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1 – 10 of over 30000The purpose of this study was to shed light on how effective environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication can be achieved through persuasive communication…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to shed light on how effective environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication can be achieved through persuasive communication strategies using message framing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted an online experimental study with a 2 (narrative: narrative or non-narrative) × 2 (framing: gain or loss) between-subjects design.
Findings
The findings showed that environmental CSR communication using narrative framing messages is most effective in creating strong CSR associations between a company and the environmental CSR domain and sharing the company's CSR information on supportive communication and advocating for the environmental campaign.
Originality/value
This study highlights the importance of a company's environmental CSR communication efforts using the right message format (narrative style) to increase its persuasive sequence from CSR evaluation to supportive behaviors, contributing to theoretical development in the research of environmental CSR communication. This study suggests that environmental CSR campaign managers should first formalize the company's environmental responsiveness by clearly establishing policies and practicing CSR performance that could result in a strong CSR association before asking their target publics to engage in pro-environmental activities.
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Youngjee Ko, Hanyoung Kim, Youngji Seo, Jeong-Yeob Han, Hye Jin Yoon, Jongmin Lee and Ja Kyung Seo
Successful social marketing campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination for the unvaccinated relies on increasing positive reactions but also reducing negative responses to…
Abstract
Purpose
Successful social marketing campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination for the unvaccinated relies on increasing positive reactions but also reducing negative responses to persuasive messages. This study aims to investigate the relative effects of narrative vs non-narrative public service announcements (PSAs) promoting COVID-19 vaccination on both positive and negative reactions. Using social media as a tool for disseminating marketing campaigns provides a great opportunity to examine the effectiveness of narrative PSAs on vaccination intention, especially among unvaccinated young adults, who were the target audience of the social marketing. This study explores the role of empathy and psychological reactance as underlying mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
An experiment involving unvaccinated young adults was conducted with a one-factor, two-condition (message type: narrative vs non-narrative) design.
Findings
Results indicated that the narrative (vs non-narrative) PSAs led to greater empathy. While no direct effects of message type emerged on psychological reactance or vaccination intention, results of a serial multi-mediator model confirmed that empathy and psychological reactance mediated the effects of message type on vaccination intention.
Originality/value
The study extends the understanding of narrative persuasion by examining an underlying mechanism behind narrative persuasion in a COVID-19 PSA. This study provides empirical evidence of the important role of empathy in processing narrative PSAs. Moreover, the current study expands narrative persuasion’s applicability to COVID-19 vaccination intervention messages for unvaccinated young adults, highlighting the effectiveness of narrative persuasion as a social marketing communication tool.
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David Clementson and Tyler Page
When an audience mentally counterargues a spokesperson, the message is backfiring. In such cases, audience members are practically persuading themselves to take the opposite…
Abstract
Purpose
When an audience mentally counterargues a spokesperson, the message is backfiring. In such cases, audience members are practically persuading themselves to take the opposite position advocated by the spokesperson. Yet spokespeople who are professional persuaders serving corporations often seem to instill counterargument. This paper examines the role of counterargument as the conduit through which a spokesperson's different message types affect a company during a crisis. The authors explore the paradox of spokespeople's (in)effectiveness by testing divides in research drawn from normative crisis communication theory, narrative persuasion theory and the theory of reporting bias.
Design/methodology/approach
Two controlled, randomized experiments are reported. Participants (total N = 828) watch video clips of media interviews of a company spokesperson fielding questions about a scandal.
Findings
In the first study, non-narrative information most effectively bolsters purchase intentions and reduces negative word-of-mouth. The effect is mediated by decreased counterargument. The second study replicates the results concerning on-topic narratives compared with spinning, while on-topic narratives and non-narratives perform equally well.
Originality/value
This study addresses conflicts between two distinct traditions of theory as well as between normative crisis communication and its frequent practice. Reducing counterargument matters in the context of non-narrative persuasion, and non-narratives can perform at least as well as narratives in crisis communication.
