Online Information Review

Stuart, Emma; Stuart, David; Thelwall, Mike

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-02-2016-0057

PurposeRising tuition fees and a growing importance on league tables has meant that university branding is becoming more of a necessity to attract prospective staff, students, and funding. Whilst university websites are an important branding tool, academic institutions are also beginning to exploit social media. Image-based social media services such as Instagram are particularly popular at the moment. It is therefore logical for universities to have a presence on popular image-based social media services such as Instagram. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the online presence of UK universities on Instagram in an initial investigation of use.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes webometric data collection, and content analysis methodology.FindingsThe results indicate that at the time of data analysis for this investigation (In the Spring of 2015), UK universities had a limited presence on Instagram for general university accounts, with only 51 out of 128 institutions having an account. The most common types of images posted were humanizing (31.0 percent), showcasing (28.8 percent), and orienting (14.3 percent). Orienting images were more likely to receive likes than other image types, and crowdsourcing images were more likely to receive comments.Originality/valueThis paper gives a valuable insight into the image posting practices of UK universities on Instagram. The findings are of value to heads of marketing, online content creators, social media campaign managers, and anyone who is responsible for the marketing, branding, and promoting of a university’s services.

Feldman, Juan; Monteserin, Ariel; Amandi, Analía

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-11-2015-0361

PurposePersonality trait detection is a problem that has been gaining much attention in the computer science field recently. By leveraging users’ personality knowledge software applications are able to adapt their behaviour accordingly. To detect personality traits automatically users must substantially interact with software applications to gather enough information that describe their behaviour. For addressing this limitation, the authors explore the use of online video games as an alternative approach to detect personality dichotomies. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyse the use of several online video games that exhibit features related with Myers-Briggs sensitive-intuitive personality dichotomy. Then, the authors build a user profile that describes users’ behaviour when interacting with online video games. Finally, the authors identify users’ personality by analysing their profile with different classification algorithms.FindingsThe results show that games that obtained better results in the personality dichotomy detection exhibit features that had better match with the sensitive-intuitive dichotomy preferences. Moreover, the results show that the classification algorithms should satisfactorily deal with unbalanced data sets, since it is natural that the frequencies of the dichotomies types are unbalanced. In addition, in the context of personality trait detection, online video games possess several advantages over other type of software applications. By using games, users do not need to have previous experience, since they learn how to play during gameplay. Furthermore, the information and time needed to predict the sensitive-intuitive dichotomy using games is little.Originality/valueThis study shows that online video games are a promising environment in which the users’ personality dichotomies can be detected.

Lee, Chei Sian; Osop, Hamzah; Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian; Kelni, Gani

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0274

PurposeThrough the lens of self-directed theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if social technologies such as YouTube will be viable to disseminate educational instructions and in the process empowering learners to take charge of their learning.Design/methodology/approachA total of 150 educational videos on YouTube were selected and 29,386 comments extracted using the authors’ customized extraction software application. Sentiment and qualitative content analyses were performed.FindingsResults indicate that YouTube can play important roles in facilitating online self-directed learning (SDL) as the findings uncovered a variety of learning and social affordances of YouTube. However, caution should be exercised as high views and well-commented videos might not imply quality and credibility. This study concludes that YouTube generally provides a conducive a learning environment that affords learners the resources to meet their SDL objectives.Research limitations/implicationsTo the best of knowledge, this is the first study that investigates SDL in social media by combining both qualitative content and sentiment analyses. The study shows that such a hybrid approach of combining two diverse analytical techniques provides an innovative means to make sense of comments expressed in social media.Practical implicationsThe results will help educational institutions and policy-makers to craft better programs for public education and create policies to help self-directed learners in evaluating online video resources.Originality/valueDespite a wealth of literature on the use of technologies to support learning, the majority of work done to date has dealt in the classroom context. Studies on SDL using educational content on YouTube are limited. Hence, this research contributes by providing insights on how educational institutions can move toward the direction of building collaborative digital learning platforms with relevant educational instruction and resources to enable users to participate in lifelong self-learning and education.

