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This research investigates the impact of learners' non-substantive responses in online course forums, referred to as online listening responses, on e-learning performance. A common type of response in online course forums, online listening responses consist of brief, non-substantive replies/comments (e.g. “agree,” “I see,” “thank you,” “me too”) and non-textual inputs (e.g. post-voting, emoticons) in online discussions. Extant literature on online forum participation focuses on learners' active participation with substantive inputs and overlooks online listening responses. This research, by contrast, stresses the value of online listening responses in e-learning and their heterogeneous effects across learner characteristics. It calls for recognition and encouragement from online instructors and online forum designers to support this activity.

The large-scale proprietary dataset comes from a leading MOOC (massive open online courses) platform in China. The dataset includes 68,126 records of learners in five MOOCs during 2014–2018. An ordinary least squares model is used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses.

Online listening responses in course forums, along with learners' substantive inputs, positively influence learner performance in online courses. The effects are heterogeneous across learner characteristics, being more prominent for early course registrants, learners with full-time jobs and learners with more e-learning experience, but weaker for female learners.

This research distinguishes learners' brief, non-substantive responses (online listening responses) and substantive inputs (online speaking) as two types of active participation in online forums and provides empirical evidence for the importance of online listening responses in e-learning. It contributes to online forum research by advancing the active-passive dichotomy of online forum participation to a nuanced classification of learner behaviors. It also adds to e-learning research by generating insights into the positive and heterogeneous value of learners' online listening responses to e-learning outcomes. Finally, it enriches online listening research by introducing and examining online listening responses, thereby providing a new avenue to probe online discussions and e-learning performance.

In this study, the authors aim to probe the relationship between listening and lurking and discuss types of lurking that occur on social media sites based on the motivations driving them. Although listening is a significant practice of online attention, intimacy, connection, obligation and participation as much as voice is, it is yet to receive the kind of attention voice is given in the context of social media. In the rather limited studies on online attention, the concept that has gained consideration is “lurking”, and this practice has often been treated as a derogatory non-activity or as passivity. The interest to study lurking is based on the premise that lurking is a significant ground on which listening occurs in social media and through which voice can be given attention.

This study adopted a phenomenological approach to understand motivations for lurking in online spaces. Phenomenological research involves data gathering through inductive, qualitative methods with the aim of explaining specific phenomena from the perspective of research participants. In this research, the lived experience studied was lurking and what drives lurking. A total of 12 members of the Licence to Talk project, a research project based at the School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa, took part in the study. They shared their personal experiences of online lurking through a critical reflective writing. Based on the experiences shared, the authors identified and categorised the various types of lurking based on the varied motivations driving them.

Through the phenomenological approach, the study has theorised a more useful understanding of lurking as a form of online listening by identifying and categorising seven lurking behaviours that are nested within the lurking activity. This study, thus, provides a tentative framework for studying online lurking by bringing to bear listening theory and by reasoning that lurking is a needs-based activity that has purpose imbedded within it.

The authors recognise that this study is limited by its small number of participants. Nevertheless, as researchers with a strong grounding in listening theory, the authors thought it valuable to interrogate their own practices on social media and to develop a more useful understanding of what lurking might entail and, on the lurking-listening relationship. A larger study would provide stronger evidence to test the hypothesis about lurking as a very interesting form of listening with a relationship to complex behaviours and needs.

It is expected that by conceptualising the various forms of lurking based on the motivations that drive online lurking (listening), it will provide an empirical and theoretical/conceptual basis for further investigations into this pervasive mode of online attention.

Fake news stories have become a central element of crises that corporate public relations practitioners have confronted. Whether such stories are rumors, outright lies or deliberate attempts to discredit corporations, they have the same impact and require specific strategies for public relations practitioners to effectively respond. The purpose of this study is to uncover strategies to manage crises that arise from fake news and if and how these strategies differ for other corporate crises.

