Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which Web 2.0 applications are prevalent in government web sites, the ways in which Web 2.0 applications have been used in government web sites, as well as whether the presence of Web 2.0 applications correlates with the perceived quality of government web sites.

Divided equally between developing and advanced economies, a total of 200 government web sites were analysed using content analysis and multiple regression analysis.

The prevalence of seven Web 2.0 applications in descending order was: RSS, multimedia sharing services, blogs, forums, social tagging services, social networking services and wikis. More web sites in advanced countries include Web 2.0 applications than those in developing countries. The presence of Web 2.0 applications was found to have a correlation with the overall web site quality, and in particular, service quality.

This paper only covers government web sites in English. Emerging genres of Web 2.0 applications such as mashups and virtual worlds have not been included. Moreover the data were drawn solely from the public domain.

Decision makers and e‐government web developers may benchmark their own efforts in deploying Web 2.0 applications against this study. The numerous exemplars cited here serve as a springboard to generate more ideas on how Web 2.0 applications could be used and harnessed to improve the overall quality of government web sites.

This paper unites two research interests: Web 2.0 and web site quality. It also extends previous studies by investigating the suite of Web 2.0 applications found in government web sites around the world.

This study aims to empirically analyze the effects of marketing communications, such as advertisement/promotion and social network service (SNS) content, on consumer engagement (CE), brand trust and brand loyalty.

The study’s participants were 230 US and 376 Korean consumers who have used (i.e. contacted) a food service establishment (i.e. family restaurant) at least once before and who continue to use an SNS (e.g. Facebook and Instagram). This study conducted a hypothesis test using structural equation modeling analysis. In addition, hierarchical analysis was performed to further generalize and support the statistical analysis results.

Advertisement/promotion and SNS content have a statistically significant positive effect on CE. Advertisement/promotion has a statistically significant positive effect on brand trust, and SNS content has a statistically significant negative effect on brand trust. CE has a statistically significant positive effect on brand trust, and CE and brand trust have a statistically significant positive effect on brand loyalty. No statistically significant differences were shown between the US and Korean consumer groups (critical ratios for difference of path coefficient < ± 1.96). The hypothesis test results of the structural equation model analysis and hierarchical analysis were the same for the entire group.

The findings indicate that the overall mediating role of CE is important. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate which marketing communication channels are most effective in the restaurant sector.

Live streaming sales (LSS) is an emerging and flourishing practice in the retail industry. While its implementation has been pervasively attempted, there is a lack of systematic and academic exploration of the practice. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the LSS ecosystem and its development through a literature review and an industry analysis. Moreover, by pinpointing the pitfalls in current practices, this paper presents the practical implications of LSS and provides recommendations and directions for future academic exploration.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the developing trajectory, exclusive elements (such as multi-channel networks (MCNs) and live streamers) and other critical components of the LSS ecosystem using a mixed-methods approach that comprises content analysis of newspaper articles and press releases, literature view and industry analysis.

The results of the analyses indicate the presence of several nonfungible modular components in the LSS ecosystem, including upstream suppliers, MCNs, live streamers and platforms. It was also found that inequalities and hierarchies are inherent to the LSS ecosystem as it currently exists: low-end participants in the LSS industry and small- and medium-sized enterprise owners, who constitute the majority of LSS practitioners, cannot reach the break-even point via LSS hosted by top-level live streamers or others (low-level live streamers, employees, etc.).

This article discusses the LSS ecosystem based on the nature of the nonfungible modules within it. In addition, it discusses the modules (roles) and relationships among them based on the theory of ecosystem developed by previous studies. Furthermore, drawing from an analysis of the pitfalls in the LSS ecosystem, this article highlights strategies for two critical e-commerce processes: 1) choosing which type of LSS to apply based on the factors of brands, products and consumers and 2) integrating LSS to optimize post-sale service and appeal to the sustainability of development.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the emerging motives behind check-in and location sharing of consumers on social network sites (SNSs). A theoretical model for the emergent motives of check-in behavior is proposed, and implications of location sharing for consumer behavior and marketing are discussed.