Bao, Zheshi; Huang, Taozhen

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-10-2016-0292

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss some drivers which can promote reward-based crowdfunding campaigns and then compare their effects on two categories of cultural and creative projects.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first distinguished the roles of “intrinsic qualities” and “external supports” in crowdfunding campaigns. Then based on the theories of reward-based crowdfunding, impression management and social capital, a research model was built to discuss the effects of external supports and a comparative study was conducted by using data collected from Kickstarter.com.FindingsIt indicates that the three dimensions of external supports (reward support, impression support, and relationship support) have positive effects on film and video and publishing projects. Besides, the authors also found that “category of a project” can moderate the relationship between impression support and crowdfunding performance. The effect of impression support on visual works is different from that on printed works.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings not only prove that external supports actually play an important role in crowdfunding campaigns, but also reveal that for different categories of cultural and creative crowdfunding projects, the effects of external supports are different. Some other theoretical and practical implications are also provided.Originality/valueThis research reveals some details about the important role of external supports in crowdfunding campaigns and compares their effects on different categories of cultural and creative projects. It can provide useful suggestions for improving reward-based crowdfunding performance.

Björk, Bo-Christer

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-03-2016-0088

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look at third party journal portals, which facilitate the low-cost publishing of open access journals. Portals have become very important enablers for converting journals published by scholarly societies and universities to open access, in particular in the social sciences and humanities.Design/methodology/approachPortals were identified using a combination of methods including a literature search, interviews with experts, a key word web search and by analyzing web addresses and publishers in data from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).FindingsIn total, 21 portals fitting our definition were identified. Together these published more than 6,000 journals. They contribute around 10 percent of the journals indexed in the DOAJ, and the content is very highly skewed to certain countries, in particular Latin America and Asia.Originality/valueWhile there have been earlier case study reports about individual portals, especially SciElo, this is probably the first systematic study of this phenomenon as a whole.

Weinberger, Maor; Zhitomirsky-Geffet, Maayan; Bouhnik, Dan

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-05-2016-0127

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes and influential factors of users’ knowledge and use of the tools designated for controlling and enhancing online privacy, which are referred to as online privacy literacy (OPL). Particularly, inspired by the protection motivation theory, a motivational factor is defined as comprising several variables which reflect users’ motivation to protect their online privacy.Design/methodology/approachTo this end, a user study was conducted based on the quantitative method with the participation of 169 students from the Israeli academia who were administered closed-ended questionnaires.FindingsGenerally low to moderate levels of OPL were obtained. Interestingly, the multivariate linear regression analysis showed that motivational factors, such as users’ concern for personal information protection on the internet and users’ privacy self-efficacy and sense of anonymity when visiting a website, were among the strongest predictive factors of users’ OPL level.Social implicationsThis research has social implications that might contribute to an increase in the OPL among internet users.Originality/valueThe direct influence of the examined factors on users’ OPL was not previously discussed in the literature. As a result of the study, a comprehensive model of user online privacy behavior was constructed.

López, Manuela; Sicilia, Maria; Verlegh, Peeter W.J.

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-01-2016-0020

PurposeSocial network sites (SNSs) are an important part of consumers’ everyday lives, and have been recognized as a useful marketing channel. However, little is known about how brands should communicate in order to be more effective and maximize the diffusion of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in these platforms. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of directional posts on consumers depending on previous diffusion of the post and consumers’ connectivity.Design/methodology/approachA between-subjects experimental design was used. The sample consisted of 369 individuals.FindingsThe results show that directional posts only enhance the intention to spread eWOM and the attitude toward the product when the brand post was highly diffused. This effect is stronger among highly connected consumers (hubs) than among less well-connected individuals.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors̓ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to analyze the persuasiveness of marketers’ explicit encouragements to “like” brand posts, a tactic known as directional posts. The study investigates whether and how consumer responses to directional posts are influenced by responses from others and by the number of connections that consumers have within the SNSs.

Zhang, Depeng; Zhang, Fuli; Lin, Mengfei; Du, Helen S.

