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1 – 10 of over 4000Mudassar Hussain, Noshina Saleem, Mian Ahmad Hanan and Rab Nawaz Lodhi
The purpose of this study is to fill the gap by researching the direct effects of media and personal characteristics on online participation in climate change, indirect effects…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to fill the gap by researching the direct effects of media and personal characteristics on online participation in climate change, indirect effects when mediated by interpersonal communication and personal characteristics as predictors of media communications as sources of information about climate change.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire is distributed to collect data about the uses of communication sources and online responses toward climate change by using a quota sampling technique. The structural equation modeling by using Smart PLS 4 is used to explore the effects’ size.
Findings
Small levels of direct and indirect effects are found. Direct effects are found in online newspapers, YouTube, television news, personal relevance toward climate change and political interest in online participation in climate change. Indirect effects are found of WhatsApp on online climate participation through interpersonal communication. Personal relevance toward climate change has motivated respondents to take information about climate change from Facebook. Climate skepticism is found among respondents who have received information from television news/talk shows, printed newspapers and WhatsApp.
Practical implications
University teachers in Pakistan will have to work on educational strategies to increase the knowledge of university students about energy generation through carbon and renewable energy sources.
Originality/value
The results of this study highlight the communicative-cultural dimensions of online discourse about climate change in the context of the less-researched country of Pakistan. This is the first study of researchers’ knowledge that comprehensively defines the digital media ecology in the context of climate change considering Pakistan.
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Lisa H. Rosen, Linda J. Rubin, Savannah Dali, Daisie M. Llanes, Ahissa Lopez, Ashton E. Romines and Samantha A. Saunders
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered daily life for Gen Z. The purpose of this study was to examine parental perceptions of the pandemic’s effects on their children’s peer…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered daily life for Gen Z. The purpose of this study was to examine parental perceptions of the pandemic’s effects on their children’s peer relationships. As children sought peer connection during the pandemic, technology usage soared. The second purpose of the current study was to assess how greater time on social media affected adjustment among Gen Z and whether this effect was mediated by experiences of cyber victimization.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 250 U.S. parent-child dyads participated in the study. Parents reported on their children’s social media use and described how they believed the pandemic affected their children’s peer relationships. Child participants were transitioning to middle school and reported on cyber victimization and adjustment.
Findings
Thematic analysis of parental reflections revealed three themes: children spent more time online since the onset of the pandemic, there were negative implications of increased time online and there were positive and protective implications of being online. Analysis also indicated significant indirect effects of social media use on internalizing and externalizing problems through victimization.
Originality/value
Parents reported Gen Z continues to use electronic forms of communication and social media at high rates even after pandemic-related restrictions eased with some suggesting that their children prefer digital over face-to-face communication because they have become accustomed to this way of connecting and may find it easier than in-person interaction. Current findings highlight concerns about this increased time online as social media use negatively affected adjustment via cyber victimization.
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Khurram Shahzad and Shakeel Ahmad Khan
This study aims to investigate the current practices being implemented against the dissemination of fake online news, identify the relationship of new media literacy (NML) with…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the current practices being implemented against the dissemination of fake online news, identify the relationship of new media literacy (NML) with fake news epidemic control and find out the challenges in identifying valid sources of information.
Design/methodology/approach
To accomplish constructed objectives of this study, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted. The authors carried out the “Preferred Reporting Items for the Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” guidelines as a research methodology. The data were retrieved from ten world’s leading digital databases and online tools. A total of 25 key studies published in impact factor (IF) journals were included for systematic review vis-à-vis standard approaches.
Findings
This study revealed trending practices to control fake news consisted of critical information literacy, civic education, new thinking patterns, fact-checkers, automatic fake news detection tools, employment of ethical norms and deep learning via neural networks. Results of the synthesized studies revealed that media literacy, web literacy, digital literation, social media literacy skills and NML assisted acted as frontline soldiers in combating the fake news war. The findings of this research also exhibited different challenges to control fake news perils.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides pertinent theoretical contributions in the body of existing knowledge through the addition of valuable literature by conducting in-depth systematic review of 25 IF articles on a need-based topic.
Practical implications
This scholarly contribution is fruitful and practically productive for the policymakers belonging to different spectrums to effectively control web-based fake news epidemic.
Social implications
This intellectual piece is a benchmark to address fake news calamities to save the social system and to educate citizens from harms of false online stories on social networking websites.
