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The present study investigates the impact of perceived enjoyment, blogger credibility and homophily on readers' engagement. Moreover, the study investigates the role exerted by blog engagement on intentions to follow blogger's recommendations. Despite the growing relevance of these issues, past studies have neglected the relevance of a joint analysis of such dimensions within the context of food blogs.

The empirical research builds on an online survey with a sample of 821 blog readers (353 Italian and 468 American). The proposed model was tested through structural equation modelling.

Results from a survey on Italian and American consumers show that perceived enjoyment and homophily have a significant effect on blog engagement, which, in turn, positively influences both intention to taste and visit. Moreover, blogger credibility does not show a significant influence on blog engagement for Italian and American followers.

The study contributes to a better understanding of the influence exerted by blog engagement on intention to follow blogger's recommendations. The study also examines perceived enjoyment, credibility and homophily as antecedents of engagement, which have not been extensively researched in the past with respect to food blogs.

The study aims to contribute to the knowledge on the role of the fashion bloggers in the product adoption process in both advanced and emerging markets. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of credibility, engagement and homophily on intentions to buy fashion products recommended by the blogger.

The empirical research builds on an online survey with a sample of 402 consumers (189 Italian and 213 Taiwanese). The proposed model was tested through structural equation modeling.

Results showed that homophily and the fashion blogger credibility positively influenced the engagement within the blog. Moreover, perceived similarity with the other blog's followers (homophily) and a higher engagement with the blog both translated in a stronger intention to buy the sponsored products and to spread a positive word-of-mouth about the fashion blogger.

The study has practical implications since it identifies strategic suggestions for both companies that create partnerships with famous fashion bloggers and bloggers who have turned their diary-style websites into a business.

The study contributes to a better understanding of the influence exerted by blog engagement on intentions to follow blogger's recommendations. The study also examines credibility and homophily as antecedents of engagement, which have not been extensively researched in the past with respect to blogs.

How is it possible to evidence whether students are engaging with a course? What can be done to increase their level of engagement? Since the advent of blogs in 2002 a comprehensive body of research has developed around the pedagogic benefits of educational blogging and its value in teaching and learning, notably in encouraging reflective practice, social interaction and participatory learning (Burgess, 2006. Blogging to learn, learning to blog. In A. Bruns & J. Jacobs (Eds.), Uses of blogs (pp. 105–114). New York, NY: Peter Lang; Farmer, Yue, & Brooks, 2008; Williams & Jacobs, 2004). This chapter investigates whether blogs are also an effective tool for supporting and sustaining a community of learners in Higher Education and increasing their engagement in a university course.

The researchers used a case study methodology to examine whether the introduction of blogs had led to the development of a community of practice around an undergraduate course at the University for the Creative Arts. The data collected revealed that the course team had successfully developed a thriving online community involving students, staff, alumni and industry, with students displaying high levels of engagement and interaction. The discursive, commentary nature of blogging enabled students to engage in peer-supported learning, with the online ‘always on’ nature of the community providing a 24/7 support network. In addition, tutors were able to assess clearly the level of engagement of each student and provide targeted, timely feedback for those students who required more support.

It is hoped that this research will be informative to tutors and academic support staff who wish to explore the potential of using collaborative online technologies to enhance student learning and engagement.

Upon extending Hoffman and Novak's flow model, this paper aims to delineate the blogging motivations with an emphasis of flow mediation to predict blogging behaviors. Three objectives are to: identify determinant dimensions of blogging motivations, behaviors and flow; investigate the hypothesized relationships between blogging motivations, blogging behaviors with the mediation of flow; and control the moderating effect of individual differences (i.e. blogger and blog reader) to disperse their blogging behaviors.

Using the self‐administered questionnaire, the data (n=432) are collected from students at a public Southwestern university in the USA. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 7.0 identifies and validates the measurement model prior to examining the hypothesized relationships. To test the hypothesized relationships, structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis is employed in addition to the multi‐group SEM analysis to scrutinize the moderate effects of blog ownership.

The findings reveal that the desire for entertainment, information, and efficiency are the primary drivers for blogging behaviors. Specifically, information‐seeking is the decisive motivation to urge digital engagement and e‐shopping behaviors concurrently. This study concludes that telepresence of flow plays a pivotal mediating role to promote both digital engagement and e‐shopping behavior stirring entertainment and information‐seeking motivations. Interestingly, there are disparities between blogger and blog‐reader groups that entail divergent mediating effect of telepresence.

Given the preliminary nature of this approach, there are some limitations as follows: the convenience sampling limits the generalizability of the research; the individual factors as well as social and cultural factors in a global context need to counter why the majority of internet users do not participate in blogging.

Blogging provides distinctive insight into comprehending e‐consumer behavior explicitly with respect to social networking and information searching behaviors while facilitating a state of flow. This approach allows e‐service providers' and researchers' efforts to be more effective and approachable in comprehending the phenomenon through the application of the appropriate theoretical platform.

Even if the relationship between travel bloggers and followers has implications for tourists’ decision-making process, the literature does not individuate the main determinants of this relationship. This paper aims to study the drivers and motivations to follow travel bloggers and the main consequences. Moreover, the paper seeks to highlight the metamorphosis of travel bloggers and their role in the tourism industry.

