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1 – 10 of 10Aasif Ahmad Mir and Sevukan Rathinam
The study aims to access, monitor and visualize the scientific progress of Twitter-based research through a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to access, monitor and visualize the scientific progress of Twitter-based research through a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications.
Design/methodology/approach
The data was retrieved from 2006 to February 23, 2022 using the Web of Science, a leading indexing and abstracting database. In response to the authors’ query, 6,193 items with 101,037 citations, an average citation of 16.31 and an h index of 126 were received. The “Biblioshiny” extension of the “Bibliometrics” package (www.bibliometrix.org) of R software was used to evaluate and visualize the data.
Findings
The present study highlighted the scientific progress of the field evolved over a period of time. The obtained results uncovered the publication trends, productive countries and their collaboration pattern, active authors who nurture the field by making their contribution, prolific source titles adopted by authors to publish the literature on the topic, most productive language in which literature was written, productive institutions, funding agencies that sponsor the research, influential articles, prominent keywords used in publications were also identified which will aid scientists in identifying research gaps in a particular area.
Originality/value
This study comprehensively illustrates the research status of Twitter-related research by conducting a bibliometric analysis. The study’s findings can assist relevant researchers in understanding the research trend, seeking scientific collaborators and funding for their research. Further, the study will act as a ready reference tool for the scientific community to identify research gaps, select research topics and appropriate platforms for submitting their scholarly endeavors.
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María Teresa Macarrón Máñez, Antonia Moreno Cano and Fernando Díez
The pandemic has enhanced the global phenomenon of disinformation. This paper aims to study the false news concerning COVID-19, spread through social media in Spain, by using the…
Abstract
Purpose
The pandemic has enhanced the global phenomenon of disinformation. This paper aims to study the false news concerning COVID-19, spread through social media in Spain, by using the LatamChequea database for a duration from 01/22/2020, when the first false information has been detected, up to 03/09/2021.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative analysis has been conducted with regard to the correlation between fake news stories and the pandemic state, the motive to share them, their dissemination in other countries and the effectiveness of fact checking. This study is complemented by a qualitative method: a focus group conducted with representatives of different groups within the society.
Findings
Fake news has been primarily disseminated through several social networks at the same time, with two peaks taking place in over a half of the said false stories. The first took place from March to April of 2020 during complete lockdown, and we were informed of prevention measures, the country’s situation and the origin of the virus, whereas the second was related to news revolving around the coming vaccines, which occurred between October and November. The audience tends to neither cross-check the information received nor report fake news to competent authorities, and fact-checking methods fail to stop their spread. Further awareness and digital literacy campaigns are thus required in addition to more involvement from governments and technological platforms.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the research is the fact that it was only possible to conduct a focus group of five individuals who do not belong to generation Z due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, although a clear contribution to the analysis of the impact of fake news on social networks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain can be seen from the privileged experiences in each of the fields of work that were identified. In this sense, the results of the study are not generalizable to a larger population. On the other hand, and with a view to future research, it would be advisable to carry out a more specific study of how fake news affects generation Z.
Originality/value
This research is original in nature, and the findings of this study are valuable for business practitioners and scholars, brand marketers, social media platform owners, opinion leaders and policymakers.
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Bülent Doğan, Yavuz Selim Balcioglu and Meral Elçi
This study aims to elucidate the dynamics of social media discourse during global health events, specifically investigating how users across different platforms perceive, react to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to elucidate the dynamics of social media discourse during global health events, specifically investigating how users across different platforms perceive, react to and engage with information concerning such crises.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method approach was employed, combining both quantitative and qualitative data collection. Initially, thematic analysis was applied to a data set of social media posts across four major platforms over a 12-month period. This was followed by sentiment analysis to discern the predominant emotions embedded within these communications. Statistical tools were used to validate findings, ensuring robustness in the results.