Data were collected from a convenience sample of 32 respondents, comprising a representative sample of location-based SNS users. In total, 217 unique check-ins, locations, and motives were analyzed, and seven emergent motives were identified through content analysis.

This paper identified the key motives behind check-in behavior, including social-enhancement value, informational and social motivation, entertainment value, gameful experiences, utilitarian motivation, and belongingness. Social-enhancement value is the most frequently cited motive, driven mainly by the selective self-presentation efforts of respondents. Gameful experiences are a newly emerging motive contributing to the “uses and gratifications theory” (UGT).

The proposed model has not yet been formally verified in a quantitative study. A further study with a larger sample size is planned for future work for the verification and generalization of the findings.

Practitioner approaches on check-in behavior are mainly focussed on consumers giving and receiving recommendations of locations and consumers responding to the promotional efforts of marketers. However, this study suggests consumers have more creative and different motives, such as dating through location-based SNSs or gameful experiences.

Research into location-based SNSs is a relatively new area in marketing. This study and proposed model are among the first to explain check-in behavior. Additionally, gameful experiences contribute to UGT, a construct that has not been previously identified.

Community‐type content that are social network services and blogs are maintained by communities of people. Occasionally, community members do not understand the nature of the content from multiple perspectives, and so the volume of information is often inadequate. The authors thus consider it necessary to present users with missing information. The purpose of this paper is to search for the content “hole” where users of community‐type content missed information.

The proposed content hole is defined as different information that is obtained by comparing community‐type content with other content, such as other community‐type content, other conventional web content, and real‐world content. The paper suggests multiple types of content holes and proposes a system that compares community‐type content with Wikipedia articles and identifies the content hole. The paper first identifies structured keywords from the community‐type content, and extracts target articles from Wikipedia using the keywords. It then extracts other related articles from Wikipedia using the link graph. Finally, it compares community‐type content with the articles in Wikipedia and extracts and presents content holes.

Information retrieval looks for similar data. In contrast, a content‐hole search looks for information that is different. This paper defines the type of content hole on the basis of viewpoints. The proposed viewpoints are coverage, detail, semantics, and reputation.

The paper proposes a system for extracting coverage content holes. The system compares community‐type content with Wikipedia and extracts content holes in the community‐type content.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and demonstrate the extent to which university libraries in Africa are bridging the information gap through the use of web 2.0 systems, including challenges and prospects.

The review adopted a combination of various data collection methods and approaches, including current academic literature, document analysis, desk review guides and reports on university libraries.

Review results indicate that few university libraries in Africa have embraced the use and application of web 2.0 systems. It is regrettable that web 2.0 is not new in libraries, although many African university libraries have not adopted the concept. Web 2.0 systems, including blog, delicious, YouTube and Facebook among others, are no longer a preserve of commercial organizations.

The review involved university libraries in Africa because of their perceived role in creation, management, preservation, transmission or diffusion and utilization of information and knowledge. University libraries provide information services to support research, teaching, learning, and community activities of respective universities.

University libraries in African countries face various challenges in implementation of web 2.0 systems. Web 2.0 systems have proved to be useful in addressing issues and challenges of open, distance and e‐learning programmes. Information professionals should support implementation and use of relevant web 2.0 systems.

Across the globe, university libraries are increasingly using web 2.0 systems to support, promote and extend information services to their patrons. In the modern information world 2.0, it is important for university libraries to identify relevant web 2.0 systems and integrate them into mainstream library and information services.

The review provides useful insights regarding the use and application of web 2.0 systems in university libraries in Africa.

