Online Information Review

Perez-Aranda, Javier; Guerreiro, María Manuela; da Costa Mendes, Júlio

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-08-2016-0234

PurposeThe advent of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communities and review sites has strongly affected the tourism industry, changing the way hotels and accommodations build credibility and a good image. Few studies have tested, among eWOM communities, the predictors and factors that directly affect positive eWOM reviews. Using a directory of Spanish hotels in TripAdvisor, the purpose of this paper is to critically discuss and examine the predictors of positive eWOM, from the hoteliers’ perspective.Design/methodology/approachAfter the literature review on eWOM, hypotheses regarding predictors of positive eWOM were developed. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to empirically validate the relation between hotel and personal characteristics and positive eWOM among a population of 335 hotels.FindingsResults suggest that commitment and competence are factors affecting positive eWOM. The study found that hoteliers do not perceive hotel characteristics (category, size, and type of ownership) or the use of the review site as predictors of positive valence. Instead, they perceive commitment and competence as the main predictors.Research limitations/implicationsThe identification of the predictors of positive valence is important to get better eWOM valence. It would allow hotels to improve some factors that affect positive eWOM. In this way, the hotel resources and efforts would be better targeted.Practical implicationsThe identification of the predictors of positive valence is important to get better eWOM valence. It would enable hotels to improve some factors and characteristics that affect positive eWOM. In this way, the hotel resources and efforts would be better targeted.Originality/valueThis paper investigates the factors affecting positive reviews on hotels, from the hoteliers’ perception. The study will help researchers to understand positive eWOM formation. Moreover, this study will provide marketers with information on how to improve efforts to obtain positive reviews.

Le, Tri D.

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0246

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of word-of-mouth (WOM) types, WOM valence, content types and discussion topics of user posts on online engagement in two channels of a consumption community. The posts are composed by users on the discussion forum and shared to the Facebook channel of the consumption community by the administrators.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were obtained from a popular car consumption community in Vietnam. A total of 505 user posts on the discussion forum were manually coded and assigned to WOM types, valence and content characteristics. The online engagement metrics were measured by the number of views and replies on the discussion forum, and the number of likes, comments and shares on Facebook.FindingsThe results indicate that the WOM types and valence have a significant impact on online engagement and the popularity of posts on Facebook is associated with the number of views on a discussion forum. The content type and discussion topic partially influence some factors of the online engagement metrics.Practical implicationsThe findings are helpful for consumption community administrators to understand and manage their users’ engagement. Moreover, it indirectly supports brands and companies, since the consumption communities also include sub-communities of particular brands and marketers cooperate with consumption communities for their social media marketing strategies.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the literature of online engagement in two aspects. First, this study examines the impact of WOM types and valence. Second, this is the first study investigating the effects of posts by users within an information flow from a discussion forum to Facebook.

Toder-Alon, Anat; Brunel, Frédéric F.

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0290

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how peer-to-peer word-of-mouth (PPWOM) conversations evolve over time because of the dynamic social nature of the community in which they take place.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzed PPWOM conversations in an online community website for new and expectant mothers. Two data collection phases were undertaken during a four-year period. In phase I, messages were collected for a one-month period from five different bulletin boards (i.e. cross-sectional data) and at two points in time (i.e. semi-longitudinal). In phase II, a full longitudinal study was conducted, and the complete text of all messages of a newly formed bulletin board was captured for a nine-month period. The corpus of messages was examined in line with the basic tools of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis.FindingsThis research developed a typology of PPWOM genres and showed that these genres change over the community lifespan. The findings confirmed that the levels of social cohesiveness and the interaction communicative motives are the main factors that distinguish different PPWOM genres.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has offered a new perspective into the study of PPWOM, and hopefully it will serve as a starting point for a broader dialogue regarding the social context in which PPWOM is exchanged.Originality/valueIn contrast to traditional word-of-mouth research, this study demonstrated that PPWOM conversations go much beyond the exchange of functional information, and instead serve numerous social and emotional goals.

