Search results

This study explores the evolving dynamics of participatory accountability within humanitarian contexts, where digitally connected crisis-affected populations demand better accountability from aid organisations, and as a result, shift traditional hierarchies and relationships between humanitarian agencies and beneficiaries.

This study employs a case study approach, focussing on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to investigate how participatory accountability manifests outside formal practices and re-emerges in social media spaces. The study analyses internal organisational challenges and explores the implications of digital platforms on humanitarian practices. The authors employ Chouliaraki and Georgiou's (2015, 2019, 2022) networks of mediation, particularly intermediation and transmediation, to understand how digital expressions translate to offline contexts and reshape meanings and actions.

The study reveals that social media platforms enable beneficiaries to demand participatory accountability beyond traditional practices, democratising humanitarian response and challenging power structures. These effects are multifaceted, introducing enhanced democratic and inclusive humanitarian aid as well as new vulnerabilities. Digital intermediaries and gatekeepers play pivotal roles in curating and disseminating crisis-affected voices, which, when transmediated, result in nuanced meanings and understandings. Positive effects include capturing the potential of digital networks for democratic aid, while negative effects give rise to moral responsibilities, necessitating proactive measures from the ICRC.

This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the impact of digital technology, particularly social media, on participatory accountability. It expands the understanding of the evolving landscape of accountability within the humanitarian sector and offers critical insights into the complexities and dual purposes of participatory accountability in contexts of resistance. Employing Chouliaraki and Georgiou's networks of mediation adds depth to the understanding of digital technology's role in shaping participatory practices and introduces the concept of transmediation as a bridge between digital expressions and tangible actions.

This paper refines the Digital Media–Arena (DMA) framework to address the diversity of stakeholders contributing to the production, (re)appropriation and (re)distribution of organisational messages in digital environments. It also presents a case analysis for the purpose of demonstrating the applicability of the revised conceptual framework to a critical situation.

Grounded in key public relations, corporate communication and strategic communication research, this study first extends the DMA framework by introducing six new forms of media-arenas. Next, the study takes a public sector perspective to analyse the revised framework against a critical situation involving the Finnish prime minister in summer 2022.

The application of the revised DMA framework to analyse the critical situation shows the importance of mapping and understanding diverse discourses across multi-arenas and their communication role in a rapidly unfolding scandal surrounding the prime minister of Finland. Findings also reveal the diversity of stakeholder voices forming their own versions of organisational messages and sometimes converging organisational messages within and across DMAs.

The DMA framework can offer practical suggestions to guide communicators to make strategic choices in what, where, how and with whom they can communicate.

The revised DMA framework contributes expanding the field's knowledge of the strategic communicative use of the digital environment in typically highly volatile and multi-vocal situations by offering instrumental understanding of the conflicting challenge between subjugating and liberating organisational messages across the digital spectrum.

To understand the experiences, expectations and suggestions of digital nomads towards intangible cultural heritage in the places they travel.

The qualitative research method was used and the research design is a phenomenological design. Multiple qualitative research design steps were followed in obtaining the research data. In this context, online interviews were conducted with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers, and the social media accounts of digital nomads were monitored. The sample consists of nine digital nomads who were interviewed online and five digital nomads whose videos and comments shared on social media were monitored. The inductive thematic analysis method was used to analyse the data.

It was found that digital nomads experience intangible cultural heritage elements, especially religious rituals and food culture, and actively participate in activities and rituals related to these elements as well as sharing them on their social media accounts. It was also concluded that the participants expected to work towards the protection of intangible cultural heritage elements through a number of activities such as awareness-raising and education, and that it is difficult to experience cultural heritage in societies that are not foreign-friendly.

The data were obtained from volunteer participants consisting of digital nomads and digital nomads who shared their experiences on social media. It is suggested that traditional food and religious rituals as intangible cultural heritage should be promoted and transferred by sharing the experiences these digital nomads on digital platforms.

Religious rituals and food cultures are prominent in the ICH experiences of digital nomads. Digital nomads who stay longer in their destination than tourists can play an intermediary role in promoting and transmitting this heritage. The social media and other digital platforms enable digital nomads to share their experiences of cultural heritage and create a global dialogue and understanding through these experiences.

The experiences and expectations of digital nomads towards ICH require a reassessment of traditional approaches to the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage. By experiencing different cultural heritages and sharing these experiences through digital platforms, digital nomads contribute to the reinterpretation and reproduction of cultural heritage. This process reveals that cultural heritage is not limited to a particular community or geography, but is rather a global phenomenon, and therefore needs to be addressed from a global perspective.