Recent smart mobile devices are capable of letting users produce various digital content, and share/upload the content to many social network services (SNS) directly via wireless network connections. The phenomenon has increased the number of people using mobile SNS applications. Although the applications have become more popular, mobile users have been restricted in the virtual communities of online SNS and are not aware of the social opportunities available to them in real-time surrounding. While they spend most of their time accessing online SNS, they have missed many opportunities to interact with others for new friendships, business opportunities or information sharing. Consequently, a new breed of mobile social network (MSN) system has arisen to assist mobile users to interact with proximal people and perform various social activities. Such a proximal-based MSN environment is termed a Mobile Social Network in Proximity (MSNP).

Developing an MSNP system needs to address a number of issues and challenges, such as heterogeneity, content/service discovery, privacy and trust, resource management, and so on. This paper identifies and describes these challenges, and reviews a number of related solutions from existing literature. In the follow up, this paper addresses a number of open challenges in the MSNP domain.

Although various works have been proposed to enable and overcome challenges in MSNP, there are still many unsolved open challenges in terms of identification, content management, social-aware discovery, trust in public environment, adaptation, quality of service and the development of MSNP. We have addressed these challenges in this paper as future research directions in the MSNP domain.

This paper provides an original literature review in MSNP and identifies a number of open challenges as research direction in the MSNP domain.

Social media have attracted attention as an information channel for content generated in heterogeneous internet services. Focusing on social media platforms, the purpose of this paper is to examine the factors behind social transmission with content crossover from other services through hypertext link (URL). The authors investigate the effects of source influence and peer referrals on diffusion outcome and address their variations in the case of content crossover.

The authors use a Poisson regression model due to the discrete nature of the dependent variable. The authors conduct an empirical study using 233 million real transaction data generated by 1,203,196 Korean users of Twitter.

Source influence and peer referral have a positive impact on cascade size in the content dissemination process. In the case of content crossover, the impact of source influence decreases. However, the impact of peer referrals increases in the process of external content dissemination.

The authors demonstrate source and peer effects on content diffusion and that these effects vary when shared content is linked from an external service by a URL.

The findings indicate that firms that wish to diffuse information through social media or enter the social media with new services to provide new ways of creating and sharing content should understand the nature of the social transmission process.

Given the growing popularity of social media, particularly SNSs with online social networks as information channels, the authors first consider online social transmission as a user-driven diffusion process. Based on social factors in the diffusion process, the authors derive source and peer effects on the social transmission process.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore themes eventuating from the user-generated content posted by users on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency.

An information classification framework was used to classify user-generated content posted by users including all of the content posted during a six month period (January to June 2015). The posts were read and analysed thematically to determine the overarching themes evident across the entire collection of user posts.

The results of the analysis demonstrate that the key themes that eventuate from the user-generated content posted are “Self-preparedness”, “Emergency signalling solutions”, “Unsurpassable companion”, “Aftermath of an emergency”, and “Gratitude towards emergency management staff”. Major user-generated content identified among these themes are status-update, criticism, recommendation, and request.

This study contributes to theory on the development of key themes from user-generated content posted by users on a public social networking site. An analysis of user-generated content identified in this study implies that, Facebook is primarily used for information dissemination, coordination and collaboration, and information seeking in the context of emergency management. Users may gain the benefits of identity construction and social provisions, whereas social conflict is a potential detrimental implication. Other user costs include lack of social support by stakeholders, investment in social infrastructure and additional work force required to alleviate the technological, organisational, and social barriers in communication among stakeholders in emergency management. A collective activity system built upon the Activity Theory was used as a lens to describe users’ activity of posting content on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency.

By analysing the findings, administrators and policy makers of emergency management could identify the extent to which the core principles of disaster recovery are accomplished using public social networking sites. These are achieved in relation to: pre-disaster recovery planning; partnership and inclusiveness; public information messaging; unity of effort; and, psychological recovery to maximise the success of recovery in a disaster. Furthermore, a core principle which evoked a mixed response was timeliness and flexibility.

Previous studies have examined the role of social networking sites in disastrous situations, but to date there has been very little research into determining themes found in user-generated content posted on the Facebook page of an emergency management agency. Hence, this study addresses the gap in literature by conducting a thematic analysis of user-generated content posted on the Facebook page of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.