Dongxiao Niu, Weibo Zhao and Zongyun Song
There are thousands of areas excluded from using electrical energy in China. It is mainly because that these places, which are away from towns, have the characteristics of…
Abstract
Purpose
There are thousands of areas excluded from using electrical energy in China. It is mainly because that these places, which are away from towns, have the characteristics of scattered living and low-power consumption and are difficult to construct the power grid. The utilization of energy in remote areas could improve the level of education and quality of life for people living in there, which has great social significance. However, how to choose the optimal power generation model quantitatively according to local energy advantages is a difficult problem.
Design/methodology/approach
To carry out a better assessment of the energy benefits of Chinese rural areas to assist the decision-making of energy utilization project, this paper takes Sunan Yugu Autonomous County in Gansu Province as an example. Four feasible energy utilization scenarios are proposed by analyzing its geographical conditions and re-source advantage, respectively, are photovoltaic power generation, biomass power generation, wind power generation and power grid extension. Based on the above scenarios, the evaluation index system of comprehensive utilization of energy in remote areas is constructed, and the comprehensive benefit of each model is evaluated by adopting entropy-based fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model.
Findings
Evaluation results show that the comprehensive benefits of photovoltaic power generation is the best, followed by power grid extension. Thus, preference should be given to the two models in the energy utilization in Sunan County. This evaluation model can provide a scientific reference for the selection decision-making of energy utilization project, which is helpful to provide the feasibility and efficiency of the construction of energy utilization project.
Originality/value
The authors construct the comprehensive benefit evaluation index system and evaluate the comprehensive benefits of different scenarios are by using entropy - fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model. Then the qualitative problem can be analyzed quantitatively. The purpose of this study is to support the decision-making of energy investment. Simultaneously, the paper also has some practical significance in improving the credibility of the government and the quality of local people’s life.
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Qinghua (Candy) Yang, Fan Yang and Chun Zhou
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the information about haze, a term used in China to describe the air pollution problem, is portrayed on Chinese social media by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the information about haze, a term used in China to describe the air pollution problem, is portrayed on Chinese social media by different types of organizations using the theoretical framework of the health belief model (HBM).
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis was conducted based on the 756 posts retrieved from Sina Weibo, the top microbloging platform in China, following the simple random sampling method. χ2 analysis was conducted to examine the relationships across the three types of organizations (governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and corporations) and the use of the HBM concepts (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action) in terms of haze and its threat to health.
Findings
The results of this study indicated that corporations posted more Weibo messages categorized as perceived benefit and most of these posts are related to their products, while governmental organizations posted fewer Weibo messages categorized as perceived severity.
Social implications
This study provides health decision makers and media consumers with knowledge about how to use social media more effectively in terms of haze-related issues.
Originality/value
Given the severity of air pollution and the influential role microblogging takes, the study aims to fill the gap in the limited literature on haze information dissemination on social media in China. In addition, this study aims to shed theoretical light on HBM as applied to a non-westernized context.
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Yassine Jadil, Anand Jeyaraj, Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Nripendra P. Rana and Prianka Sarker
In recent years, the proliferation of social commerce (s-commerce) has attracted many researchers to investigate the drivers of individuals' intentions. However, the empirical…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, the proliferation of social commerce (s-commerce) has attracted many researchers to investigate the drivers of individuals' intentions. However, the empirical results reported in these studies were fragmented and inconsistent. This has led various meta-analyses to synthesize these findings, but without including a large number of s-commerce studies. In addition, investigating meta-analytically the effects of moderators such as the six dimensions of Hofstede's national culture is still lacking.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on nine theories and models, this meta-analysis aims to summarize the findings reported in 109 s-commerce studies published between 2011 and 2021 and to examine the moderating role of national culture. The correlation coefficient (r) has been used as the main effect size for this study. Based on the random-effects method, the CMA V3 software has been employed to calculate the weighted mean effect sizes.
Findings
The meta-analysis results showed that all the 11 hypothesized direct relationships are positive and significant. The moderator results also revealed that five out of six cultural dimensions significantly moderate the examined associations.
Originality/value
This research serves to enrich the existing s-commerce literature by addressing contradictory and mixed results reported in the empirical studies. This study is one of the first of its kind to investigate the role of Hofstede's six cultural dimensions as moderators in the field of s-commerce using the meta-analytic techniques.
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Yueming Zhao, Gaohui Li and Zuying Mo
To explore the influence factors and pathways of users’ willingness to participate in the misinformation purification process on the Weibo platform. The findings of this study are…
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the influence factors and pathways of users’ willingness to participate in the misinformation purification process on the Weibo platform. The findings of this study are expected to provide valuable insights that can enhance the self-purification mechanisms for misinformation on Weibo, thereby contributing to the effective misinformation control.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework of the quantitative study is a conceptual model integrated with the theory of planned behavior (TPB), social exchange theory (SET) and co-dependency theory. This model was developed to elucidate the influence factors of users’ willingness to participate in the purification of misinformation on the Weibo platform, the conceptual model was tested and refined through questionnaire surveys, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess its validity and reliability.
