Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Alessio Falco, Mikko Salminen, Pekka Aula and Niklas Ravaja
This study investigates how media brand knowledge, defined as a structural feature of the message, influences emotional and attentional responses to, and memory of, news messages.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates how media brand knowledge, defined as a structural feature of the message, influences emotional and attentional responses to, and memory of, news messages.
Design/methodology/approach
Self-reports, facial electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography were used as indices of emotional valence, arousal and attention in response to 42 news messages, which varied along the valence and involvement dimensions and were framed with different media brands varying along the familiarity and credibility dimensions.
Findings
Compared to the no-brand condition, news framed with brands elicited more attention. The memory tests indicated that strong media brands override the effect of involvement in information encoding, whereas details of news presented with Facebook were not well encoded. However, the headlines of news framed with Facebook were well retrieved. In addition, negative and high-involvement news elicited higher arousal ratings and corrugator EMG activity. News framed with familiar and high-credibility brands elicited higher arousal ratings.
Research limitations/implications
Relevant for both brand managers and audiences, the findings show that building credibility and familiarity both work as brand attributes to differentiate media brands and influence information processing.
Originality/value
The results highlight the importance of media brands in news reading: as a structural feature, the brand is used as a proxy to process the message content. The study contributes by investigating how the type of source influences the reception and encoding of the mediated information; by investigating the emotional effects of brands; and by confirming previous findings in media psychology literature.
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Keywords
Minna Stenius, Nelli Hankonen, Niklas Ravaja and Ari Haukkala
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of motivation for knowledge sharing (KS) by assessing how four qualitatively different motivation types, as per…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of motivation for knowledge sharing (KS) by assessing how four qualitatively different motivation types, as per self-determination theory (SDT), predict KS, its quality and its undesirable counterpart, knowledge withholding.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was carried out as a survey (n = 200) in an expert organization. The analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Autonomous type of extrinsic motivation (identified motivation) was the strongest predictor of KS (in work meetings) and its quality, whereas the other motivation types (intrinsic, introjected and external) had no independent contribution to variance in KS. Knowledge withholding was negatively associated with identified and positively with external KS motivation.
Research limitations/implications
Single organization limits the generalizability of the results. Future studies should further investigate the role of identified motivation for various KS behaviors.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that autonomy-supportive management practices known to facilitate self-determined behavior can improve KS. Fostering external motivation by incentivizing KS may be both ineffective and have undesirable consequences.
Originality/value
Few prior studies investigate KS motivation beyond external and intrinsic motivation or apply SDT to KS using SDT-based scales. This study distinguishes between four different motivation types and is the first to investigate their differential impact on KS and its quality. It is also the first to demonstrate the importance of identified motivation for KS. It further elucidates how the quality of KS motivation is reflected in knowledge withholding, an overall underinvestigated behavior.
Details
Keywords
Minna Stenius, Nelli Hankonen, Ari Haukkala and Niklas Ravaja
This paper aims to investigate cognitive antecedents of knowledge sharing (KS) by applying a belief elicitation study and embedding KS in an organizationally relevant context…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate cognitive antecedents of knowledge sharing (KS) by applying a belief elicitation study and embedding KS in an organizationally relevant context, work meetings.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was carried out in two phases: an elicitation study (n = 18), and a survey (n = 200) based on its findings. The method, which combines a qualitative and a quantitative approach, is frequently used in the study of other behaviors (e.g. health behaviors) when applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB).
Findings
Belief-based measures, informed by the elicitation study, were meaningful predictors of KS intentions. In line with TPB, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control explained 47.7 per cent of the variance in KS intentions, which together with perceived behavioral control explained 55.2 per cent of the variance in KS behavior. Behavioral beliefs reflecting positive collective outcomes (new perspectives, knowledge diffusion/collective learning, increased interaction) were the most important predictors.
Research limitations/implications
Single organization and the study design limit generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that by eliciting shared beliefs relating to specific KS behaviors, organizations may come a long way in understanding and subsequently influencing these behaviors.
Originality/value
This is the first study to apply TPB on KS by investigating the underlying beliefs using an elicitation study. By demonstrating its utility, the study not only lays avenue for evidence-based interventions to improve KS in organizations, but also presents a method that bridges the gap between quantitative and qualitative approaches to KS.