Herrando, Carolina; Jimenez-Martinez, Julio; Martin De Hoyos, M. Jose

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0243

PurposeSocial commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for sharing experiences and opinions due to its richness in terms of social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact with the company and with other users; hence, it seems important to study how social stimuli affect users. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework and flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose that the social stimulus (named social passion (sPassion)) has a positive effect on the organism (state of flow), which leads to a users’ positive response (via social word of mouth (sWOM)).Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected through an online survey in 2015. The sample consists of 771 users of social commerce websites, of which 51 percent are male and 49 percent female, aged between 16 and 80 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data with the statistical software SPSS version 22 and EQS 6.FindingsThe empirical results confirm that passionate users are prone to experience a state of flow and, as a consequence, share positive sWOM.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on customers’ online participation, and the findings are hoped to help companies in developing social commerce websites that boost users’ exchange of information.

Kaur, Puneet; Dhir, Amandeep; Rajala, Risto; Dwivedi, Yogesh

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-12-2015-0383

PurposeThe success and survival of any form of online community relies on the presence and active participation of its users. Hence, ensuring active user participation and retaining existing users is a key concern of the moderators of online communities. To address these challenges, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the epistemic, emotional, and social values that influence users’ intention to continue using an online social media brand community. Moreover, the study also investigates the differences in the influence of the investigated constructs and users’ various activity levels.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized the consumption value theory framework for testing the relationship between different measures. An empirical analysis of the consumption values of 577 users in an online social media brand community was accomplished using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe study findings revealed that emotional and social values exert partial influence in predicting users’ intention to continue using online social media brand communities. In particular, social enhancement and playfulness predict users’ continuation intentions. Moreover, the results show that the influence of the investigated constructs (except playfulness) is consistent across users with various activity levels in online social media brand communities.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings pave the way for further theoretical and practical considerations of the role of consumption values in resolving challenges of user participation and retention. However, there are still some open gaps concerning the generalizability of the findings as well as other factors that could potentially influence the user intentions. Future studies should validate the findings by recruiting diverse users in terms of their age and cultural background.Practical implicationsThe study findings are of special relevance for the service operators interested in practicing user-centric innovation. Moreover, the findings can help online social media brand community managers to kick start user-centric innovation activities in their community.Originality/valueThe study provides a novel perspective on the challenges of assessing users’ consumption behavior. The perceived values have been conceptualized using the constructs of social influence, problem solving, playfulness, social enhancement, and social interaction.

Bornmann, Lutz

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-08-2015-0276

PurposeInstitutional bibliometric analyses compare as a rule the performance of different institutions. The purpose of this paper is to use a statistical approach which not only allows a comparison of the citation impact of papers from selected institutions, but also a comparison of the citation impact of the papers of these institutions with all other papers published in a particular time frame.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a randomly selected cluster sample (n=4,327,013 articles and reviews from 2000 to 2004), which is drawn from a bibliometric in-house database including Web of Science data. Regression models are used to analyze citation impact scores. Subsequent to the models, average predictions at specific interesting values are calculated to analyze which factors could have an effect on the impact scores-the journal impact factor (JIF), of the journals which published the papers and the number of affiliations given in a paper.FindingsThree anonymous German institutions are compared with one another and with the set of all other papers in the time frame. As an indicator of institutional performance, fractionally counted PPtop 50% on the level of individual papers are used. This indicator is a normalized impact score whereas each paper is fractionally assigned to the 50 percent most frequently cited papers within its subject category and publication year. The results show that the JIF and the number of affiliations have a statistically significant effect on the institutional performance.Originality/valueFractional regression models are introduced to analyze the fractionally counted PPtop 50% on the level of individual papers.

Luyt, Brendan

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-06-2017-0199

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the rather unsuccessful Wikiproject for Cambodia. Despite its lack of success, it is a case that can be used to draw lessens for dealing with the issue of geographical under-representation on Wikipedia as a whole. After presenting evidence of the Wikiproject’s failure to achieve the goals for which it was created, the author will discuss the pressing issues of imbalances in geographical coverage on Wikipedia as well as the deeper issues involved in remedying these imbalances, namely, the question of who gets to represent whom.Design/methodology/approachThe author takes a broadly qualitative approach to the study of Wikipedia. For this study, the Cambodia Wikiproject main page, as well as the various talk page archives associated with it, was downloaded in November 2016 and subjected to a content analysis. Descriptive statistics are also used when necessary to build the argument.FindingsWikiproject Cambodia has failed to appreciably improve the coverage of Cambodian topics. This is likely due to its inability to attract for a prolonged period of time a champion able to anchor the project and provide a sense that someone is listening. But the makeup of the project members also suggests that even if a champion could be found, the question of who gets to represent whom remains difficult to deal with. It is unlikely that Cambodia will anytime soon develop a strong community of Wikipedia editors given the economic and social constraints the country imposes on the most of its population.Originality/valueThis work builds on the small, but growing body of literature dealing with coverage gaps in Wikipedia. Given Wikipedia’s growing importance as part of the everyday information infrastructure people use, such gaps and potential solutions to these gaps should be a vital part of the information science community’s agenda.

