how the ACRL Information Literacy Framework highlights the need to teach students and faculty how to compose in many modes.

Librarians are already well-versed in many literacies, including information, visual and media. They are familiar with multimodal tools and the ethical issues related to the use of images, videos and sound files. While professors are proficient in subject matter, librarians are experts in the paradigm shift from print to multiple modes; therefore, by teaching faculty and students to locate, evaluate, use ethically and cite various modes, librarians become the primary resource on campus for creating multimodal artifacts. The strata used by Kress and Van Leeuwen, coupled with the ACRL Framework, are a model for future instructional design.

While much has been written on visual literacy, little is written on library support of multimodal discourse or combining several modes in one argument. This paper is alone in reviewing the past support of multimodal literacy in libraries and gives some sample activities for use in the academic library.

Arts practitioners have looked for ways to engage their audiences and sustain their interests and patronage of theatre shows amidst the coronavirus pandemic that kept patrons at home. This has led to digital engagement with audience members via social media. This research paper looks at digital audience engagement in Nigeria’s theatre using Segun Adefila’s production of Tosin Jobi-Tume’s Corona Palava which was performed on 4 August, 2020, at the Crown Arts Centre in Bariga, Lagos, Nigeria and later made available on Facebook on 22 December, 2020 and 21 December 21 2021.

This study is based on the “Arts Audience Experience Index” theory proposed by Radbourne et al. (2009). It employs netnography as its methodology. This entails observing and analysing users’ comments, communication style, frequency of engagement and dwell time while watching Corona Palava production on the researcher’s Facebook timeline “Tekena Gasper Mark” and on the Facebook group “Bolt Drivers in Port Harcourt”. Overall, 53 comments (39 from the researcher’s Facebook friends and 14 from members of the Facebook group “Bolt Drivers in Port Harcourt”) were sampled and analysed to provide insights into how the spectators experienced the Corona Palava production.

The text that accompanied the Facebook video provided viewers with information about the performance, helped them prepare for what to expect, reduced the likelihood that they would experience any unease while watching it and increased the likelihood that they would look for similar performances in the future. They were pleased with the performance; there were no functional risks, no economic risks and no psychological and social risks. Although they may have watched it at varying times, Facebook provided a space for them to engage with the performance as a group and share their thoughts in the post-performance comments.

One of the study’s limitations is that one cannot ascertain how many of the respondents are drivers. Also, the researcher believes that the length of the video may have discouraged participation in the study. In order to increase viewership and provide better findings, future studies and artistic endeavours could consider shorter pieces (about 3–5 min) and wider locations (transportation businesses) where a larger number of drivers with active social media presence, can participate in the research.

This study documents an innovative approach to reaching theatre audience via social media in Nigeria.

This research demonstrates that Nigerian theatre and arts practitioners are reinventing their approaches to play production by using the social media to reach their audiences in the post-COVID-19 era.

The study reveals that as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Nigerian theatre artists have looked for ways to engage their audiences and sustain their interest and patronage of arts projects through social media.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework of external accounting communication in the form of a typology based on perspectives, traditions, and theories from the discipline of communication studies. The focus is accounting communication with external audiences via public written documents outside the audited financial statements, i.e., annual reports, press releases, CSR reports, websites, conference calls, etc.

The theoretical framework is based on two broad research perspectives on accounting communication: (A) a functionalist-behavioural transmission perspective and (B) a symbolic-interpretive narrative perspective. Eight traditions of communication research are introduced which provide alternative ways of conceptualising accounting communication, namely (1) mathematical tradition, (2) socio-psychological tradition, (3) cybernetic/systems-oriented tradition, (4) semiotic tradition, (5) rhetorical tradition, (6) phenomenological tradition, (7) socio-cultural tradition, and (8) critical tradition. Exemplars of each tradition from prior accounting research, to the extent they have been adopted, are discussed. Finally, a typology is developed, which serves as a heuristic device for viewing similarities and differences between research traditions.

Prior accounting studies predominantly focus on the role of discretionary disclosures in accounting communication in the functioning of the relationship between organisations and their audiences. Research is predominantly located in the mathematical, the socio-psychological, and the cybernetic/systems-oriented tradition. Accounting communication is primarily viewed as the transmission of messages about financial, environmental, and social information to external audiences. Prior research is mainly concerned with the communicator (e.g. CEO personality) and the message (e.g. intentions and effects of accounting communication). Research from alternative traditions is encouraged, which explores how organisations and their audiences engage in a dialogue and interactively create, sustain, and manage meaning concerning accounting and accountability issues.

The paper identifies, organises, and synthesises research perspectives, traditions, and associated theories from the communication studies literature in the form of a typology. The paper concludes with an extensive agenda for future research on accounting communication.

This paper investigates how early-stage founders use the 60-s nascent pitch to attract co-founders, by applying the narrative paradigm.