In this multi-method study of 21 in-depth interviews and a 8-person focus group with senior-level corporate public relations practitioners, authors explored decision-making strategies for responding to fake news crises. Transcripts of interviews and the focus group were thematically analyzed.

Results reveal insights regarding how public relations practitioners determine if and when to respond to fake news crises in corporations; what response strategies public relations practitioners have the autonomy to employ for fake news crises in corporations, and how public relations practitioners control media narratives during fake news crises in corporations.

The findings guide public relations practitioners to craft an autonomous decision-making process and effective online listening strategies—establishing a watchful waiting approach—and determine if the fake news issue is a passing moment or movement swirling into a crisis.

Few studies have examined the perspectives of crisis communication experts about minimizing and managing fake news crises. The study identifies opportunities for future research focused on crises originating from fake news and disinformation.

This concurrent mixed methods study aims to collect quantitative data indicating current levels of podcast usage, demographics of those using podcasts, technologies used and perceptions of the podcasts. It also aims to collect qualitative data providing an expanded understanding on perceptions of the podcasts and suggestions for future enhancements.

Six sample podcasts were recorded and made available via New Zealand's UCOL – Universal College of Learning – web site in MP3 format. The target population was staff and students of UCOL. A web‐based survey instrument was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data with 86 complete responses received.

Results showed that there were differences found between the groups surveyed in perceptions and use of the library instructional podcasts. The majority of respondents thought the podcasts were “very good” with 71.1 per cent in favour of them. The most helpful podcast topics were identified, suggestions for future podcast topics were made, device ownership and required technologies were investigated, preferred times and places for listening to podcasts was ascertained and advantages and disadvantages were determined. The conclusion reached was that podcasting for library instruction does provide benefits and should be pursued.

Participants were self‐selected on a non‐random basis. For these reasons and also due to the low response rate it was not possible to stratify the sample set or generalise results. This method of selection may also have caused a bias in answers towards those already interested in podcasting technology.

As podcasting is a new phenomenon for libraries, little is known about its usage and perceived benefits especially in New Zealand. This research offered an opportunity to fill a small gap in the knowledge of the usage and perceptions of podcasting and future potential as a medium for library instruction. This study was intended as an intermediary step and further research is therefore needed to gain a full picture.

This article quantifies public sentiment for dairy products using online media and investigates potential relationships between online media, both volume and sentiment, and future prices of Class III milk.

Netbase, an online media listening platform, was used to quantify US generated online media sentiment and number of mentions regarding dairy products. Granger-causality tests and Impulse Response Functions (IRFs) were used to study relationships between online media derived data and dairy futures prices.

Milk and cheese have more mentions in online media than yogurt and ice cream. Online media net sentiment around milk was the lowest of the dairy products studied. Granger-causality tests showed that Class III milk price Granger-causes net sentiment of dairy as a whole and of fluid milk. Price additionally Granger-causes mentions of milk, ice cream and yogurt. Notably, milk and ice cream mentions Granger-cause the Class III milk price. IRF's reveals that increases in mentions have a positive, albeit small, effect on the Class III milk price that is statistically significant for ice cream, but not for milk. IRF's directionality of the relationship from price to online media derived data was mixed.

This is the first time that relationships between online media -volume and sentiment- and futures prices of an agricultural commodity are researched. Exploration of futures markets alongside online media advances the use of online media to glean insights in financial, along with food and agricultural markets.

Comparatively, while the voice of customers, employees, and other stakeholders have been identified as key components of corporate and marketing communication, little attention has been paid to how organizations listen to, make sense of, and use the information provided. The research reported in this article examined how a multinational corporation and its subsidiaries listen to their customers, employees, and other stakeholders and explored how corporate listening can be improved for mutual benefits.

This article reports participatory action research within a multinational corporation operating in Europe, Canada and Australia, which set out to become a “listening organization” to improve its relationships and performance. The research was informed by interviews, observation, content analysis of relevant documents, and critical reflection.