Findings
The results showcased discernible thematic and emotional disparities across platforms. While some platforms leaned toward factual information dissemination, others were rife with user sentiments, anecdotes and personal experiences. Overall, a global sense of concern was evident, but the ways in which this concern manifested varied significantly between platforms.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitation is the potential non-representativeness of the sample, as only four major social media platforms were considered. Future studies might expand the scope to include emerging platforms or non-English language platforms. Additionally, the rapidly evolving nature of social media discourse implies that findings might be time-bound, necessitating periodic follow-up studies.
Practical implications
Understanding the nature of discourse on various platforms can guide health organizations, policymakers and communicators in tailoring their messages. Recognizing where factual information is required, versus where sentiment and personal stories resonate, can enhance the efficacy of public health communication strategies.
Social implications
The study underscores the societal reliance on social media for information during crises. Recognizing the different ways in which communities engage with, and are influenced by, platform-specific discourse can help in fostering a more informed and empathetic society, better equipped to handle global challenges.
Originality/value
This research is among the first to offer a comprehensive, cross-platform analysis of social media discourse during a global health event. By comparing user engagement across platforms, it provides unique insights into the multifaceted nature of public sentiment and information dissemination during crises.
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Paraskevi El Skarpa and Emmanouel Garoufallou
In the digital era individuals are overwhelmed by huge amount of readily available information. The information provided at the time of COVID-19 crisis is increasingly available…
Abstract
Purpose
In the digital era individuals are overwhelmed by huge amount of readily available information. The information provided at the time of COVID-19 crisis is increasingly available. The purpose of this paper was to investigate individuals’ perceived feelings due to the plethora of information during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece in Spring 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted through a Web-based questionnaire survey posted on the Google Forms platform. The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended, seven-point Likert-scale questions. The data collected were subjected to a principal component analysis. The retained principal components (PCs) were subjected to statistical analysis between genders and among age groups and professional status with the nonparametric criteria Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis.
Findings
Responses by 776 individuals were obtained. Seventeen original variables from the questionnaire were summarized into three PCs that explained the 71.7% of total variance: “affective disorders,” “uncertainty issues and inaccurate information worries” and “satisfaction and optimism.” Participants partly agree that the received amount of information on the disease caused them feelings of uncertainty about the future and worries about relatives’ lives, but also satisfaction with developments in the country. Females seem to experience stronger perceived feelings of “affective disorders” (p < 0.001) and reported higher degree of agreement about “uncertainty issues and inaccurate information worries.”
Originality/value
The recorded feelings caused by the volume of available information may have forced people accept the necessary precautionary behavioral changes that had contributed to the Greek success in preventing spread of the disease in Spring 2020.
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Yuehua Zhao, Linyi Zhang, Chenxi Zeng, Yidan Chen, Wenrui Lu and Ningyuan Song
This study aims to address the growing importance of online health information (OHI) and the associated uncertainty. Although previous research has explored factors influencing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address the growing importance of online health information (OHI) and the associated uncertainty. Although previous research has explored factors influencing the credibility of OHI, results have been inconsistent. Therefore, this study aims to identify the essential factors that influence the perceived credibility of OHI by conducting a meta-analysis of articles published from 2010 to 2022. The study also aims to examine the moderating effects of demographic characteristics, study design and the platforms where health information is located.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the Prominence-Interpretation Theory (PIT), a meta-analysis of 25 empirical studies was conducted to explore 12 factors related to information content and source, social interaction, individual and media affordance. Moderators such as age, education level, gender of participants, sample size, platforms and research design were also examined.
Findings
Results suggest that all factors, except social support, have significant effects on the credibility of OHI. Among them, argument quality had the strongest correlation with credibility and individual factors were also found to be relevant. Moderating effects indicate that social support was significantly moderated by age and education level. Different sample sizes may lead to variations in the role of social endorsement, while personal involvement was moderated by sample size, platform and study design.
Originality/value
This study enriches the application of PIT in the health domain and provides guidance for scholars to expand the scope of research on factors influencing OHI credibility.