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Heejin Lim and Michelle Childs
The new focus of brand communication in social media has driven firms to develop the effective visual content strategy. In light of narrative transportation theory, this study…
Abstract
Purpose
The new focus of brand communication in social media has driven firms to develop the effective visual content strategy. In light of narrative transportation theory, this study aims to investigate the impact of a photo’s narrative elements on self-brand connection through viewers’ transportation and emotional responses. Additionally, this study tests the role of telepresence on Instagram in this psychological mechanism.
Design/methodology/approach
Using between-subjects experimental design, two experimental studies test the effect of implied movement (Study 1) and diverse narrative elements such as a character, implied motion for chronology and the relevant background (Study 2).
Findings
Results demonstrate that a single narrative element, i.e. implied motion, does not induce a viewer’s transportation to the presented image. Rather, the viewer’s transportation occurs as a function of complex and diverse narrative elements, such as implied motion and the background as a context.
Practical implications
Findings suggest that the concept of photo narrative should be taken into consideration in a visually-oriented social media environment. To increase self-brand connection, social media communication should be designed with diverse elements to promote viewers’ active simulation and create meaning to the branded photo story.
Originality/value
This study expands the theory of narrative transportation by applying it to a visual form. Additionally, this research investigates the effect of social media communication on self-brand connection; the findings of this study demonstrate that a major goal of social media communication is not to sell products but to strengthen consumer-brand relationships through branded storytelling.
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Daniel Geiger and Georg Schreyögg
This paper aims at extending research on narrative knowledge sharing in organizations. Current literature often assumes that narratives can provide orientation and guidance in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at extending research on narrative knowledge sharing in organizations. Current literature often assumes that narratives can provide orientation and guidance in complex task environments by conveying embedded actionable problem‐solving knowledge or practices. In this paper an empirical example of narrative‐based knowledge sharing is used as a starting point to explore knowledge sharing via narratives in more detail. It turns out to be a much more ambiguous and problematic exercise than previous studies assume.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a conceptual paper but uses a case vignette from Shell to exemplify the problem of narrative‐based knowledge sharing discussed in the paper.
Findings
A possible model shall be outlined showing how inconsistent and questionable narratives could be handled in order to provide orientation. It concludes with stressing the importance of reflecting on narratives and suggests a generative interplay between narrative and argumentative modes of communication in knowledge sharing.
Originality/value
The paper is actually the first which deals systematically with the shortcomings of a narrative mode of knowledge sharing. It explores the potential problems and outlines some suggestions of how these problems could be addressed theoretically and practically.
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The aim of this paper is twofold: to provide empirical evidence of the knowledge-sharing process within virtual communities interested in war heritage sites and to compare…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is twofold: to provide empirical evidence of the knowledge-sharing process within virtual communities interested in war heritage sites and to compare user-generated content (UGC) in virtual communities with destinations’ official communication about war heritage sites to identify, original and consumer-oriented narratives.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses field research to investigate selected war heritage sites and to assess the destinations’ on-site communication; in-depth interviews to learn about the destination marketing organizations’ approaches to communication; and netnography with content analysis of text and pictures to evaluate the online knowledge shared within virtual communities on the investigated war heritage sites. A comparison between users-generated content and official destination management organizations’ (DMOs) communication was carried out.
Findings
The results show that the destinations under investigation have invested significantly to develop war heritage tourism, but they still struggle to attract tourists. The comparison between DMOs communication narratives and users-generated content shows that DMOs fail to use emotional involvement and accurate historic knowledge which seems to be at the basis of UGC narratives. Indeed, history passionates posts, pictures, comments and exchanges are emotionally engaging and DMOs could benefit from the user-generated content approach to improve institutional communication on war heritage sites.
Research limitations/implications
Further studies could survey history passionates, both online and offline, as to better explore the relationship between contributing to virtual communities’ content and visitation patterns of war heritage sites. Incorporating more emotionally engaging narratives, DMOs could enhance their communication and create virtual spaces where knowledgeable tourists can share information and experiences.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the understanding of online knowledge sharing in the context of war heritage tourism. The comparison between UGC in virtual communities and official destinations’ narratives shows the potential of spontaneous knowledge sharing versus structured online communication and how the latter could benefit UGC.
