Andreia Gabriela Andrei, Adriana Zait, Claudia Stoian, Oana Tugulea and Adriana Manolica
The purpose of this study is to analyze citizen engagement and to explain the underlying mechanism that makes well-intended people to act as disinformation amplifiers in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze citizen engagement and to explain the underlying mechanism that makes well-intended people to act as disinformation amplifiers in the online space. The study offers new insights to be used by knowledge management for improving society’s potential to downsize the impact of disinformation that puts both knowledge system and social trust (ST) under high pressure.
Design/methodology/approach
The study proposes an integrative research model to explain how ST and conspiracy mentality (CM) are influencing citizen engagement in public life through different forms of action that is specific to offline or online spaces. The research model and its nine hypotheses are tested based on a survey for data collection and partial least squares method for data analysis.
Findings
The study finds that both online and offline actions are mediating the positive effect of ST on citizen engagement. Yet, CM has a high impact on online actions, and it exerts a significant indirect influence on citizen engagement in this manner.
Originality/value
Revealing the mediator role of online actions in the relationship between CM and civic engagement, the paper brings novel insights on disinformation spreading. The study explains how citizen engagement can sometimes be turned against social well-being because those prone to belief in conspiracies are the perfect targets of deceivers seeking for disinformation amplifiers in the online environment.
Details
Keywords
Claudia Stoian Bobalca, Oana Ţugulea, Mihaela Ifrim and Liviu-George Maha
As satisfaction is one of the most important conditions for loyalty, this study aims to investigate the main factors affecting online satisfaction for buying clothes from the…
Abstract
Purpose
As satisfaction is one of the most important conditions for loyalty, this study aims to investigate the main factors affecting online satisfaction for buying clothes from the internet. In this research, the authors followed two main objectives: (1) to identify factors influencing online satisfaction and (2) to determine the importance of the main determinants that explain online satisfaction in the retailing clothing sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The research combines qualitative and quantitative research methods. The authors used the focus group technique and a survey based on a questionnaire. For the first exploratory phase of the research, we conducted four focus groups with 21 women, 18–39 years old, who have at least two years experiences as online buyers and who made at least two acquisitions for clothing products in the past six months, from the same website. The purpose of this qualitative method was to understand the young women's perception about online satisfaction and to collect items to be included in the questionnaire. For the second quantitative phase of this study, the sample consisted of 241 participants. To analyse the data, two different types of inferential analysis were used: factor analysis (for identifying the factors that compose online customer satisfaction) and analysis of regression (to determine the most important factors that determine and predict online buyers' satisfaction).
Findings
The main results indicate that the significant factors determining a satisfactory experience in an e-retailing market are: good deal (savings), product expectations, customer service and website reputation.
Originality/value
The study is more relevant in the current pandemic context, when the consumer’s behaviour has changed and online shopping has substantially increased. The research can be used by companies that sell clothing on the internet and are interested in increasing their financial results and also their customers' satisfaction.