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This study aims to examine how employee advocacy, via the value and credibility of their professional social media content, affects their followers’ attitudes toward the brand through the mediating role of parasocial relationships.

A quantitative research was used, and questionnaires were answered by LinkedIn users who follow at least one person they consider to be an employee advocate. A total of 390 responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results suggest that the credibility of an employee advocate positively impacts the parasocial relationship between the user and the employee, which, in turn, impacts the user’s attitude toward the brand represented by the employee advocate.

The results of this study suggest that employee advocacy on LinkedIn can shape positive attitudes toward the advocate’s brand. These findings suggest that organizations should consider employee content and credibility as strategic tools in marketing communications.

This study delineates the linkages between the credibility and content value of the employee advocate, the parasocial relationship they have with followers and their attitude toward the brand. This research contributes to the literature on employee advocacy and studies on the concepts of parasocial interactions and relationships.

This study aims to investigates the impact of felt obligation for constructive change, constructive voices on social media and social media knowledge competence on digital social entrepreneurship among Indonesian youth.

This study uses Hayes’ process model to assess the stated hypotheses using survey data gathered from 489 Indonesian youth.

Youth with elevated social media knowledge competency might display diminished motivation to participate in digital social entrepreneurship, even when their felt obligation for constructive change remains robust. While promotive voice on social media mediates the relationship between felt obligation and digital social entrepreneurship, the notable absence of a mediating role for prohibitive voice on social media contradicts traditional Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory

This research challenges conventional PYD theory by suggesting that youth with high social media knowledge competence may have reduced motivation for digital social entrepreneurship, despite a strong commitment to positive change. While promotive voice behavior mediates the relationship between felt obligation and digital entrepreneurship, the absence of mediation by prohibitive voice contradicts traditional PYD principles. This study expands the PYD framework, highlighting the challenges related to social media knowledge competence and prohibitive voice in engaging youth advocates for digital social entrepreneurship. It emphasizes the need to adapt PYD theory to address the complexities of the digital age effectively.

The findings offer valuable insights for students, aspiring young entrepreneurs, educators and policymakers interested in advancing the development of digital social entrepreneurship in a developing nation.

This research offers valuable practical implications for policymakers, educators and society. It suggests the importance of nurturing a sense of responsibility among young individuals, enabling their active involvement in addressing issues like environmental degradation and discrimination. Creating supportive online communities for collaboration and constructive voice behavior on social media can provide judgment-free environments. Additionally, advocating for partnerships between youth and various stakeholders can boost resources, mentorship and funding opportunities, enhancing the prospects for impactful digital social entrepreneurship.

This study contributes to an underexplored area in the field of social entrepreneurship by investigating the intersection of youth, digital advocacy and digital social entrepreneurship. The incorporation of the PYD theory introduces a novel dimension to recent research in this domain

In December 2022, the Taliban announced that women were banned from attending higher education institutions in Afghanistan, which was met with concerns, condemnation, and a call to action. Social media platforms have presented Afghans and others from around the world with a free, public, and relatively safe space to voice their opinions and connect with others to discuss the ramifications of the Taliban education policies. The study conducted a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of 186 English-language posts published on the Twitter social networking site in September 2021 and December/January 2022 in response to the Taliban’s announced decisions concerning women’s access to higher education. Six discursive strategies were identified that use hashtags, negatively represent the Taliban, represent Afghan women as victims, report on acts of advocacy, condemn the Taliban’s restrictions and ban, and call to action to advocate for women’s right to higher education. While the ban has triggered more condemnation and calls for resistance than the restrictions enforced in the previous year, the findings suggest that the response to the restrictions imposed in September 2021 was mostly that of indifference compared to the posts that comment on the education ban in December 2022. Questions are raised concerning the role and effectiveness of the analyzed Twitter posts in mobilizing serious measures to reclaim women’s rights to access quality higher education in Afghanistan within the confines of the English-language Twitter sphere.