Originality/value
This study vivifies new vistas via a reinvigorated outlook to address fake news perils embedded in dynamic, rigorous and heuristic strategies for redefining a predetermined set of social values.
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Bahiyah Omar, Hosam Al-Samarraie, Ahmed Ibrahim Alzahrani and Ng See Kee
Most new media research focuses on behavior as a measure of engagement, while the psychological state of being occupied with its content has received little attention. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Most new media research focuses on behavior as a measure of engagement, while the psychological state of being occupied with its content has received little attention. This study examined news engagement beyond pure action observation by exploring young people’s psychological experiences with the news.
Design/methodology/approach
The study carried out a digital native’s survey on 212 people (18–28 years). The focus of the survey was on understanding individuals’ engagement with online news using affective and cognitive components. The authors compared the influence of each type of engagement on youth consumption of and attitudes toward online news.
Findings
The results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that affective engagement can be a stronger predictor of online news consumption than cognitive engagement. While affective engagement significantly predicts positive attitudes toward online news, cognitive engagement had no significant effect.
Originality/value
These findings suggest that “engaging the heart” is more influential than “engaging the mind” in drawing young people to the news in today’s information environment. The study thus contributes to the understanding of the cognitive and emotional focus on news content and their importance in shaping young people’s expectations of online news. The findings from this study could have broader implications for future trends in online news consumption.
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Muhammad Junaid Shahid Hasni, Maya F. Farah and Ifraaz Adeel
This paper aims to analyze the adoption of social media platforms by tourists in Pakistan. Based on an adaptation of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study assesses the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the adoption of social media platforms by tourists in Pakistan. Based on an adaptation of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study assesses the factors that lead users to adopt these platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to a convenience sample of 399 travelers who use social media in Pakistan. A Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using AMOS to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity as well as composite reliability. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the causal relationship among all proposed constructs.
Findings
The findings reveal that the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEoU) of a social media platform positively impact the behavioral intention of its users. The proposed constructs of compatibility, enjoyment, user expertise and e-trust all demonstrated their crucial roles in the adoption of a social media platform for tourism-related activities by enhancing the platform's PEoU and usefulness.
Originality/value
This research validates the relationship between PEoU and PU of a social media platform in the hospitality industry. Interestingly, this study has expanded TAM by validating the addition of four more constructs, (1) compatibility, (2) enjoyment, (3) e-trust, and (4) expertise, to add worth to this model regarding the understanding of social media usage in this specific industry. The findings are valuable both for managers and policymakers in the tourism sector in Pakistan, as the latter can utilize the results to entice a larger segment of social media users to the tourism industry.
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Osnat Roth-Cohen and Tsuriel Rashi
This research aims to conceptualize online shaming discourse in virtual communities and to serve as a practical guide for online community managers and members.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to conceptualize online shaming discourse in virtual communities and to serve as a practical guide for online community managers and members.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Practical implications
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.
Social implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Maria-Magdalena Rosu, Ana-Maria Cosmoiu, Rodica Ianole-Calin and Sandra Cornoiu
The insidious proliferation of online misinformation represents a significant societal problem. With a wealth of research dedicated to the topic, it is still unclear what…
Abstract
Purpose
The insidious proliferation of online misinformation represents a significant societal problem. With a wealth of research dedicated to the topic, it is still unclear what determines fake news sharing. This paper comparatively examines fake and accurate news sharing in a novel experimental setting that manipulates news about terrorism.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors follow an extended version of the uses-and-gratification framework for news sharing, complemented by variables commonly employed in fake news rebuttal studies.
Findings
Logistic regression and classification trees revealed worry about the topic, media literacy, information-seeking and conservatism as significant predictors of willingness to share news online. No significant association was found for general analytical thinking, journalism skepticism, conspiracy ideation, uses-and-gratification motives or pass-time coping strategies.
Practical implications
The current results broaden and expand the literature examining beliefs in and sharing of misinformation, highlighting the role of media literacy in protecting the public against the spread of fake news.
Originality/value
This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first study to integrate a breadth of theoretically and empirically driven predictors of fake news sharing within a single experimental framework.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-12-2022-0693
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This study examined how likeminded Facebook comments with incivility and without supporting evidence influence readers' evaluations of the commenter and online political…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined how likeminded Facebook comments with incivility and without supporting evidence influence readers' evaluations of the commenter and online political participation intention. This study also investigated whether the indirect effect of exposure to uncivil comments and comments without evidence on online political participation through evaluations of the commenters is contingent on the strength of partisanship.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a 2 (uncivil comments vs civil comments) × 2 (comments without supporting evidence vs comments with supporting evidence) factorial design with a scenario about reading similar viewpoints about the gun control issue in Facebook comments.