Findings
The findings reveal that the attitude toward misinformation purification on the Weibo platform exerts the most significant positive influence on the willingness to engage in such activities. Within the context of this research, community involvement and reciprocity are identified as the factors that have the most substantial positive impact on users’ attitude toward misinformation purification. Conversely, risk perception does not demonstrate a significant influence on users’ attitude toward misinformation purification.
Originality/value
Taking the Weibo platform as an example, this is a pioneering study on the investigation and mechanism of social media self-purification on misinformation and proposes a new perspective to improve the effectiveness of the social media self-purification mechanism from the perspective of focusing on user intention and motivation.
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Xiao Meng, Chengjun Dai, Yifei Zhao and Yuan Zhou
This study aims to investigate the mechanism of the misinformation spread based on the elaboration likelihood model and the effects of four factors – emotion, topic, authority and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the mechanism of the misinformation spread based on the elaboration likelihood model and the effects of four factors – emotion, topic, authority and richness – on the depth, breadth and structural virality of misinformation spread.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected 2,514 misinformation microblogs and 142,006 reposts from Weibo, used deep learning methods to identify the emotions and topics of misinformation and extracted the structural characteristics of the spreading network using the network analysis method.
Findings
Results show that misinformation has a smaller spread size and breadth than true news but has a similar spread depth and structural virality. The differential influence of emotions on the structural characteristics of misinformation propagation was found: sadness can promote the breadth of misinformation spread, anger can promote depth and disgust can promote depth and structural virality. In addition, the international topic, the number of followers, images and videos can significantly and positively influence the misinformation's spread size, depth, breadth and structural virality.
Originality/value
The influencing factors of the structural characteristics of misinformation propagation are clarified, which is helpful for the detection and management of misinformation.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the Chinese microblog users’ psychological motivations and the association between users’ motivations and their offline civic and political…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the Chinese microblog users’ psychological motivations and the association between users’ motivations and their offline civic and political engagement. Specifically, this study examines what the psychological impetuses of Weibo use are and how they promote the young citizens’ civic and political involvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through the web-based survey with a total sample of 426 people. Principal components factor analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regressions were sequentially carried out to address the research questions.
Findings
The findings reveal that there are four major motives for using Weibo: information, socializing, recognition seeking and entertainment. Interestingly, seeking social needs is positively and significantly related to increasing young people’s civic participation, but not political participation.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretically, the research demonstrates that the uses and gratifications is a suitable approach for analysis of psychological antecedents of Weibo use and subsequent outcomes. Practically, it will help understand the dynamics of how the new media technology may engender democratic development and change.
Originality/value
Although the growing significance of social media has drawn considerable attention, little research has been conducted to assess the political consequences of Weibo. The current study fills the void by investigating whether Weibo functions as an effective tool to facilitate democratic engagement in contemporary China. The obtained results may provide insight into the relationship between the gratification structures and engagement in other social settings.
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Heping He, Yanni Liu and Zhimin Zhou
With the rapid development of social media in the past few years, some dark aspects of usage have appeared, e.g., Weibo addiction. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
With the rapid development of social media in the past few years, some dark aspects of usage have appeared, e.g., Weibo addiction. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address the question of how Weibo keeps users hooked.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilizes the netnography method to explore the symptoms of Weibo addiction and how it is formed.
Findings
First, some Weibo users have typical symptoms of addictive behavior, such as withdrawal, loss of control and general living problems; second, narcissism plays an important role in the process of Weibo addiction and has a stronger effect on content generation than content consumption; third, some users use Weibo as a means to alleviate anxiety, but they can then become more anxious owing to addiction; and fourth, the effect of comments has two sides – on the one hand, comments are one kind of feedback to posts, satisfying posters’ social needs, while on the other hand, a storytelling system consists of one post and its comments, upon which some Weibo users become more dependent.
Research limitations/implications
This research is only a preliminary, exploratory study. Therefore, care should be taken when interpreting these findings.
Practical implications
This study should help social media service providers and users to pay attention to the risk of social media addiction. Social media service providers should take social responsibility, design more user-oriented guidelines for marketing ethics and launch more responsible marketing activities. Users should enhance self-control and better balance social media use and offline real life.
Originality/value
Netnography has not been widely used as an addictive behavior research technique. This study is further bolstered because it has also noticed the difference of addiction mechanisms between addictive micro-bloggers and their followers.
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Jingyi Duan and Nikhilesh Dholakia
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how, in China, postings on social media site Weibo reflect as well as accelerate the reshaping of traditional values. As Chinese social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how, in China, postings on social media site Weibo reflect as well as accelerate the reshaping of traditional values. As Chinese social media extend their reach outside China, the displays of visible desire, hedonism and materialism could influence global consumption ethos.
