Social Networking Technologies Research Articles

The effect of competitive strategies on company performance with supply chain management as moderating variables in Indonesian manufacturing corporations

Dry Port, a supply chain company, strives to bring its workers up to speed in the current VUCA world. The study explores the degree to which ambidexterity affects agility, which can impact organizational effectiveness. The structural equation model with multilevel simulation used to test the research hypothesis. The study indicates that ambidexterity is an influential factor to agility, and that ambidexterity is also an impactful factor to agility and organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, there is also evidence that the power of agility contributes to greater organizational effectiveness, and also that ambidexterity has an impact on organizational effectiveness through workforce agility. To achieve organizational effectiveness in dry port business, mobile devices and social network technology are functional enablers of ambidextrous activities that can allow staff to be agile in handling dry port business tasks.

Accountants' engagement with social networking technologies in the UAE: A communicative ecology perspective

Accountants' engagement with social networking technologies in the UAE: A communicative ecology perspective

Ambidexterity and agility in achieving dry port effectiveness in the greater Jakarta

Dry Port, a supply chain company, strives to bring its workers up to speed in the current VUCA world. The study explores the degree to which ambidexterity affects agility, which can impact organizational effectiveness. The structural equation model with multilevel simulation used to test the research hypothesis. The study indicates that ambidexterity is an influential factor to agility, and that ambidexterity is also an impactful factor to agility and organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, there is also evidence that the power of agility contributes to greater organizational effectiveness, and also that ambidexterity has an impact on organizational effectiveness through workforce agility. To achieve organizational effectiveness in dry port business, mobile devices and social network technology are functional enablers of ambidextrous activities that can allow staff to be agile in handling dry port business tasks.

Shopping on social networks: is this the storefront of the future

Consumers are moving towards social networking technologies as an alternative channel for shopping. This research extended the technology acceptance model (TAM) to investigate the factors that predict Facebook users' behavioural intentions towards the adoption of Facebook shopping, as well as the moderating role of trust. A convenience sample of 384 South African Facebook users completed the online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness were the most important predictors of shopping on Facebook, while privacy risk and social norms did not significantly influence intent to shop. Although the moderating role of trust could not be confirmed it seems as if consumers are more positive about shopping on Facebook than general online shopping. The implications offered will assist in the formulation of effective marketing strategies to drive the up-take of shopping on Facebook.

Consumption of Social Media and Academic Performance: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Perception of Students in KP universities

In the world changing into a digital global village, social networking technology has played a vital role compare to other internet tools. This study conducted through a cross-sectional survey on the students' perceptions about their use of social networking sites and their influence on their academic performance. The researcher gathered data from the students of Gomal and Quratba University in D.I.Khan and used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (Pearson's correlation coefficient test) to analyze the data and infer findings and draw a conclusion. The study found that computer-mediated communication through social media sites, the GPA of male students is more affected than those of female students and H1 of the study accepted. And it is also found that H2 of the study that social media use in 2nd semester and their GPA of age group 20 and less than 25, that there is a significant relationship between the GPA and 2nd-semester use of SNS as indicated. This Null Hypothesis of the study was rejected.

Loneliness, Malnutrition and Change in Subjective Age among Older Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: We examined the effect of loneliness and the role of two mediating factors, depressive symptoms and malnutrition on subjective age among older adults during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and explored how the pandemic is affecting subjective age. Design: A convenience sample of 201 older adults aged 65 and over was interviewed. Using bootstrapping, we tested the strength and significance of the indirect effect of depressive symptoms and malnutrition (mediators) on the relationship between feelings of loneliness and subjective age. Results: The relationship between feelings of loneliness and subjective age during the COVID-19 pandemic was mediated by malnutrition, but not by depressive symptoms. In addition, the participants felt older during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the preceding period. Conclusions: An association was found among feelings of loneliness, malnutrition, and subjective age. To overcome these feelings in times of crisis like the pandemic, it is essential to develop new communication methods (technologies for managing and addressing the needs of the older population; technologies to encourage social engagement, and technologies for managing and providing remote medical services) for and with older adults that are effective in reducing loneliness, and to promote good nutrition. Possible practical solutions include new social network technologies for reducing loneliness combined with continued reliance on phone communication as an intervention of psychological support to promote a healthy lifestyle and prevent malnutrition.

