This study examined whether individuals' coping strategies and their motivations for social media use act as mediators between actual COVID-19-related stress and the perception…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined whether individuals' coping strategies and their motivations for social media use act as mediators between actual COVID-19-related stress and the perception that social media use can reduce stress.
Design/methodology/approach
This study empirically develops and tests a research model with data (N = 503) collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A path analysis was used to test the research model.
Findings
The path analysis indicated that active coping initiated by individuals under COVID-19-related stress was more likely to be associated with information and social interaction needs, leading the individuals to perceive the use of social media as the cause for stress reduction. The expressive support coping strategy motivated the individuals under stress to seek social interaction, leading individuals to perceive that activities on social media reduced their stress during the pandemic. Emotional venting and avoidance coping strategies significantly impacted escape, social interaction, and entertainment seeking by allowing individuals to get absorbed in social media activities and forget unpleasant thoughts associated with the pandemic.
Originality/value
No previous study has explored the relationship between decisions around the type of coping strategy used and motivations for media usage, which leads to stress reduction. Understanding how stress-induced coping strategies influence social media users' specific motivations and reduce users' stress levels would help communicators understand how users' can encourage individuals to cope with stress by presenting individuals with more effective social media, resulting in stress reduction and improved well-being.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to clarify a situational factor that might interfere with the intended outcome of a cause-related marketing (CRM) ad on social network sites (SNSs): statements…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to clarify a situational factor that might interfere with the intended outcome of a cause-related marketing (CRM) ad on social network sites (SNSs): statements about the motivation of the sponsoring company for supporting a social cause. This study also aims to explore how highly skeptical consumers and consumers with lower levels of skepticism differ in their responses to CRM ads.
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, a total of 409 college students took part in an online experiment through Qualtrics. The online experiment followed a 2 (statement of motivations: both of firm and public benefits vs public benefit only) × 2 (skepticism: high vs low) between-subjects design. Skepticism was determined post hoc as a two-category variable to analyze its effect on the relationship between the statement of motivations and attribution. In Study 2, a total of 533 adults took part in an online experiment. Multigroup analysis was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
This study found that firm’s acknowledgments of firm-serving motivation, as well as of public-serving motivation, could be an effective marketing strategy to reduce consumer skepticism about the firm’s motives. The procedure by which a consumer perceived and evaluated the motives of a company determined the effectiveness of the company’s CRM ads. Temporary state of skepticism induced by an attributional thinking process is found to play a significant role in diminishing perceived corporate credibility. Finally, a consumer’s perception of a company’s credibility has a great impact on their intention to join that company’s brand page.
Research limitations/implications
This study advances theories about consumers’ defensive mechanisms that can help predict their favorable responses to the brand pages featuring CRM on SNSs.
Originality/value
This study extends previous literature by directing academic attention to consumers’ perceived attribution as a theoretical mechanism that can help predict consumers’ favorable responses to brand pages featuring CRM on SNSs. This study also extends previous research on skepticism by showing that consumer skepticism can be either an enduring trait or a temporary state. The findings suggest that marketers may be able to inhibit the development of consumer skepticism by publicly stating the potential firm-serving benefits of its actions.