Findings
The results showed that compared to exposure to civil agreeing comments, exposure to uncivil likeminded comments resulted in higher levels of negative evaluations of the commenters, which in turn decreased willingness to participate in political activities online. Exposure to comments without evidence led to more negative evaluations of the commenters, but it did not significantly influence online political participation. In addition, the strength of partisanship did not significantly moderate the indirect effect of exposure to uncivil comments and comments without evidence on online political participation through evaluations of the commenters.
Originality/value
Although previous studies have demonstrated the significant effects of incivility and reasoned argument, little is known about whether and how people evaluate ingroup members' comments that are uncivil and lacking reasoned arguments. Most of these studies have examined incivility in political contexts, but few have extended the context to the effect of likeminded comments, especially when the comments are uncivil and lack supporting evidence. The current study aims to fill this gap in the literature.
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Zhijiang Wu, Yongxiang Wang and Mengyao Liu
The negative effects of job stress and burnout on construction professionals (CPs) at the construction site have been widely concern in the construction industry. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
The negative effects of job stress and burnout on construction professionals (CPs) at the construction site have been widely concern in the construction industry. The purpose of this study is committed to explore the impact of job stress on CPs on the construction site, especially in the context of the widespread use of social media to express their emotions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed a job-related stress-burnout-health conditions-turnover intention (S-B-HT) framework to explore the direct and lagged effects of job stress, we also examined the moderating effects of online emotions, operationalized in terms of emotional intensity and expression pattern, on the relationship between job stress with job burnout under two evolution paths (i.e. health conditions or turnover intention). This study collected 271 samples through a survey questionnaire for empirical testing, and introduced structural equation models to validate the proposed conceptual model.
Findings
The results show that job stress has a significant positive effect on job burnout, and job burnout maintains a positive relationship with health conditions (or turnover intention) under the interference mechanism. Simultaneously, the online emotions expressed in social media have a positive moderating effect in two stages of the evolution path.
Practical implications
The findings of this study remind the project manager need to timely find and solve the job burnout characteristics of CPs due to excessive job stress, especially to prevent the accidental consequences caused by job burnout.
Originality/value
On this basis, this study provides an important value of using social media to express emotions for the project team to alleviate the adverse of professionals under job stress.
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Paul Strickland and Kim M. Williams
This exploratory study aims to examine how wine stakeholders' are adopting innovative advancements in smart industry 4.0 application technology (SI4.0AT) coupled with electronic…
Abstract
Purpose
This exploratory study aims to examine how wine stakeholders' are adopting innovative advancements in smart industry 4.0 application technology (SI4.0AT) coupled with electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) techniques to increase winery visitation and wine sales, prior to and during a global pandemic in the Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative interpretivist geographical bounded case study approach was used to collect data from fifteen Victorian wine stakeholder's prior to and during the global pandemic COVID-19. A thematic analysis was applied to interpret participant responses and how they viewed, reacted to and harnessed S14.0AT and e-WOM to continue and increase wine sales.
Findings
The findings suggest few wine stakeholders' were actively implementing SI4.0AT prior to the global pandemic, COVID -19. With the forced closure of wineries to visitors across Australia, most small to medium-sized wineries immediately changed their business models to concentrate on domestic e-commerce wine sales and home delivery. To support these new business models, e-WOM techniques were quickly adopted or increased whereas other S14.0AT technologies were not, due to financial restraints.
Research limitations/implications
The number of participants used in this study is a limitation, however, this can be overcome by replicating this study in other wine regions. This research focused on the wine stakeholders' viewpoint only and may not be easily generalised. Future studies may examine the “what” aspect of SI4.0AT is being used and e-WOM content such as investigating what consumers are saying about these wineries, the method of communication and the motivations for consumers to engage with a winery.
Practical implications
The implications for the wine industry and overall results offer insight into the wine stakeholders' perceptions of SI4.0AT and e-WOM and consequent marketing strategy of wineries in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, both pre- and during forced face-to-face winery closures due to a global pandemic. Wineries need to continue to harness and leverage the benefits of e-WOM wine marketing in their marketing strategies and continue to explore the affordability of 4.0 app technology and Tourism 4.0 options.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt at investigating how wine stakeholders' view; react to and harness SI4.0AT and e-WOM through formalised online marketing strategies which should continue to be investigated in the future.