The involvement of stakeholders such as employers, alumni, and students has always been considered a key element in improving the higher education (HE) system. While considering stakeholders as key players in serving the market and in improving HE instruction, a two-sided collaborative involvement should aim at satisfying the mutual interests and overcoming existing barriers. Quality assurance systems have always supported crossing these barriers to link with the external stakeholders. However, many of the external quality assurance agencies (EQA) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region specify a group of external holders, limiting the various types of key stakeholders needed to enhance the academic programs. On the other hand, there are encountered risks in involving stakeholders if left with no objective guidance, especially that quality agencies are formidably urging the universities to consider the external stakeholders’ inputs to satisfy the quality assurance standards. The main objective of this chapter is to investigate the types of stakeholders’ and their levels of involvement within the local higher education institutions (HEIs). The chapter aims to provide an insight to invest in this involvement and utilize it to further improve the programs and their graduate attributes and suggests actions that would proficiently and truly enhance the involvement of external stakeholders. The outcomes of this chapter are expected to guide the EQAs and the HEIs to develop new practices in involving stakeholders, such as curriculum input, collegiate internships, aligning graduate attributes to market needs, financial support through endowments, professional development, and partnerships in service-level agreements.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of employee live streamers on consumers' purchase behaviors and brand image, as well as to understand the mediating roles of friendship and self-congruity.

A framework was proposed to explain the influence of employee live streamers' qualities on consumers' behaviors and brand image through the mediators of friendship and self-congruity. Primary data was collected from 225 valid survey responses in China, and the PLS-SEM analysis was employed to test the statistical significance of the hypothesized relationships.

The study found that four qualities of employee live streamers – trustworthiness, attractiveness, responsiveness and expertise – had significant effects on consumers' purchase behaviors and brand image through the mediators of self-congruity and friendship.

This research provides valuable insights into the varying roles of employee live streamers in consumers' decision-making and brand image formation. It offers a theoretical basis for scholars to understand the factors of PSI (parasocial interaction) between consumers and an employee streamer, contributing to the growing body of literature on live streaming and consumer behavior.

本研究旨在调查员工直播主对消费者购买行为和品牌形象的影响, 以及了解友谊和自我一致性在其中的中介作用。

本研究提出了一个框架, 以解释员工直播主的特质通过友谊和自我一致性的中介对消费者行为和品牌形象的影响。在中国收集了225份有效的调查问卷数据, 并采用PLS-SEM分析来测试假设关系的统计显著性。

研究发现员工直播主的四种特质 - 可信度、吸引力、反应能力和专业性 - 通过自我一致性和友谊的中介对消费者的购买行为和品牌形象产生了显著影响。

本研究深入探讨了员工直播主在消费者决策和品牌形象塑造中的不同作用, 为学者们理解消费者与员工直播主之间PSI（伪社交互动）的因素提供了理论基础, 为直播和消费者行为领域的日益增长的文献体系做出了贡献。

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of celebrity endorsers on consumer advocacy, customization and entertainment intentions based on the notion of the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework. In addition, this study aims to examine the mediating and moderating role of customization and entertainment intentions on the proposed relationships. The authors also intend to highlight the comparative effects between male and female young social media consumers on those proposed associations.

In the pursuit of comprehensive and rigorous data collection, this study adopted a quantitative methodology using a meticulously crafted questionnaire. The questionnaire survey was conducted in major cities of Malaysia using the convenience and snowball sampling techniques. A total of 576 responses were collected, even though 549 retorts were used for data analysis. In this investigation, the authors strategically used covariance-based structural equation modeling through the use of AMOS v. 24 as the primary data analysis tool. Augmenting the analytical depth, the authors also conducted a supplementary bootstrap analysis. The additional layers of examination were crucial for appraising the mediating and moderating effects inherent within the model, in which the PROCESS MACRO v.4.20 was used.