This analysis illustrates the need for and benefits of looking beyond statistical data to analyze textual, aural and visual data available from call centers, open-end survey comments, complaints, correspondence, social media and other sources, and it identifies methods, tools and technologies for ethical insightful corporate listening.

This article advocates a “turn” from a focus on voice to focus on listening, noting that expression of the voice of customers, employees and other stakeholders has no value to them or organizations without active listening.

This paper reports an in-depth study of corporate listening to multiple stakeholders and identifies opportunities for increased insights and understanding that can lead to tangible benefits for both organizations and their stakeholders.

Podcasting is a new mobile technology application for language learning. Drawing upon the stimulus–organism–response model and the interest driven creator (IDC) theory from e-learning, this study aims to develop and test an integrative conceptual framework. This study investigates contextual and environmental stimuli effects (content richness [CR], self-directed learning [SDL] and situational interest [SI]) from a podcast English learning context on learners’ experience states (cognitive absorption [CA], pleasure [PL] and arousal [AR]) and their subsequent responses (continuance learning intention [CLI]).

Using 416 valid responses from five universities located in North Taiwan, data analysis is performed using a structural equation model.

The results show that most of the interest factor stimuli (CR, SDL and SI) have significant impacts on learners’ experiences (CA, PL and AR), which in turn affect their CLI.

The findings provide useful insights for English show podcasters and operators to invest in establishing learners’ interest factor and stimulating experiences to improve their CLI.

This paper contributes to a better understanding of students who use contextual factors of podcast English learning and how these factors influence their CLI via a framework of stimulus–organism–response and the IDC theory.

The main purpose of the study is to examine the relationships between e-listening and customers’ perceptions of interpersonal service quality and utilitarian value during e-contact center interactions.

Participants completed an online survey about their service experiences with e-contact centers. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

This study found that e-listening is highly related to interpersonal service quality and utilitarian value. Interpersonal service quality is positively related to e-satisfaction and e-loyalty, both with e-contact centers and e-retailers.

The study utilizes general active empathetic listening (AEL) constructs identified in previous research. Although these constructs provide a way to differentiate the cognitive aspects of AEL, and therefore, a mechanism for discerning utilitarian value, further qualitative studies on nonverbal cues in online communications would develop insights into more granular, behavioral dimensions and effects of e-listening. In addition, the study is based on general e-retailing processes, and is not focused on a specific business or sector. The magnitude of the effects of e-listening on the different factors related to customer relationships may vary with different sectors.

E-contact centers should provide interpersonal interactions that emphasize utilitarian value. The centers should be staffed by employees who are well trained in AEL and who are provided with appropriate resources. The interactions of these e-contact centers can provide significant input to e-retailers about the improvement of service quality and resulting customer e-loyalty.

The research provides an original view of service quality in e-contact center contexts and makes a valuable contribution to understanding the evolving service offerings of multi-channel e-retailing. The study provides support for the argument that value and quality in interpersonal interactions with e-contact centers lead to satisfaction and consequently to customer loyalty.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector organisations produced thousands of social media messages weekly answering citizens questions and informing the public on safety related matters. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the pandemic shaped social media listening in Finland's public sector organisations and how these organisations aligned their listening and strategic communication to address emerging questions, news (real and fake) and rumours during the pandemic.

Building on a theoretical background from strategic communication, organisational listening, digital marketing and public sector communication, qualitative interview data included communicators (N = 14) from all central Finnish public sector organisations in charge of COVID-19 communication. Findings were themed and analysed qualitatively to understand the level of alignment of strategic communication on social media.

The findings revealed that the pandemic had strained public sector organisations' communication capabilities, forcing them to align their processes and resources reactively to enable useful content and limit false/misleading content. The results confirmed that organisational listening remained somewhat unaligned. A dual role of public sector communication as speakers but increasingly as listeners was highlighted.

The study’s findings point to organisational listening on social media being a central requisite for public sector organisations overcoming a crisis.