It is one of the pioneering studies on the experiences of digital nomads towards intangible cultural heritage.

This paper aims to explore how critical digital and data literacies are facilitated by testing different methods in the classroom, with the ambition to find a pedagogical framework for prompting sustained critical literacies.

This contribution draws on a 10-year set of critical pedagogy experiments conducted in Denmark, USA and Italy, and engaging more than 1,500 young adults. Multi-method pedagogical design trains students to conduct self-oriented guided autoethnography, situational analysis, allegorical mapping, and critical infrastructure analysis.

The techniques of guided autoethnography for facilitating sustained data literacy rely on inviting multiple iterations of self-analysis through sequential prompts, whereby students move through stages of observation, critical thinking, critical theory-informed critique around the lived experience of hegemonic data and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructures.

Critical digital/data literacy researchers should continue to test models for building sustained critique that not only facilitate changes in behavior over time but also facilitate citizen social science, whereby participants use these autoethnographic techniques with friends and families to build locally relevant critique of the hegemonic power of data/AI infrastructures.

The proposed literacy model adopts a critical theory stance and shows the value of using multiple modes of intervention at micro and macro levels to prompt self-analysis and meta-level reflexivity for learners. This framework places critical theory at the center of the pedagogy to spark more radical stances, which is contended to be an essential step in moving students from attitudinal change to behavioral change.

This research aims to conceptualize online shaming discourse in virtual communities and to serve as a practical guide for online community managers and members.

This conceptual study explores the construction of meanings in human interaction in online communities by presenting a conceptual model, “The Triple-Responsibility Model in Online Communities,” that is based on Kantian ethics.

The model includes characterizing the roles of core participants in online communities: writer, reader and group manager; and delineating four ethical principles – truth, necessity, proportionality and caution – that can help society find the golden mean between social change and respecting human dignity and concern for an individual’s public image and provide a theoretical contribution and practical guidelines.

It addresses shaming in virtual communities by suggesting a balance of several key principles, including truth, necessity, proportionality and caution. This is a new conceptualization of online shaming relevant to today's digital arena.

The guidelines can contribute to the ongoing political debate over what constitutes appropriate and justified regulation. Moreover, Facebook community leaders are responsible for formatting the group’s identity, the technical facets of group management and for setting group boundaries and determining the rules of participation. The posited rules may affect social media group managers, as they are called upon to leverage their privileged position and channel their media power into influencing online discourse.

The current study provides insights into how shaming can be used as a legitimate tool in society by implementing an ethical approach, resulting in guidelines that restrict online discourse for participants in virtual communities and affect the work of social media group managers and policymakers.

By presenting a new conceptual model, the authors suggest that ethics are a helpful tool and offer insights into how online communities' participants and managers should use their voice and balance between shaming and maintaining the dignity of the individual.

This study aims to examine digital consumer culture and behavior in the community, namely, 180° Movement Digital Training Center (DTC), in Jakarta, Indonesia. It aims to describe the dynamics of digital consumer culture in contemporary society, particularly as experienced by the youth community in Jakarta in the context of socio-technology relations and incorporates it into the diagram of digital consumer culture network.

This research uses a constructivist qualitative approach and socio-technical relation analysis through actor-network theory and digital consumer culture.

The study finds that the individual model of digital consumption is constructed through the process of problematization, interessement, enrollment and mobilization of individuals. It generates a culture in which consumers are constantly up to date with high-intensity information, but within increasingly shorter timeframes, while also considering principles of affordability, needs, desires and satisfaction. The network of digital consumer culture construction among informants is peculiar and unstable.

The study of digital consumer culture within the 180° Movement DTC community highlights how consumer behaviors of its members are facilitated and interconnected within a digital cultural network. However, this research is constrained by the dialectical interplay between Christian principles and the emerging values of consumer culture, a result of the scarcity of theoretical resources and information. This study also provides a specific contribution as a foundation for mapping the volatile digital consumer culture for researchers.

Understanding the socio-technological relationships and consumption behavior of the youth community could help digital platforms tailor their services more effectively. It could also guide the 180° Movement DTC in developing programs that resonate with the youth, bridging the gap between the physical and virtual realms. Ultimately, this could lead to a more engaged and digitally literate society.