Videos of supported and non-supported pitches from Startup Weekend were analysed using the Grounded Theory Method.

The findings were used to develop a framework for a successful nascent pitch. It shows that founders who can engage the audience, convey credibility and use symbols effectively are more likely to attract co-founders. Bringing these three elements together through personalisation, that is, making the startup concept tangible and personally relevant for co-founders to visualise, enables the founder to talk a venture into existence.

This paper holds implications for founders and entrepreneurship mentors to craft a powerful, persuasive pitch by drawing on the framework.

The framework brings a holistic understanding to the nascent pitch and explains how nascent founders acquire human resources at one of the earliest stages of venture formation. In this way, concerns of prior fragmented approaches focussed only on narrative elements of investment pitches are addressed.

Delivering messages and information to potentially interested users is one of the distinguishing applications of online enterprise social network (ESN). The purpose of this paper is to provide insights to better understand the repost preferences of users and provide personalized information service in enterprise social media marketing.

It is accomplished by constructing a target audience identification framework. Repost preference latent Dirichlet allocation (RPLDA) topic model topic model is proposed to understand the mass user online repost preferences toward different contents. A topic-oriented preference metric is proposed to measure the preference degree of individual users. And the function of reposting forecasting is formulated to identify target audience.

The empirical research shows the following: a total of 20 percent of the repost users in ESN represent the key active users who are particularly interested in the latent topic of messages in ESN and fits Pareto distribution; and the target audience identification framework can successfully identify different target key users for messages with different latent topics.

The findings should motivate marketing managers to improve enterprise brand by identifying key target audience in ESN and marketing in a way that truthfully reflects personalized preferences.

This study runs counter to most current business practices, which tend to use simple popularity to seek important users. Adaptively and dynamically identifying target audience appears to have considerable potential, especially in the rapidly growing area of enterprise social media information service.

This study aims to summarise the findings of the perceptions of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior executives of South African listed companies on the perceived benefits and implementation challenges as a result of implementing integrated reporting (IR) requirements, as well as motives for preparing an integrated report; it is performed two years into the South African IR regime,. South African-listed companies are among the first in the world to be subject to compliance with IR requirements in terms of stock exchange listing requirements. IR, as a novel and evolutionary step in corporate reporting, along with the influence that integrated thinking and IR principles will have on companies, has been the subject of global debate in recent years.

The research instrument used in the study comprised a self-administered Web-based survey aimed at CEOs and CFOs of all South African listed companies. The survey was validated by a pre-trail and data analysed by a statistician to ensure reliability.

The study revealed that listed companies, in a mandated regulatory regime implemented in a short period with reference to a highly prescriptive draft framework, attach value to the IR process primarily from the perspective of their corporate reputation, investor needs and stakeholder engagement and relations. This strengthens the business case for voluntary IR as a reporting regime. Advancement of corporate reputation appears to be a key motive to compile an integrated report, secondary to compliance as a primary motive. This indicates the perceived corporate legitimising effect of producing an integrated report. Furthermore, managers are more motivated by the legitimising aspect of advancing corporate reputation and stakeholder needs in compiling the integrated report than satisfying investor needs. This results in a disconnect between the perceived audience of the report by managers and the intended audience of the report as providers of capital as envisioned by the IIRC, which should be a matter for future consideration. Better resource allocation decisions and cost reductions are not indicated as an outcome of IR in the study. Furthermore, substantial changes to management information systems, with associated costs, would be required by companies to satisfy the requirements of the report content. The study revealed that the anticipated benefit of a company reconsidering its business model and encouraging sustainable product development is not perceived to be a material outcome in companies that implement IR, nor is assessing economic value creation and strategy considered a key motive for companies to compile an integrated report.

Further validation of the survey by statistical methods in addition to the pre-trial of the survey was not considered viable by the statistician in view of the limited amount of data. This may be viewed as a potential limitation of the study. Statistical analysis must also be interpreted with caution given the limited amount of data available for analysis. Other limitations include the fact that certain industries are too heavily represented instead of there being a mix of industries representing the entire market listed on the JSE, and that a substantial proportion of the companies are large listed companies and Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Constituents. As a result, the results may not be representative of the overall market listed on the JSE.

Managers are more motivated by the legitimising aspect of advancing corporate reputation and stakeholder needs in compiling the integrated report than satisfying investor needs, while the intended audience of the report in the framework is the providers of financial capital. This needs to be considered in the future development of regulations and frameworks. Furthermore, policymakers and regulators should exercise caution in the early stages of IR, when there is still a lack of evidence to support significant short-term changes in reconsidering the business model as well as sustainable product development that could be convincingly attributed to mandatory IR. It is, therefore, critical that policymakers, government and regulators strive towards creating a wider enabling environment to advance sustainable product development and sustainable business models. This can include establishing incentives to encourage the development of sustainable products, or other incentives that serve to align business objectives with national and global objectives and frameworks. Industry bodies can play a significant role in developing universal industry standards in this regard. Consideration should further be given to implementing regulatory mechanisms for advancing and possibly enforcing responsible investment practices as a measure to fully engage business in the critical shift towards sustainable business practices.