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Doris M. Merkl-Davies and Niamh M. Brennan
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Susanne Kjærbeck and Marianne Wolff Lundholt
The purpose of this paper is to investigate employees’ conflicting perspectives on the business strategy in a Danish housing association through a narrative approach, in order to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate employees’ conflicting perspectives on the business strategy in a Danish housing association through a narrative approach, in order to gain insight into the relation between master- and counter-narratives. The authors discuss the possibility of integrating counter-narratives as a resource in strategy processes. Finally, the usefulness and challenges of the applied narrative approach are addressed.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was undertaken as a case study of strategy communication in a private housing association. The empirical material consists of 16 qualitative interviews from all levels of the organization as well as recordings of meetings where management presents a new strategy to the employees. The study adopts a mixed methods interpretivist approach using focus groups and interviews as data and with a focus on narratives as sense-making resources. The applied method of analysis is based on narratology, sociological action analysis and the concept of “framing.”
Findings
Employees’ counter-narratives focus on practical problems regarding the implementation of the business strategy. They materialize through temporal structures and framing strategies through which employees’ perspectives are presented indirectly and with great care. In spite of their oppositional content, these counter-perspectives cannot be considered to be resistance; on the contrary, employees take great interest in solving the reported problems. Counter-narratives are seemingly useful resources in a form of “reality check” in the organization, in order to elucidate the implementation of the business strategy and make necessary adjustments. The research furthermore points to a more dialogical strategy communication where employees are involved earlier in the process rather than marginalized to “resistant bystanders.”
Originality/value
These findings give insight into the use of narratives as practical meaning construction in an organizational context, and in relation to strategy communication and change.
Tyler Milfeld and Daniel J. Flint
A growing number of consumers expect brands to take a stand on social issues. When Gillette launched its video with a social message in 2019, the popular press described it as…
Abstract
Purpose
A growing number of consumers expect brands to take a stand on social issues. When Gillette launched its video with a social message in 2019, the popular press described it as divisive and controversial. This study aims to examine themes behind the polarized consumer response, aiding brands in the development of social narrative videos.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use an existential-phenomenological approach to investigate the meaning behind consumers’ reactions to the Gillette video. Empirical data collection consisted of 24 semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using the hermeneutic method.
Findings
By viewing the Gillette video through the lens of a story, this research uncovers how marketing stories can lead to different interpretations. Specifically, the roots of polarization lie in perceived realism activation and character activation. Additionally, product placement may activate persuasive intent, interrupting immersion into the story.
Practical implications
Brand managers should consider the potential for alternative interpretations when using storytelling. By measuring a viewer’s narrative transportation, it is possible to identify different interpretations. From a tactical standpoint, brand managers should be cautious about using celebrity endorsers and prominent product placement in social narrative videos. These cues activate persuasive intent, leading to alternative interpretations.
Originality/value
While marketing research has tended to focus on storytelling’s positive outcomes, this research considers how stories can result in polarizing outcomes for brands. The concept of social narrative videos is introduced and a framework is presented that outlines facilitators and inhibitors for this type of brand communication.
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Pippa Bailey and Karen Bunning
Story‐telling is recognised as important to child language development. However, children who use electronic communication aids have limited opportunities to develop their…
Abstract
Purpose
Story‐telling is recognised as important to child language development. However, children who use electronic communication aids have limited opportunities to develop their story‐telling compared to their natural speaking (NS) peers. The “Telling Stories”' project aims to explore narrative construction in teaching staff‐aided communicator dyads.
Design/methodology/approach
A pilot study was conducted to examine the feasibility of research methods. Video data were captured during a fictional story‐telling task. Two measures were investigated: communicative modality; and linguistic move type. Momentary time sampling (MTS) was applied to the video to determine range and proportions of communicative modalities in use. A coding framework was applied to determine the distribution of linguistic move‐types across the interlocutors.
Findings
The findings revealed multimodal contributions from both interlocutors. The linguistic move‐type coding indicates the NS assumed a more dominant, initiating role. MTS was shown to be an appropriate methodology for this research.
Originality/value
The pilot provides provisional data regarding narrative constructions of an aided speaker and tests the efficacy of the MTS methodology prior to the full study. Refinements to the protocol to be used in the main study are reported. The main study aims to provide detailed analysis of the narrative constructions of aided speakers, currently an area with little existing research.
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