Donation-Based Crowdfunding: Converting Financial Capital Into Symbolic Capital

The modern intellectualization of labour has led to the emergence of a symbolic form of capital, the interpretations of which differ in meaning, which creates a problem of understanding both this phenomenon and social interaction. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to analyze and identify the most relevant definition of the concept of “symbolic capital”. The methodological basis of the study was made up of comparative and dialectical approaches implemented by analyzing the form and content of the concept under study, as well as in the dialectic of the development and existence of types of symbolic capital. The development of the hypothesis about the conditionality of various interpretations of the concept of “symbolic capital” by the authors’ research position is achieved by identifying various contexts of social interaction: economic (Zh. Baudrillard), general professional (informational) (E. Toffler) and social (P. Bourdieu). The article substantiates the position that the definition of the concept of “symbolic capital”, presented by P. Bourdieu in a social way, is the most accurate, general and relevant, since economics and professional activity are derived from social activity. Symbolic capital in the social interpretation made by P. Bourdieu reflects the empirical law of the functioning of society as a whole, since it establishes a regular process that characterizes social interaction in ontological aspects: mainly in the processes of structuring social interaction as a social exchange, recursive in nature. For the first time, six types of symbolic capital were identified: diffuse and objectified (P. Bourdieu), progressive and regressive, reflexive and nonreflexive (author’s), expressed in new concepts, which are defined. These types of symbolic capital as concepts have great methodological potential in determining the features and patterns of the functioning of the “symbolic capital” strategy. The results of the research can be applied in social theory and practice, social philosophy.

This chapter investigates how musicians use, manage and value different types of visibility when building their careers. In order to analyze musicians’ experiences and opinions regarding visibility work, we apply three concepts of capital – symbolic capital, social capital and visibility capital. More specifically, we discuss how different forms of capital are valued by musicians in their endeavors to attain visibility. The analysis is based on empirical material from a study of professional musicians in Norway consisting of 57 qualitative interviews. The analysis is presented in four parts: visibility through social relations, visibility by presence in social media, visibility by presence in traditional media, and visibility by virtue of musicians’ geographical location. We find that both social capital – the visibility musicians get from networks and relations – and symbolic capital – the visibility musicians get from being recognized in the field – are seen as unconditionally valuable. However, visibility capital – the visibility musicians get from being present in social and traditional media – has a much more ambiguous status. One the one hand side, it is a way of connecting with and building audiences, which is seen as valuable. On the other hand, presence in social and traditional media requires a lot of work and is associated with certain subjective rules on how to appear and what to communicate.

PurposeThe current study examines the factors that affect trust and donation intention in donation-based crowdfunding.Design/methodology/approachThe present study utilized web-based questionnaires to examine the donation intention of Malaysian donors in donation-based crowdfunding, employing the information system success (ISS) framework. The collected data were investigated using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe findings of the study indicate that information quality, service quality and system quality have a significant positive effect on trust in donation-based crowdfunding. Additionally, donation intention in donation-based crowdfunding is significantly and positively influenced by information quality, service quality and trust.Practical implicationsThe study’s results can be used by donation-based crowdfunding platforms to enhance their information, service and system quality to increase donor trust and intention to donate, including improving the platform’s design, navigation, aesthetics, comprehensibility of content, providing timely customer support and regularly updating and maintaining the system.Originality/valueBy exploring the relationship between information quality, service quality, system quality, trust and donation intention, this study contributes to the existing knowledge on donors’ behavior in crowdfunding.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0291

From the perspectives of social equitable exchange theory, contents and features of exchange between medical staff and patients in the doctor-patient relationship as well as their evalua- tion on social equitable exchange theory were analyzed according to basic features of doctor-patient relationship. Suggestions were proposed from government, industry, hospital and medical staff. Key words: Social exchange theory; Doctor-patient relationship; Medical disputes