A systematic literature review was used, and 76 papers were selected. A thematic map of the literature and a summary of key findings are proposed.

Although authenticity is the main trigger for following travel bloggers, other factors (e.g. transparency and credibility), if lacking, can erode the relationship with followers. Results demonstrate that hygiene factors are important but that the relationship with followers can be compromised if motivational factors are lacking. Loyalty and the continued use of travel blogs are the main consequences of a relationship based on trust, credibility and engagement.

Tourism and hospitality managers must define sophisticated segmentation procedures to select the right travel blogger with which to engage for destination promotions. Travel bloggers must clearly define the role that they want to have in the market if they are to instill loyalty in their followers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that attempts to identify the pillars of the follower–travel blogger relationship in the tourism and hospitality literature.

The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) how female blog users' perceived benefits (i.e. perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, community identification and perceived norm of reciprocity) influence their perceived social capital on fashion blogs, (2) the influence of structural social capital and cognitive social capital on users' relational social capital and (3) the influence of relational social capital on blog loyalty.

Structural equation modeling was performed using 530 useable data collected through an online survey.

The result indicated that perceived usefulness and the norm of reciprocity led to the development of cognitive social capital, while community identification and the norm of reciprocity led to the development of structural social capital. Cognitive and structural social capital both led to the development relational social capital, which in turn influenced blog loyalty.

This study provides insights for a fashion brand marketing strategy that uses fashion blogs to target relevant consumers. It helps firms to understand the factors that lead people to embed their resources in a blog and to learn how the different perceived benefits impact blog users' contributions to the community.

HR Blog is one of the social technologies systems to allow employees to voice the issues they experience. However, employees’ trust becomes an emerging issue to use HR Blog. This paper aims to investigate the impact level of employees’ trust in using HR Blog and identifying the causes affecting employees’ trust in using HR Blog. Social exchange theory (SET) was adopted as a vehicle to assist in identifying the employees’ trust causes. SET found serves the aim of research because it posits that the relationship between employees and HR Blog is built based on reciprocity, two-way of exchange.

The research adopts a qualitative method, namely, semi-structured interviews. The total number of conducted semi-structured interviews is 46, 38 interviews with HR Blog users and eight interviews with the management of HR Blog.

The present research found that HR Blog is distrusted by the vast majority of employees. The causes of HR Blog distrust were: functionality (mainly the placing the filtration process); lack of feedback and attention to employees in HR Blog; lack of providing tangible outcomes of HR Blog; and absence of HR Blog informative materials and clear guidelines.

This research lies in the fact that it is one of the first studies that focus on employees’ perspectives to empirically identify and investigate their trust factors affecting the use of HR Blog. The study achieved its aim in terms of gaining a better understanding of how to gain and restore employees’ trust to make HR Blog a trusted and effective system in the workplace.

This chapter aims to develop a holistic conceptual understanding of how tourism experiences are constructed, contextualized and packaged in the context of travel blogs. Tourist experiences are highlighted as an on-going process, continuously changing and altering during pre-, on-site-, and post-visit of tourist experiences. This chapter also examines the relationships between travel blog users’ motivation and engagement and tourist experience construction. As a result, a new dimension to the previous tourist experiences is offered.

Adopting the theory of parasocial interaction (PSI) and schema theory, this study proposes that a brand’s personalized response and brand familiarity on a corporate blog will lead to higher perceived brand similarity, credibility and blog recommendation intention.

A 2 (brand familiarity: high, low) × 3 (brand responses: none, automated and personal) experimental design was developed to test the hypothesized relationships. A total of 474 qualified data were collected using an online survey. ANOVA was utilized to test the research hypotheses.

Study results revealed that personalized messages lead to stronger perceived brand similarity, credibility and blog recommendation intention than those exposed to automated and no response. Brand familiarity also significantly influenced perceived brand similarity, brand credibility and blog recommendation intention. Further, the study analysis revealed an interesting interaction effect between brand awareness and brand response on recommendation intention.

The study provides meaningful implications and suggestions for the effective corporate blogging strategy to influence consumers’ attitudes and image toward brands and establish strong brand equity and relationships with customers.

This chapter provides a broad overview of the practical applications of three technology-based teaching and learning tool: wikis, blogs, and WebQuests. These Web-based communication tools allow teachers and students to increase student engagement by enhancing experiential type learning. A variety of studies is presented to demonstrate how these three types of collaborative technologies can be used as inquiry-based and reflection-based active learning tools to foster higher levels of effort and participation by students. This chapter presents a variety of perspectives about how to make the learning process for both instructors and teachers more engaging, more gratifying, and more personally meaningful. In doing so, these technologies serve as enabling technologies by promising new ways to increase academic engagement and motivation. The ultimate goal in using these technologies is to develop students as lifelong learners and to foster a high value for learning and the development of higher order thinking skills that grows over time. The experiential nature and authenticity of the activities that these technologies can be used for helps achieve this purpose. Of course, technology involves a constant evolution and new technologies will always appear in the future but this does not mean that they should be viewed as passing fads or not worthy of implementing. These tools can be viewed as opportunities to expand our definition and concept of teaching and learning in the modern, post-industrial era. To that end, this chapter explores the innovative use of these technological tools to better engage students and enhance the learning process.