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Vikas Gupta and Manohar Sajnani
This paper aims to explore the risk and benefit perceptions influencing beer patrons’ purchase and consumption decisions in India. It delves into the drivers behind consumers’…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the risk and benefit perceptions influencing beer patrons’ purchase and consumption decisions in India. It delves into the drivers behind consumers’ consumption patterns and attitudes towards beer, which subsequently impact their behavioural intentions, including word-of-mouth recommendations and repurchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a structured questionnaire to collect data from 306 beer patrons in Delhi and the National Capital Region. Through exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, the research examines the risk (5) and benefit (3) factors associated with beer consumption using a factor model consisting of 29 constructs. A conceptual framework illustrates the interrelationships between variables, which are subsequently validated empirically.
Findings
The findings reveal that patrons’ attitudes towards beer are influenced by their perceptions of risk and benefit. Specifically, health and socio-psychological risks are identified as the most significant and negatively impacting factors on patrons’ attitudes. Factorial analysis demonstrates that patrons’ attitudes towards beer are positively influenced by their perception of benefits such as value for money, sensory appeal and convenience. Furthermore, the study highlights that an increase in benefit perception or a decrease in risk perception leads to a favourable shift in patrons’ attitudes towards beer.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study will be the first to investigate how beer consumers’ consumption patterns and purchase decisions are impacted by assessing consumer risk and benefit perceptions. This study will also aid stakeholders in tailoring their beer offerings better to meet the desires and requirements of their customers.
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Lydia Qianqian Li, Quynh Ngoc Bui and Hui Yan
Using data from Vietnam to reveal which factors affected the impressive growth of Vietnam's e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Purpose
Using data from Vietnam to reveal which factors affected the impressive growth of Vietnam's e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, the study proposed a conceptual model in which the influence of COVID-19 information overload (IO) on online purchase intention (OPI) was discovered. The authors were also interested in examining the moderator roles of self-construal (SC), perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) in inducing the intention to make an online purchase.
Findings
Perceived threat (PT) and cyberchondria (C) played full mediation roles in the impact of IO on OPI. Moreover, PT was found to be a partial mediator of the relationship between IO and C. Furthermore, interdependent self-construal (IntSC) positively moderated the positive effect of IO on PT. Finally, PU and PEOU showed significant moderated moderation effects, in which PU moderated the effects of PT and C on OPI, whereas PU itself was moderated by PEOU.
Research limitations/implications
Understanding the positive effects of IO, C and PT on OPI can be useful for marketers. In addition, managers should improve the ease-of-use and usefulness of online stores/platforms to attract more consumers to online channels.
Practical implications
Marketers and managers should learn more about how to take advantage of IO, PT and C. For instance, to sell medical supplements, marketer should push up related-health information such as obesity, diabetics, to make consumers perceive a threat to their health and search for ways to improve their health condition. This is the time when advertisements for medical supplements bring into play. This method can be applied in many different fields. The key is that marketers should find out what is the threat that their targeted customers can perceive and then spread out a huge amount of relevant information.
Social implications
The government should control infodemic and guide people to obtain official information. This helps to restrain the PT and C, which seriously harm people's health and affect their behaviors, such as making unusual or panicked purchases. This study also suggests a considerable concern that residents of Asian cultures, where IntSC is dominant, may perceive threat more than residents of Western cultures.
Originality/value
Limited research addresses the relationship between PEOU and PU when they act as moderators. Current research not only explains the moderation effect of PU under the influence of PEOU but also suggests that PEOU may be more important than PU in emerging markets due to customers' inexperience in online markets or channels. It also explores the factors that influenced OPI in Vietnam during the COVID-19 outbreak and contributes to the scientific literature on Vietnam, especially in terms of discovering the tendency of SC, which has not been mentioned before in research about Vietnamese.