Purpose: The study examined the role of social media in the insurance industry in Kenya.
 Materials and Methods: This study utilized the systematic literature review and focused on previously published academic studies and published journals discussing on social media and insurance firms in Kenya. The study utilized a sample of 12 studies selected randomly from the different academic studies and published journals available at the Google Scholar. This research method was preferred in this study since it is reliable and saves on time and resources as compared to primary data collection methods.
 Results: The review of the different studies revealed that the social media provides a variety of platforms that can help insurance firms facilitate the sale of their products, improve their customers interaction and build their brand reputation. The results of most studies also revealed that social media has a positive and significant impact on the performance and profitability of insurance companies in Kenya. Most of the reviewed studies were also found to discuss the role of social media in the insurance industry to a good extent. However, they consisted of conceptual, geographical and contextual research gaps.
 Recommendations: The study recommended that insurance companies in Kenya should invest more on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn which have large target audience and helps to improve customer engagement. Moreover, insurance firms should utilize the available features on these platforms to facilitate online sales transactions, build brand reputation and attract more customers. Policymakers should lessen the strict regulations in the insurance industry that act as barriers to efficient adoption of social media communication and marketing strategies in insurance firms. Further, this study may be relevant to the management of insurance firms by giving a better understanding on how social media can be used to improve some of the operations in these firms. The findings of this study may be helpful to the policymakers as they implement the different policies on digital marketing. Researchers and scholars will also benefit from this study since it adds to the body of knowledge on social media and insurance industry. The identified research gaps in this study will also provide guidance to the future researchers and scholars who may be interested to carry out studies related to the current topic. The study will also give a better understanding on how to use the social exchange theory on studies that surround the social behaviours or social interactions of people.

Modeling retweeting behavior as a game: comparison to empirical results

Crowdfunding is an online method of fundraising from a large audience. Digital Word of Mouth (DWOM) via social media has become a popular promotion platform for crowdfunding campaigns due to its negligible nominal cost. While one may expect that promoting these campaigns on social media may steadily increase donations, the exact dynamics of such promotions have not been studied for donation-based crowdfunding. We collect panel data on several unique donation campaigns from a major donation-based crowdfunding website (gofundme.com) and analyze them employing a variety of econometric techniques. We specifically provide empirical evidence that promoting crowdfunded charitable campaigns using social media follows three phases throughout a campaign's lifecycle. Our results indicate that the general pattern of behavior is the same for charitable campaigns as it is for reward-based campaigns. This suggests that the psychological motives outlined in the literature are important for both types of campaigns. Because the economic motives are not present, this finding would not be clearly anticipated. We show that the contributing role of social media in a campaign's success varies over time and that it is most helpful in the first ten days of initiating a campaign. We also provide preliminary evidence that promoting charitable campaigns on social media can lead to slacktivism, an unexpected consequence of using social media as a promotion tool resulting in less donations and more social media flurry. We also find that if a campaign does not reach at least 70 percent of its goal after twenty days since launch, it is not likely to be successful. Fundraisers and charitable marketers can use our findings in gauging the effectiveness of raising awareness about their campaigns in the online world. They could also streamline the timing of social media promotions to enhance their impact on collecting donations for charitable causes.

