Noor Ismawati Jaafar

Social media effects on fostering online civic engagement and building citizen trust and trust in institutions

Abstract This paper tests the extent to which social media is shaping civic engagement initiatives to build trust among people and increase trust in their institutions, particularly the government, police and justice systems. A survey of 502 citizens showed that using social media for civic engagement has a significant positive impact on trust propensity and that this trust had led to an increase in trust towards institutions. Interestingly, while group incentives encouraged citizens to engage online for civic matters, it is civic publications through postings on social media that intensify the urge of citizens for civic action to address social issues. Post-hoc analysis via ten interviews with social activists was conducted to further examine their perceptions on trust towards institutions. The overall findings suggest that institutions, in their effort to promote a meaningful and trusting citizen engagement, need to enhance trust among the public by fostering social capital via online civic engagement and closing the public–police disengagement gap.

Social Media Usage and Organizational Performance: Reflections of Malaysian Social Media Managers

Abstract Social media usage among organizations is growing tremendously. Organizations are now building and maintaining social media public pages to improve their social network salience, enhance interest in their organizations, and build relationships with the online public. The majority of the studies on social media usage are based on the individual perspective while some are from the organizational perspective. However, not many studies have investigated the actual impact of social media usage on organizational performance. Therefore, using the qualitative approach, this study investigates the various purposes of social media usage and its impact on organizational performance. This study however, focuses only on the social media managers’ views. The senior managers of six organizations that are using social media are interviewed from which we find that social media is used for various purposes in organizations, such as advertising and promotion, branding, information search, building customer relations and many more. The results also show that social media has a greater impact on the performance of organizations in terms of enhancement in customer relations and customer service activities, improvement in information accessibility and cost reduction in terms of marketing and customer service.

Factors influencing the use of social media by SMEs and its performance outcomes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence Facebook usage among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In addition, it examines the impact of Facebook usage on financial and non-financial performance of the SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – Using integrated model, this study examined the influence of compatibility, cost effectiveness, interactivity and trust on Facebook usage and its subsequent impact on organizations performance. Statistical analyses were based on the data collected, through survey questionnaire from 259 SMEs in Malaysia. Partial Least Square (PLS) method was used to test the hypotheses. Findings – The study revealed that Facebook usage has a strong positive impact on financial performance of SMEs; similarly it was also found that Facebook usage positively impacts the non-financial performance of SMEs in terms of cost reduction on marketing and customer service, improved customer relations and improved information accessibility. Additionally, factors...

Facebook: The enabler of online civic engagement for activists

This exploratory study aims to investigate the existing efforts in civic engagement using Facebook. Previous work describes the typical usage of Facebook for connecting with others, to educate and inform in a wide range of context. Little research exists, however, on the emerging role of Facebook as an enabler for civic engagement in a social network environment. With over one billion global Facebook users, there is emerging evidence that activists are making concerted efforts to utilize Facebooks dynamic ability for addressing social issues. The present study conducted face-to-face interviews with twelve activists in examining how Facebook was used to conduct civic engagement activities that address social issues. The analysis was based on the five criteria of Internet activism, i.e. collection of information; publication of information; dialogue; coordinating actions and lobbying for decision makers. The results revealed that activists are using Facebook to seek information, check on others, follow links, post civic messages, promote social events, appeal for donations, call for volunteers, discuss social issues, schedule plans and advocate change. These findings indicate that activists are using Facebook to shape the traditional civic engagement landscape in an online realm. Future opportunities for this stream of research are then discussed before concluding.

Understanding civic engagement behaviour on Facebook from a social capital theory perspective

This paper applies the social capital theory to construct a model for investigating the factors that influence online civic engagement behaviour on Facebook. While there is promising evidence that people are making concerted efforts to adopt Facebook to address social issues, research on their civic behaviour from a social capital viewpoint in the social media context remains limited. This study introduces new insights into how Facebook is shaping the landscape of civic engagement by examining three dimensions of social capital – social interaction ties (structural), trust (relational), and shared languages and vision (cognitive). The study contends that these dimensions will influence individuals’ online civic engagement behaviour on Facebook. We also argue that social interaction ties can engender trust, and shared languages and vision among its members, and that shared languages and vision can increase trust among Facebook members. Empirical data collected from 1233 Facebook users provide support for the proposed model. The results help in identifying the motivation underlying the online civic engagement behaviour of individuals in a public virtual community. The implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed.