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Abu Bashar, Brighton Nyagadza, Neo Ligaraba and Eugine Tafadzwa Maziriri
This paper is a bibliometric analysis of articles published on the influence of Covid-19 on consumer behaviour.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is a bibliometric analysis of articles published on the influence of Covid-19 on consumer behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
Biblioshiny and VOSviewer applications are employed for the bibliometric analysis and visualisation, respectively.
Findings
The most influential documents, authors, affiliations, countries and journals are presented. Citation, Co-citation and keyword co-occurrence analysis is conducted and presented in the form of a clustered network diagram.
Practical implications
This paper found three main themes of the research in consumer behaviour amid Covid-19 a) Food purchasing decisions and food wastage, b) Adoption of technology and c) Intrinsic and extrinsic influence on consumer behaviour.
Social implications
The Covid-19 pandemic has shaken the world’s economy and left behind its adverse effect on almost every walk of life. Consumer behaviour is no exception, studies have reported paradigm shifts in the way consumers are reacting to marketing stimuli, making purchase and consumption decisions. For the marketers to sustain profitability, they need to understand the changing behaviour and tailor their offerings accordingly.
Originality/value
The article offers the emerging theme and sub-themes in the consumer behaviour research that leads to future expansion of this research domain.
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Juma James Masele and Elia Daud
This study aims to assess the sources of COVID-19 information respondents relied for COVID-19 pandemic information access and use, forms of misinformation and their influence on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the sources of COVID-19 information respondents relied for COVID-19 pandemic information access and use, forms of misinformation and their influence on COVID-19 vaccine uptake hesitancy among frontline workers.
Design/methodology/approach
A Google Form developed questionnaire, distributed conveniently through link shared through WhatsApp groups was used to collect data from frontline workers from Dar es Salaam and Dodoma cities. Analysis was done using a binary regression analysis.
Findings
It was found that it was not the source that mattered for one to be hesitancy or not on COVID-19 vaccination, but the extent to which the information the source channels was manipulated or false.
Research limitations/implications
Relying only Google Form questionnaire sent through a link on WhatsApp may have compromised the quality of information gathered and the quality of conclusion. Another study may have conducted through researcher administered questionnaire to a bigger sample to increase conclusion reliability and validity.
Practical implications
This study urges that to increase the COVID-19 vaccine uptake, it is important to ensure that the quality of information from the revealed dependable sources is checked to avoid possible consequential disquiet resulting from misinformation.
Originality/value
As the world is striving toward combating the COVID-19 or at least lessening its effects, this paper is of its own kind, using the theory of informative fictions to guide the assessment of the sources of information and the extent to which they influence misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine uptake hesitancy.
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Dhanya M. and Sanjana S.
The purpose of this paper is to understand the customer sentiment towards telemedicine apps and also to apply machine learning algorithms to analyse the sentiments in the adoption…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the customer sentiment towards telemedicine apps and also to apply machine learning algorithms to analyse the sentiments in the adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Text mining that uses natural language processing to extract insights from unstructured text is used to find out the customer sentiment towards the telemedicine apps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Machine learning algorithms like support vector machine (SVM) and Naïve Bayes classifier are used for classification, and their sensitivity and specificity are found using a confusion matrix.
Findings
The paper explores the customer sentiment towards telemedicine apps and their adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic. Text mining that uses natural language processing to extract insights from unstructured text is used to find out the customer sentiment towards the telemedicine apps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Machine learning algorithms like SVM and Naïve Bayes classifier are used for classification, and their sensitivity and specificity are found using a confusion matrix. The customers who used telemedicine apps have positive sentiment as well as negative sentiment towards the telemedicine apps. Some of the customers have concerns about the medicines delivered, their delivery time, the quality of service and other technical difficulties. Even a small percentage of doctors feel uncomfortable in online consultation through the application.
Originality/value
The primary value of this paper lies in providing an overview of the customers’ approach towards the telemedicine apps, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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