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-08-2016-0226

PurposeBased upon social cognition and social exchange theories, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test a conceptual model, suggesting that customer psychological capitals (CPCs) affect their knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) within a virtual innovation community (VIC) under the influence of material reward (MR) and reciprocal relationship (RR).Design/methodology/approachThe sample comprises of valid responses collected from 516 customers in five virtual innovation communities via an online survey. The authors adopted the hierarchical regression method to mitigate any concerns relating to endogeneity within the models, and also to test the relationships among the variables.FindingsCPC, MR and RR are found to have a profound impact on their enthusiasm to share knowledge. Environmental factors play an important role in shaping the effects of CPC on KSB. MR tends to weaken the positive effect of CPC on KSB, whilst RR tends to strengthen the positive effect.Practical implicationsTo effectively manage a VIC, firms should make full use of the positive impact of CPC on KSB, set up appropriate incentive mechanisms and create a virtuous community atmosphere to encourage knowledge sharing.Originality/valueThis study integrates two theoretical perspectives to examine which types of psychological and environmental factors, and which combinations of these factors, affect innovative customers to share knowledge. It offers useful guidelines for firms to engage in effective customer-driven products, services and/or processes innovation.

Dong, Xuebing; Chang, Yaping; Fan, Xiaojun

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-11-2016-0328

PurposeMarketers recognize that the internet is crucial in the lives of consumers; thus, they invest money on online advertisements. Using multiple online media primarily influences the message acceptance of consumers. The synergistic effect of online multimedia relies on form, content, and sources of information, and time. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachA model that reflects the influence of the characteristics of online multimedia on message response through message acceptance is established based on theories of information persuasion, encoding variability, and multiple-source assumption. Based on a survey of 411 online media users, the study applies partial least-squares regression to test the research model.FindingsThe results show that variety of forms, complementary of contents, diversity of sources, and time interval influence message response via message strength. Complementary of contents and diversity of sources affect message response via perceived credibility. Synergy type moderates the relationship between variety of forms and perceived credibility and between diversity of sources and perceived credibility.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study mainly tests the effect of these characteristics on message response and the moderating effect of synergy type. Future research can examine the effect of these characteristics on information seeking and consumption behavior and the moderating effect of the cognitive mode of consumers.Practical implicationsThis study provides insight into the characteristics of synergy and contributes to the literature on integrated marketing communication. The results provide guidance for practitioners to effectively plan online multimedia practices.Originality/valueThis study explored the influence of the characteristics of online media synergy on message response through message acceptance. The study also discussed the moderating effect of the type of online multimedia synergy.

Lladós-Masllorens, Josep; Aibar, Eduard; Meseguer-Artola, Antoni; Minguillón, Julià; Lerga, Maura

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-10-2016-0298

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore which personal and contextual factors affect the use of Wikipedia as a teaching resource in higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approachThis research question is approached by investigating faculty perceptions and attitudes in two large Spanish universities. For this purpose, a comprehensive empirical study has been employed, based on an online survey to faculty members and the inclusion of a decision-making model in the analysis.FindingsData provide evidence that a combination of cultural, social and subjective factors influences the decision to use Wikipedia. This decision is not only associated with lecturers’ individual characteristics, but mostly with surrounding influences. Teaching uses are more frequent when academics have close reference models and when they perceive that Wikipedia is being positively valued by their colleagues.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study provides a creative framework to analyze the main determining factors of Wikipedia usage by faculty. The inclusion of both internal and external factors in the decision process has proved to be a valuable novelty.Practical implicationsThe study detects the main factors affecting the negative or reluctant attitude toward Wikipedia and provides some recommendations to overcome these barriers.Originality/valueThe study widens the scope of previous investigations supplying a new research framework and including, for the first time, a prominent online university in the analysis in order to discard the potential effects of digital and information illiteracy among students and faculty members.

Muscanell, Nicole; Utz, Sonja

2017 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-07-2016-0185

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the usage and utility of ResearchGate (RG), which is a social networking site where scientists disseminate their work and build their reputations. In a sample consisting largely of American and European academics, the authors analyzed the ways they use the site, what they thought about the site’s utility, and the effects of usage on career outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed an online survey approach to target scientists who have an active RG account. Scientists who were not users were also recruited in order to get a better idea of the reasons for their nonuse.FindingsMost academics who have an RG account did not use it very heavily. Users did not perceive many benefits from using the site, and RG use was not related to career satisfaction or informational benefits, but was related to productivity and stress.Research limitations/implicationsSystematic research is needed to explore positive and negative consequences of using professional social media in academia, especially productivity and stress. Findings also suggest that RG needs to increase user engagement.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to closely examine how and why people in academia use professional social media sites and whether usage leads to perceived benefits and effects on more general career outcomes.