This study examined social media usage patterns among families in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, and their influence on family cohesion. With internet penetration growing significantly in Africa, social media has become a pervasive element in daily life, facilitating communication, content sharing, and networking. This research explored how various social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and others were integrated into family dynamics and their impact on family relationships. The study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, collecting quantitative data through structured questionnaires from 400 respondents aged 15-64 and qualitative data from interviews and focus group discussions with key informants. The analysis covered understanding of social media, sources of awareness, usage patterns, purposes of usage, and the impact of social media on family dynamics. Findings indicated that a significant majority (74.2%) of respondents had a complete understanding of social media, with media, personal experience, and school education being the primary sources of awareness. Social media usage was ubiquitous among family members, with platforms like Facebook (19.6%), WhatsApp (18.4%), and YouTube (16.6%) being the most popular. High frequency and duration of usage, particularly on WhatsApp and Facebook, highlighted their importance in maintaining daily interactions and family connections. The primary purposes for social media usage were entertainment (40.72%), socialization (39.90%), and information sharing (29.33%). The hypothesis tested was that there was no relationship between the usage of social media within the family set up by respondents and the patterns of social media adopted. Several statistical tests were conducted, including Chi-Square, Pearson Correlation, Spearman Correlation, and Independent Samples T-Tests. The Chi-Square Test showed a Pearson Chi-Square value of 48.783 with 48 degrees of freedom and a p-value of 0.441, indicating no significant association (p > 0.05). The Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.056 with a p-value of 0.213, the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.062 with a p-value of 0.198, and the Independent Samples T-Test showed a mean score of 3.56 (SD = 0.89) for families that used social media and 3.49 (SD = 0.92) for those that did not, with a t-value of 0.84 and a p-value of 0.402. These tests all indicated no significant relationship between family social media usage and social media usage patterns. These findings suggested that individual social media habits were influenced more by personal or external factors rather than family practices. The theoretical implications of this study demonstrated the applicability of the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) and Social Exchange Theory (SET) in understanding social media usage patterns among families in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. UGT explained the diverse motivations behind social media use, highlighting the pursuit of entertainment, socialization, and information. SET provided a framework for understanding how families balanced the benefits and costs associated with social media usage to enhance family cohesion. Together, these theories offered a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics of social media use within family contexts, emphasizing the need for strategies to maximize benefits and manage conflicts effectively. The study concluded that while social media played a significant role in family life, its usage patterns did not significantly influence family cohesion. Recommendations included enhancing digital literacy, promoting balanced usage, addressing conflicts, supporting positive engagement, and conducting further research to explore the nuanced factors influencing social media usage and family dynamics. These findings provided a comprehensive understanding of social media usage patterns among families in Uasin Gishu County and offered valuable insights for promoting healthy and balanced digital engagement within familial contexts.

Solace in Social Media: Women Unite Under COVID-19

Government Surveillance and Counter-Surveillance on Social and Mobile Media: The Case of Iran (2009)

PurposeEncouraging travelers to create value that benefits firms is of great relevance for companies that operate in online contexts. The purpose of this study is to investigate, focusing on online travel agencies, how monetary promotions (i.e. economic incentives) and non-monetary promotions (i.e. draws and contests) conducted through social media enhance customers’ voluntary behaviors (i.e. suggestions, word of mouth, and social media interactions) that go beyond brand choice, which may provide benefit to firms.Design/methodology/approachThe research model draws on the social exchange theory, equity theory and the concept of perceived support – how customers perceive that companies care about their well-being. The authors collect information from 491 users of online travel agencies in Spain and test their hypotheses using partial least squares. They also evaluate the existence of indirect effects.FindingsPromotions developed by companies make customers more likely to perform, voluntarily, the helping behaviors of suggestions, word of mouth and social media interactions, through the influence of perceived support.Research limitations/implicationsUse of a single survey to collect measures and restriction of the sample to Spanish-speaking travelers suggests caution in generalizing the results. Future research could investigate other company-initiated actions and other value-creating behaviors of travelers.Practical implicationsPromotions help develop perceived support for customers, which leads to voluntary, valuable traveler behaviors. Promotions may be also sufficient to trigger some customer behaviors, such as word-of-mouth.Originality/valueBased on the social exchange and equity theories, this paper investigates the influence of social media promotions on customers’ voluntary behaviors via perceived support.