Rasuli, Behrooz; Alipour-Hafezi, Mehdi; Solaimani, Sam

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-08-2016-0223

PurposeImplementing and maintaining Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) program at a national level encounters numerous difficulties in particular from technical, legal, business, and financial perspective. Business model (BM) is a tool to help to address business-driven challenges, such as business feasibility and viability, as one of the important aspects. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the BM practiced by different national Electronic Theses and Dissertations (NETDs) cases.Design/methodology/approachBM of seven NETDs programs have been studied through an online questionnaire; besides, programs’ websites were observed and related documents were examined. Business model canvas (BMC) was used to describe the business rationale behind the selected cases.FindingsMost of the NETDs programs lack a documented BM. The main value of these programs is sharing ETDs which is offered to academics through online channels; skillful staff and proper hardware/software are their main resources to do so. Furthermore, their key activities are developing hardware/software and negotiating with ETDs owners as their key partners. All these activities required huge cost which is generally covered by public funding.Originality/valueThis study pioneers in applying BM concept into field of NETDs. Therefore, the major contribution of this study is to provide an analysis of NETDs programs’ BM through BMC. Furthermore, the paper provides recommendations on how ETDs could be implemented in a cost effective, sustainable, and viable way.

Park, Eun G.; Oh, Wankeun

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-06-2016-0158

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship and interactions among trust, information and communication technologies (ICT) and country income levels.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts the standardization method by Osberg and Sharpe (2005) and analyzes the changes in global trends, coefficient of variations, and correlations. The statistical data consist of panel data for 28 countries from 2007 to 2014.FindingsTrust in people (TP) and institutional confidence (IC) have different shapes of movement over the period and the change speed of IC has decreased much faster than that of TP. While TP in high income countries is positioned in relatively high ranks, IC of middle income countries tends to be ranked in higher ranks. While the telecommunication infrastructure index (TII) has continuously increased in all countries for the entire period, open service index (OSI) has not increased at the same rate since improving OSI is not easier than TII. As OSI increases, IC may affect an increase to a certain point and then decrease in an inverted U-shape. The result of this relationship emphasizes on the importance of OSI along with TII in building trust, particularly with institutions.Research limitations/implicationsThe examination of the relationship of trust, ICT and income in quantifiable values can contribute to understanding the direction of movement and change speed toward trust building with people and institutions.Practical implicationsTo promote levels of trust, countries should consider different strategies for growing TP and institutions and concentrate on improving ICT-mediated services more than installing ICT facilities.Originality/valueQuantifying the interactions of a qualitative concept of trust with ICT facilities, online services, and income levels presents an in-depth analysis of TP and with institutions.

Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A.

2018 Online Information Review

doi: 10.1108/OIR-06-2017-0191

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the relative opacity of the “About” page at PubPeer, which is a whistleblower website, primarily of the academic literature. The site refers to itself as an online journal club. It is important to assess whether the PubPeer site, organization or leadership display opacity because PubPeer attempts to hold the authors who have published errors in their literature to the high standards of transparency.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examined the statements of the “About” page at PubPeer to assess the aspects of opacity. The “About” page is the face and image of an organization to the public.FindingsIn 2015, The PubPeer Foundation was created as a charitable organization to receive funding in the USA, and at the end of 2016, the PubPeer Foundation received funding (US$ 412,000) from a philanthropic organization, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Several of these details were not indicated in the older version of the “About” page at PubPeer. Other aspects of that page are opaque.Research limitations/implicationsTo fully assess the opacity of PubPeer, continual monitoring is needed. The examination of the “About” page gives a limited perspective.Practical implicationsAcademics are under intense scrutiny by a vigilant anonymous and pseudonymous community at PubPeer. Any opacity by PubPeer, as was documented here, reduces trust in its objectives and operations. Reduced trust is at the heart of the replication crisis.Originality/valueThis paper represents the first published critical assessment of PubPeer. Science watchdogs, which watch various science-related organizations, also need to be watched.