Design/methodology/approach
Using interpretive content analysis, over 250 Weibo postings of 8 selected Weibo users, from the network of one of the authors, were identified, coded and interpreted. The users were selected based on their frequency, variety and expressiveness of postings.
Findings
Weibo is playing a critical role in transforming Chinese consumer values. Via Weibo, personal consumption experiences are available for public gaze. Consequently, desire for powerfully signified objects and experiences is more visible; “enjoy now” is turning out to be an appreciated life attitude, and materialism and hedonism are growing irresistibly. As a result, the traditional Chinese consumer values – suppressing desire, delaying gratification and thriftiness – are losing ground in Chinese society. Also, as Weibo makes the influence of the elite as well as electronic word-of-mouth very powerful, the values of the elite and grassroots groups are actually converging instead of being separated by substantial chasms that have existed historically.
Practical implications
Sina Weibo had a US initial public offering (IPO) of its stock in April, 2014, and many other China-based Internet firms were getting set for US IPOs. This paper provides unique insights for Chinese social media companies’ potential global impact. Future social media contexts would be shaped by collision as well as convergence of Asia-centric and USA-centric platforms. This paper lays the groundwork for studying such interactions.
Originality/value
In-depth interpretations of Weibo postings contribute to our understanding of how social media impact Chinese society now and would potentially affect global societies later. This is a pioneering study on the massive influences of social media on the macro-level consumer behavior.
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Zhao Alexandre Huang and Rui Wang
The aim of this study was to examine the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and the international communication management of Chinese diplomats as a case for extending the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to examine the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and the international communication management of Chinese diplomats as a case for extending the definition of intermestic public diplomacy. The goal was to reveal how Beijing subtly used both domestic and foreign social media to organize a network for communication about COVID-19 and purposefully soften the highly centralized and hierarchical political propaganda of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature on digital public diplomacy, the authors applied the existing concept of intermestic to Chinese politics in order to demonstrate the digitalization of public diplomacy, along with its forms and strategies under an authoritarian regime. A hybrid methodology combining quantitative network analysis and qualitative discourse analysis permits examination of China's intermestic online communication network dynamics, shedding light on how such an intermestic practice promoted Chinese values and power to international publics in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis.
Findings
The authors’ findings extend the implications of intermestic public diplomacy from a democratic context to an authoritarian one. By analyzing the content of public diplomacy and para-diplomatic social media accounts in China and abroad at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the authors outlined China's early crisis management, explaining its intermestic public diplomacy transmission modes and strategies. Moreover, the authors identified changes in the narrative strategies of Chinese diplomats and journalists during this process.
Social implications
The findings of this study underline that Beijing established a narrative-making virtual communication structure for disseminating favorable Chinese strategic narratives and voices through differentiated communication on domestic and foreign social media platforms. Such intermestic communication strategies were particularly evident and even further weaponized by Beijing in its large-scale Wolf Warrior diplomacy in the spring of 2020. Thus, the study’s findings help readers understand how China digitalized its public diplomacy, its digital communication patterns and strategies.
Originality/value
On the one hand, geopolitical uncertainty and the popularity of social media have contributed to the evolution of the intermestic model of public diplomacy. This model allows actors to coordinate homogenous and differentiated communication practices to deploy their influence. On the other hand, the authors did not examine how intermestic audiences perceive and receive public diplomacy practices. In future studies, scholars should measure the agenda-setting capacity of diplomatic actors by examining the effects of such intermestic communication efforts.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the Chinese government generates authority during a crisis through discursive practices expressed in social media.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the Chinese government generates authority during a crisis through discursive practices expressed in social media.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the theoretical framework of authority and the method of genre analysis, this study examined the top 100 forwarded posts on Weibo about a high-profile murder to determine the mechanisms involved in generating authority.
Findings
This study provides empirical support that building and maintaining authority distinguishes governments from other social actors during crisis communication. The genre analysis demonstrates that the strategic use of genre chain and genre mixing contributes to the construction of governments’ authority during a crisis. Furthermore, this study suggests the performative and social constructionist approach to understand governments’ authority in the digital age on two levels: a situationally-constructed concept that goes beyond the context of fixed institutions and a relationally-constructed concept that is promoted through discursive collaboration among various social actors.
Research limitations/implications
This study does not directly assess the effectiveness of a government’s ability to construct its authority. Nor does it examine the construction of governments’ authority outside the context of an authoritarian regime. These issues should be addressed in future research.
Practical implications
This study offers governmental organizations some practical insights that can be used to infuse a constructive aspect of authority into their crisis communication plans, practices and processes.
Originality/value
Here, authority is seen as a social construction that foregrounds the discursive, performative, constructive and communicative dimensions of crisis communication. Moreover, this study points to the need for a more complex integrated perspective in crisis communication that includes and connects corporate and government crisis communication.