This study contributes to a broader societal understanding of how digital technology is shaping consumer behavior and identity within youth communities, which can influence social dynamics and interactions. It provides insights into the potential social impacts of digital technology, such as changes in relationships, communication patterns and self-perception, informing societal discourse on digital culture.

In addition to presenting socio-technological analysis on Indonesian consumer culture using actor-network theory, some also show that studies on digital connectivity ambivalence that concern the relationship between humans as actors and non-humans as actors have become one of the popular sociology studies at present.

The purpose of this study is to comprehend how AI aids marketers in engaging customers and generating value for the company by way of customer engagement (CE). CE is a popular area of research for scholars and practitioners. One area of research that could have far-reaching ramifications with regard to strengthening CE is artificial intelligence (AI). Consequently, it becomes extremely important to understand how AI is helping the marketer reach customers and create value for the firm via CE.

A detailed approach using both systematic review and bibliometric analysis was used. It involved identifying key research areas, the most influential authors, studies, journals, countries and organisations. Then, a comprehensive analysis of 50 papers was carried out in the four identified clusters through co-citation analysis. Furthermore, a content analysis of 42 articles for the past six years was also conducted.

Emerging themes explored through cluster analysis are CE concepts and value creation, social media strategies, big data innovation and significance of AI in tertiary industry. Identified themes for content analysis are CE conceptualisation, CE behaviour in social media, CE role in value co-creation and CE via AI.

CE has emerged as a topic of great interest for marketers in recent years. With the rapid growth of digital media and the spread of social media, firms are now embarking on new online strategies to promote CE (Javornik and Mandelli, 2012). In this review, the authors have thoroughly assessed multiple facets of prior research papers focused on the utilisation of AI in the context of CE. The existing research papers highlighted that AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants offer real-time interaction capabilities, swiftly addressing inquiries, delivering assistance and navigating customers through their experiences (Cheng and Jiang, 2022; Naqvi et al., 2023). This rapid and responsive engagement serves to enrich the customer’s overall interaction with the business. Consequently, this research can contribute to a comprehensive knowledge of how AI is assisting marketers to reach customers and create value for the firm via CE. This study also sheds light on both the attitudinal and behavioural aspects of CE on social media. While existing CE literature highlights the motivating factors driving engagement, the study underscores the significance of behavioural engagement in enhancing firm performance. It emphasises the need for researchers to understand the intricate dynamics of engagement in the context of hedonic products compared to utilitarian ones (Wongkitrungrueng and Assarut, 2020). CEs on social media assist firms in using their customers as advocates and value co-creators (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004; Sawhney et al., 2005). A few of the CE themes are conceptual in nature; hence, there is an opportunity for scholarly research in CE to examine the ways in which AI-driven platforms can effectively gather customer insights. As per the prior relationship marketing studies, it is evident that building relationships reduces customer uncertainty (Barari et al., 2020). Therefore, by using data analysis, businesses can extract valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviour, equipping them to engage with customers more effectively.

The rapid growth of social media has enabled individuals to articulate their thoughts, opinions and emotions related to a brand, which creates a large amount of data for VCC. Meanwhile, AI has emerged as a radical way of providing value content to users. It expands on a broader concept of how software and algorithms work like human beings. Data collected from customer interactions are a major prerequisite for efficiently using AI for enhancing CE. AI not only reduces error rates but, at the same time, helps human beings in decision-making during complex situations. Owing to built-in algorithms that analyse large amounts of data, companies can inspect areas that require improvement in real time. Time and resources can also be saved by automating tasks contingent on customer responses and insights. AI enables the analysis of customer data to create highly personalised experiences. It can also forecast customer behaviour and trends, helping businesses anticipate needs and preferences. This enables proactive CE strategies, such as targeted offers or timely outreach. Furthermore, AI tools can analyse customer feedback and sentiment across various channels. This feedback can be used to make necessary improvements and address concerns promptly, ultimately fostering stronger customer relationships. AI can facilitate seamless engagement across multiple digital channels, ensuring that customers can interact with a brand through their preferred means, be it social media, email, or chat. Consequently, this research proposes that practitioners and companies can use analysis performed by AI-enabled systems on CEB, which can assist companies in exploring the extent to which each product influences CE. Understanding the importance of these attributes would assist companies in developing more memorable CE features.

This study examines how prominent CE and AI are in academic research on social media by identifying research gaps and future developments. This research provides an overview of CE research and will assist academicians, regulators and policymakers in identifying the important topics that require investigation.