The study is significant from a global perspective because IR and integrated thinking form a new and globally developing concept and the potential benefits and expected outcomes from an organisational perspective thereof for companies are currently the subject of continued global debate. This study aims to provide valuable insights into and understanding of the perceived organisational benefits of implementing IR requirements, as well as serves to highlight the challenge areas experienced in South African companies by compliance with IR requirements. The study also contributes towards the debate of motives of managers for producing an integrated report and how this will affect future directions.

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and other Health Information Technologies (HITs) pose significant challenges for clinicians, administrators and managers in the field of primary care. While there is an abundance of literature on the challenges of HIT systems in primary care, there are also practices where HITs are well-integrated and useful for care delivery. This study aims to (1) understand how exemplary primary care practices conceptualized data and HIT system use in their care delivery and (2) describe components that support and promote data and HIT system use in care delivery.

This paper is a sub-analysis of a larger qualitative data set on exemplary primary care in which data was collected using in-depth interviews, observations, field notes and primary source documents from week-long site visits at each organization. Using a combination of qualitative analysis methods including elements of thematic analysis, discourse analysis, and qualitative comparison analysis, we examined HIT-related data across six exemplary primary care organizations.

Three key components were identified that underlie engagement with data and HIT systems: data audience identification, defined data purpose and structures for participation in both data design and maintenance.

Within the context of primary care, these findings have implications for effective integration of HIT systems into primary care delivery.

Based on impression management theory, the authors ask how marketing activities build organizational reputation and examine the mediating mechanisms of desired impressions, and the moderating impact of national culture. Specifically, and in the context of higher education (HE) institutions, the authors examine the influence of relational marketing and traditional advertising on organizational reputation through the mediation of desired impressions (e.g. quality of learning, career prospects and extracurricular activities) across countries and specify the moderation role of cultural variables.

This study estimates empirical models using a survey data set comprising 1,890 student responses from 10 universities in 8 countries. The authors use confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and measurement invariance models, as well as ordinary least squares with robust standard errors to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that marketing activities affect organizational reputation through the mediation of desired impressions in line with our theoretical reasoning. Specifically, the results show that (1) relational marketing has direct and indirect effects on organizational reputation; (2) relational marketing has a higher influence on organizational reputation in countries with lower individualism and lower masculinity scores; (3) quality of learning mediates the relationship between traditional advertising and organizational reputation; (4) quality of learning also mediates the association between relational marketing and organizational reputation; (5) career prospects mediate the relationship between relational marketing and organizational reputation; (6) traditional advertising does not have a direct but only an indirect effect on organizational reputation; and (7) these findings are net of the effect of respondents', universities', and countries' characteristics.

The findings contribute to the body of knowledge on the antecedents of organizational reputation, from an international marketing perspective. The results extend the impression management by integrating constructs that have been studied independently into a cohesive framework that links marketing activities, desired impressions and organizational reputation. With the study, impression management theory provides a framework to study the impact of marketing activities on organizational reputation not only in domestic but also in international markets.

By asking the target market about the importance of different marketing activities, their expectations of the organization and its reputation, HE administrators can employ the model proposed in this study to assess the relevant marketing strategies that will drive desired impressions which in turn will influence reputation.

While there are studies that focus on the impact of several constructs on organizational reputation in an international context, it is striking to observe that extant research is silent on how (via what mediating mechanisms) marketing activities work as an antecedent of organizational reputation. To address this gap, we examine marketing activities as antecedents of organizational reputation in an international, cross-country context, and specify the moderation role of cultural variables.

The purpose of this paper is to provide novel insights into arts consumption behaviour and patterns of communication displayed by arts consumers using Peterson’s theoretical framework, and to identify differences in the use of communication channels across arts segments.

The authors conducted an a priori market segmentation study, with two variables serving as segmentation criteria, namely, the frequency of and the variety of arts events attended. The authors tested for differences in communication patterns.

Four segments were created: low-frequency univores, low-frequency multivores, high-frequency multivores and high-frequency omnivores. They differ in their communication patterns and online behaviours, including their online activities before and after attending arts events. Printed materials and e-mail newsletters were the most effective communication channel for raising awareness of all arts consumers.

Understanding these communication patterns can help arts marketers to increase the attendance of low-frequency segments and broaden the variety of arts events attended by the univore and multivore segments. The generalisability of the findings is limited as the survey was conducted among online Australian arts consumers only.

The paper adds the dimension of arts consumption frequency to the taxonomy of omnivores and univores proposed by Peterson, which is based on the variety of consumed arts only. The paper contributes to communication and arts marketing literature by identifying key differences in communication patterns across segments of arts consumers and the most promising communication channels to engage them.