This study investigated the effectiveness of social media in fostering employee engagement within the banking sector, focusing on ZANACO Bank in Zambia. Guided by Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Media Richness Theory (MRT). A convergent parallel mixed-methods approach was employed, involving a sample of 120 employees across various management levels and in-depth interviews with 20 staff members to capture qualitative insights while questionnaire were administered to 100 members of staff. Quantitative findings indicate that 61% of respondents (35% agree, 26% strongly agree) perceived ZANACO Bank’s social media content as effective in promoting engagement, while 27% (17% disagree, 10% strongly disagree) were less positive, and 12% remained neutral. Qualitative evidence revealed that social media enhanced employees’ sense of belonging, recognition, and information sharing, but its impact was limited by top-down communication, repetitive content, and insufficient interactivity. The study underscores the importance of dialogue-oriented, inclusive, and dynamic social media strategies, incorporating interactive features, diverse content formats, and consistent communication schedules, to strengthen participation, foster a shared organizational identity, and sustain engagement. These findings provide actionable insights for banking institutions seeking to leverage social media as a strategic tool for internal communication and workforce engagement.

This study examines the self-impact of online opinion leadership on pro-environmental behavior (PEB) within Chinese social media, highlighting the mediating roles of perceived benefits and costs. While traditional perspectives often emphasize the persuasive influence of opinion leaders on others, this research underscores how assuming an opinion leadership role can shape individuals’ own behaviors. Drawing on social exchange theory, we propose that opinion leaders weigh the trade-offs between costs (e.g. time and effort) and benefits (e.g. social recognition) when engaging in environmental actions. We further integrate cultural (Mianzi) and digital (social media use) factors as moderators. Specifically, Mianzi, an essential component of Chinese social identity, heightens the perceived benefits of environmental engagement, reinforcing the social value of sustainable behavior. Meanwhile, social media use amplifies both the direct and indirect effects of opinion leadership on environmental behaviors, shaping how opinion leaders perceive and respond to social feedback. This study thus offers insights into digital leadership, environmental advocacy, and strategic communication in Chinese social media, with implications for promoting environmental behaviors.

This study aims to understand the linkage between an artist's symbolic capital (reputation) and the legitimization of that artist's AI art. Based on Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital, to do so, we theoretically reviewed symbolic capital. Then, the qualitative study was conducted by considering contemporary artist Damien Hirst's AI art project “Beautiful Paintings” as a case. Secondary data such as Hirst's career records, research papers, articles, reports, websites, and the artist's social media were collected and analyzed. The results indicate that the symbolic capital of Hirst has accumulated in the art world and the art market influences the acceptance of his AI art in the market. Hirst, to transfer his symbolic capital to AI art, highlights his role in producing the AI art via social media and connects his established image with the debate surrounding AI art. Furthermore, Hirst intends to generate a visual similarity between his recognized artistic style (Spin Painting) in the art world and Beautiful Paintings, as well as emphasizing the 'randomness' inherent in both AI art and Spin Painting. By doing so, the success of AI Art, supported by the symbolic capital of the renowned artist, implies that the hierarchical structure built within the art world for the legitimization of artworks is partially maintained even in art applying new technologies.

This study explores how gendered divisions of labor and power relations are shaping parentchild dynamics within contemporary Chinese nuclear families. Drawing on classic sociological theories of family and gender, we examine the traditional roles of mothers as caregivers and fathers as providers, while also considering the profound changes brought about by Chinas rapid modernization and the rise of the digital era. Through a two-part research approach, a qualitative content analysis of family parenting videos on social media and in-depth interviews with female adolescents, we sought to understand how these dynamics are performed and perceived from both a public and a private perspective. The findings show that deeply uneven gendered roles persist, with mothers carrying the vast majority of invisible emotional and educational labor, while fathers smaller contributions often gain outsized public recognition and "symbolic capital" on social media. Furthermore, the research reveals that children are not passive observers but active participants in the family triangle, often taking on the role of "referee" to manage parental tensions. By linking classic theories with the realities of modern Chinese families, this study offers unique insights into the changing nature of parenting, power, and intimacy in the digital age.