The results of this study revealed the significant direct positive effects of celebrity endorsers on consumer customization, entertainment and advocacy intentions. Consumer customization and entertainment intentions also found significant direct affirmative effects on consumer advocacy intention, along with the significant direct positive effects of consumer entertainment intention on consumer customization intention. The results further revealed that consumer customization and entertainment intentions cannot mediate the relationship between celebrity endorsers and advocacy intention. The entertainment intention also declined the mediating effects between celebrity endorsers and consumer customization intention. On the contrary, consumer customization intention significantly and positively, and entertainment intention also significantly but negatively, moderate the association between celebrity endorsers and consumer advocacy intention. This study also illustrates that the effects of those examined relationships differ between male and female young social media consumers.

This study investigates the impact of celebrity endorsers on consumer behavior, focusing on their customization, entertainment and advocacy intentions. It extends current SOR framework, enhances source credibility theory, fills gaps in the literature on social media brand engagement and underscores the significance of customization and entertainment intentions. The findings provide insights for managers aiming to harness consumer brand advocacy through celebrity endorsers effectively.

Social media played an irreplaceable role in young people’s online social life and information consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research focuses on the impact of excessive information on social media about COVID-19 vaccines on Generation Z's (Gen Z) associated psychological states and long-term vaccine advocacy.

The research conducted structural equation modeling analysis with online survey data from 409 Gen Z citizens in the UK.

The findings suggest that excessive information increased Gen Z social media users' ambivalence and conspiracy beliefs around COVID-19 vaccines, which, in turn, reduced their long-term vaccine advocacy in terms of vaccine acceptance, vaccination intention and vaccine promotion. Importantly, Gen Z’s confidence in government and in the healthcare systems during COVID-19 was effective in helping them overcome the detrimental effects of conspiracy beliefs and ambivalence about long-term vaccine advocacy, respectively.

This research reveals the “dark side” of social media use in the post-pandemic period and highlights the significant roles played by social institutions in mitigating the detrimental effects of Gen Z’s support in social decisions. Beyond the context of COVID-19, this research has important implications for facilitating the civic engagement of Gen Z and boosting their confidence in social institutions in terms of social cohesion.

This study attempts to encapsulate the idea of influencer marketing in the food sector and the vital role played by food influencers in shaping the dietary preferences, tastes and decisions of their social media followers and turning them into brand advocates.

An online survey of 383 social media users, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire, was undertaken to validate the proposed research design. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology was used to analyze the data and test the relationships between the constructs.

The results confirm the validity and reliability of the research model. The research revealed the positive influence of influencer–follower demographics and attitude congruence on followers’ food choices, which in turn leads to followers’ delight and significantly impacts their brand advocacy. It also depicts how followers’ perceived trust in an influencer mediates the relationship between their similarity with the influencers, their food choices and brand advocacy.

The study proposes a new theoretical framework and empirically tests the effectiveness of influencer marketing in influencing social media users’ food choice behavior and brand advocacy through the medium of followers’ congruence with social media influencers. The findings offer noteworthy theoretical and managerial implications for academicians as well as marketing practitioners.

The purpose of this study is to explore the comparative effects of mainstream celebrities and social media influencers on consumer advocacy and relationship intentions. The study also examines the direct and serial mediation effects on those relationships.

The survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 718 respondents throughout Malaysia, with convenience and snowball sampling techniques employed. The data were analyzed based on the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach through the AMOS version 24. The PROCESS MACRO v-4.20 was applied to evaluate mediating effects in the model.

The results reveal that celebrity endorsers' involvement in social media significantly influences the uses of social media, which also impacts the attitudes and, subsequently, consumer relationship and advocacy intentions. The study found that mainstream celebrities and social media influencers effectively promote brands, and it discovered insignificant differences in their effects on the analyzed relationships.

This study has been conducted on consumers in Malaysia; it may have different effects on consumers in other countries.

Brand managers and policymakers may benefit from following the study's guidelines for making consumer relationship and advocacy intentions by celebrity endorsers and uses of social media.

The brand community can benefit from tightening their social bondage by sharing and managing crucial information from celebrities and using social media.

The study explores the effects of mainstream celebrities on consumer relationship and advocacy intentions using social media networks and managing consumer attitudes.