The effects of Facebook browsing and usage intensity on impulse purchase in f-commerce

Due to the rapid advancements in Web 2.0 and social media, a novel class of online social business called Facebook commerce (f-commerce) has emerged. Even though there are studies on the factors that influence Facebook browsing and usage intensity, however, there is dearth in research that examine the impacts of f-commerce browsing and usage intensity on consumers urge to purchase and impulse purchase. Unlike previous studies, this study examined the moderating effect of income. Since Facebook has become a phenomenon, there is a necessity to explore whether the level of f-commerce browsing and usage intensity can trigger urge to purchase and impulse purchase. Following the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, data was collected using mall-intercept technique and analyzed with SmartPLS 3. Majority of the suggested hypotheses have been empirically validated and the research framework can explain 33.0% of variance in urge to purchase and 61.7% variance in impulse purchase. Interestingly, the finding showed no moderating effect of income. However, marital status and Internet hours were found to have moderating effects. The research findings can contribute to the online retailers, marketers and other f-commerce stakeholders in formulating their marketing strategies and policies while providing novel insight in understanding the impulse purchase behavior. The effects of Facebook browsing & usage intensity on impulse purchase were studied.Stimulus-Organism-Response framework was used with income as the moderator variable.A total of 808 f-commerce shoppers were gathered using mall-intercept technique.The model explained 33% variance in urge to purchase and 61.7% in impulse purchase.Interestingly, no moderating effects of income on all the relationships were found.

Understanding impulse purchase in Facebook commerce: does Big Five matter?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the Big Five Model (BFM), the urge to purchase (UP) and urgency (UR) on impulse purchase (IP) in Facebook commerce (F-commerce), with the F-commerce purchase as control variable. It also investigates the influence of BFM and UR on UP and the effects of BFM on UR. Design/methodology/approach The survey instrument was rigorously validated via content validity index by expert panel, Q-sort procedure for construct validity by practitioners in pre-test, followed by evaluation of construct reliability in the pilot test. Data gathered from 808 usable questionnaires were analyzed using SmartPLS 3. Findings The study showed that BFM, UP, UR and F-commerce purchase are significant predictors of the F-commerce IP. UP is influenced by BFM and UR. BFM has a significant positive relationship with UR. F-commerce experience has insignificant moderating effect. Practical implications This study provides some useful practical implications for the F-commerce administrators, advertisers, dealers and promoters. Originality/value Existing studies focus on the antecedents of IP in conventional stores and online businesses; however, IP in F-commerce has been largely overlooked. The study investigates the impacts of personality traits on IP and its effects on UR and UP. The mediating effects of UR and UP were also examined. The study is able to predict 64.4, 68.0 and 49.0 percent variance in IP, UP and UR, respectively.

Domestic Computer Usage and Activities in West Coast Malaysia: age and income differences

In Malaysia, a number of programs and initiatives have been introduced to increase computer ownership and ensure universal access among the population. A survey among households was conducted to study the impact of ICT and computers on Malaysian society. The survey was carried out to examine the level of domestic computer usage and identify the common activities associated with computers among the households. The study found differences in terms of age and income groups towards their level of computer usage. Malaysian teenagers are heavy domestic computer users in comparison to the other age categories. As expected, the high income people are also heavy domestic computer users. Interestingly, the study has found that computers are being used domestically for personal and household purposes such as entertainment rather than enhancing the flow of information among households and business organizations.

Social media’s impact on organizational performance and entrepreneurial orientation in organizations

Purpose Based on the system of value chain theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of social media usage on the performance and the entrepreneurial orientation of the organizations. Design/methodology/approach A total of 174 organizations responded to the survey. Findings The result of the study showed that social media usage has a very strong positive impact on organizations’ performance, in terms of cost reduction, improved customer relations, and enhanced information accessibility. Research limitations/implications In the study, social media usage was categorized into three sub-constructs such as social media usage for marketing, social media usage for building customer relations, and social media usage for information search. This study investigated the usage of social media and its impact as a whole, considering all social media tools together. Finally, this study used a cross-sectional sample to collect data. Practical implications The result of the study benefits the managers to understand the various areas of organizational performance that can be improved by social media usage. Social implications The study also provided evidence that social media usage has strong positive influences on enhancing the entrepreneurial orientation of the organizations. Originality/value This study provides a clearer idea on the real importance of social media and its benefits. This study demonstrated the various areas of organizational performance that can be improved through social media usage.

Investigating customer satisfaction, loyalty and web usability concerning the use of Word-of-Mouth as a means of referral among internet banking users in Malaysia

In this paper, we present our findings to develop an understanding of the effect of website usability, customer satisfaction on loyalty and positive Word-of-Mouth (WOM) as a means of referral. A survey was conducted among 220 internet banking users in Malaysia who represented the main banking customer base. The results show that customer satisfaction and customer loyalty enhance WOM. However, the effect of web usability is not significant on WOM. Even though the results confirm the findings of earlier studies, they suggest that there is room for improvement.