This study examines the dualities of digital services – that is, how customers’ favorite everyday digital services can positively and negatively contribute to their well-being. Thus, the study describes the meanings of favorite digital services as part of customers’ everyday lives and the types of well-being to which such services can contribute.

We used a qualitative research approach through semi-structured interviews conducted in 2021 to collect data from 14 young adults (22–31 years old) who actively used digital services in their daily lives.

Our findings revealed that customers’ favorite everyday digital services can contribute to their mental well-being, social well-being, and intellectual well-being. Within these three dimensions of well-being, we identified nine dualities of digital services that describe their positive and negative contributions: (1) digital escapism versus digital disruption, (2) digital relaxation versus digital stress, (3) digital empowerment versus digital subjugation, (4) digital augmentation versus digital emptiness, (5) digital socialization versus digital isolation, (6) digital togetherness versus digital exclusion, (7) digital self-expression versus digital pressure, (8) digital learning versus digital dependence, and (9) digital inspiration versus digital stagnation.

These findings suggest that everyday digital services have the potential to contribute to customer well-being in various aspects – both positively and negatively – accentuating the need for service providers to decipher the impacts of their offerings on well-being. Indeed, understanding the relationship between digital services and customer well-being can help companies tailor their services to customers’ needs. Companies that prioritize customer well-being not only benefit their customers but also create sustainable growth opportunities in the long run. Further, companies can use the derived information in service design to develop marketing strategies that emphasize the positive impacts of their digital services on customer well-being.

Although prior transformative service studies have investigated the well-being of multiple stakeholders, such studies have focused on services related to the physical and healthcare domains. Consequently, the role of everyday digital services as contributors to customer well-being is an under-researched topic. In addition, the concept of well-being and its various dimensions has received limited attention in previous service research. By investigating everyday digital services and their multidimensional contribution to customer well-being, this study broadens the perspective on well-being within TSR and aids in refining a more precise conceptualization.

The debate on digitalization in the public relations (PR) literature has fragmented considerably over the past decade because of its focus on upcoming media-technological innovations, required professional skills and management concepts. Yet the field has difficulties in developing an integrative perspective on the implications of digitalization as a broader socio-technological transformation with a balanced consideration of prospects and risks.

This paper proposes an integrative perspective that focuses more on the enduring imaginaries of how digitalization can transform society for better or worse. It traces the historical roots of five imaginaries of digitalization, which have already emerged over the past century yet have experienced a significant revival and popularization in the current debate. Based on these five imaginaries, the authors performed a narrative literature review of the digitalization debate in 10 leading PR journals from 2010 to 2022.

The five imaginaries allow for a systematization of the fragmented digitalization debate in the field, reconstructing recurrent narratives, prospects and risks.

The originality of this contribution lies in its reconstructive approach, tracing societal imaginaries of digitalization and their impact on the current disciplinary debate. This approach provides context for a balanced assessment of and engagement with upcoming, increasingly fragmented digital advancements in PR research and practice.

This study holistically and systematically consolidates the available research on digital reading to reveal the research trends of the past 20 years. Moreover, it explores the thematic evolution, hotspots and developmental characteristics of digital reading. This study, therefore, has the potential to serve as a research guide to researchers and educators in relevant fields.

The authors applied a bibliometric approach using Derwent Data Analyzer and VOSviewer to retrieve 2,456 publications for 2003–2022 from the Web of Science (WoS) database.

The results revealed that most studies' participants were university students and the experimental methods and questionnaires were preferred in digital reading researches. Among the influential countries or regions, institutions, journals and authors, the United States of America, University of London, Electronic Library and Chen, respectively, accounted for the greatest number of publications. Moreover, the authors identified the developmental characteristics and research trends in the field of digital reading by analyzing the evolution of keywords from 2003–2017 to 2018–2022 and the most frequently cited papers by year. “E-books,” “reading comprehension” and “literacy” were the primary research topics. In addition, “attention,” “motivation,” “cognitive load,” “dyslexia,” “engagement,” “eye-tracking,” “eye movement,” “systematic analysis,” “meta-analysis,” “smartphone” and “mobile reading/learning” were potential new research hotspots.

This study provides valuable insights into the current status, research direction, thematic evolution and developmental characteristics in the field of digital reading. Therefore, it has implications for publishers, researchers, librarians, educators and teachers in the digital reading field.