Towards a Taxonomy for Design Options of Social Networking Technologies in Sustainable Business Models

Social networking technologies such as social media, crowd concepts, or gamification represent key resources for the integration of customers, value network partners, and the community into sustainable business models. However, there is a lack of understanding of how sustainable enterprises apply such technologies. To close this gap, we propose a taxonomy of design options for social networking technologies in sustainable business models. Our taxonomy comprises eight dimensions that deal with relevant questions of the design of social networking technologies. When creating our taxonomy, we built on existing literature and use cases and involved experienced practitioners in the field of sustainable business models for the validation of our taxonomy. In this way, our study contributes to knowledge on the use of social networking technologies in sustainable business models and how such technologies influence the boundaries of sustainable business models. Likewise, we provide practical insights into the use of social networking technologies in sustainable business models.

More than the pandemic

More than the pandemic

Popularization of commercial Internet resources with use of social media

A methodological basis for building a decision support system for the promotion of commercial online resources using social media technologies was developed by the authors in the article. An analysis of the features of search engine promotion using social networking technologies and services has been carried out, which revealed that, currently, the implementation of the latter requires the use of new approaches to promotion. An analysis of SMOs and SMMs promoted models was carried out, which allowed us to identify the main factors that are used to promote commercial online resources. In accordance with SMM the brand community metric (defined by both community engagement and content relevance timelines to increase relevance); blogosphere metric (a collection of blogs that cover information about a commercial online resource); indicator of reputation management of the company (brand); personal branding metric (the aggregate of information generated by the company and stakeholders) are defined and mathematically described among them. The SMO model involves working with the internal structure and elements of the interface and incorporates the following principles: creating accessible and readable content; adding relevant information to the needs of the target audience; usability (usability); adding multimedia elements (widgets). The work resulted in the development of an algorithm for promoting commercial Internet resources that uses passive and active promotion strategies. The passive strategy includes the following steps: concept building and competitor analysis, filling the group with relevant information, conducting personal branding, promoting thematic media, attracting a target audience, estimating the number of conversions to a commercial resource. An active strategy is used to increase the number of visitors and consists of creating their own information sites, promoting multimedia elements and collaborating with related resources.

Ethnic Differences in Loneliness, Depression, and Malnutrition Among Older Adults During COVID-19 Quarantine.

BackgroundDepression in older adults may result from a variety of reasons such as loneliness feelings and malnutrition.ObjectiveTo examine the direct and indirect effect of loneliness feelings on depressive symptoms, mediated by malnutrition, among older adults from different cultures during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic quarantine.MethodA convenience sample of 101 Arabs and 100 Jewish older adults aged 65 and over was interviewed. Using bootstrapping, we tested the strength and significance of the conditional indirect effect of malnutrition (mediator) on the relationship between loneliness feelings and depressive symptoms.ResultsThe relationship between loneliness feelings and depressive symptoms was mediated by malnutrition and Arab older adults reported a higher level than Jewish older adults of loneliness, depression, and malnutrition during the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine.Conclusions and implicationsTo reduce loneliness feelings, depressive symptoms, and malnutrition in times of crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential to develop new communication methods for and with older adults in general, with particular attention paid to ethnic differences, that will be effective in reducing loneliness and in promoting nutrition intervention. Possible solutions include new social network technologies for reducing loneliness, with continued reliance on phone communication for combined intervention that includes psychological support accompanied by instructions for a healthy lifestyle and malnutrition prevention.

Students, social network technology and learning in higher education: Visions of collaborative knowledge construction vs. the reality of knowledge sharing

Despite visions of social network technology (SNT) for collaborative knowledge construction, recent research in secondary schools suggest that students use these tools mainly for knowledge sharing of study-related artifacts. We extend these findings to higher education settings and report on two survey studies that map characteristics of students' self-directed use of SNTs for study purposes, in undergraduate university programs (N = 264) and teacher training colleges (N = 449). The combined findings confirm that students use SNTs extensively for uploading, linking and downloading study-related artifacts in peer-directed SNT groups. They regard these practices positively and believe they improve academic achievements. Sharing was predicted by positive attitudes toward sharing and collectivist value orientations, motivated overall by prosocial reasons and less frequent in competitive study programs. Use of shared materials was associated with performance-avoidance achievement goals and lower GPA. Findings, directions for future research and implications are discussed in the context of learning theories, as well the knowledge sharing literature.

Understanding the Homepreneurship Opportunities Afforded by Social Networking and Personal Fabrication Technologies

The decreased cost and increased usability of personal fabrication technologies has enabled a new generation of crafters to integrate digital designs and computationally created artifacts into physically-based practices. With the simultaneous ubiquity of e-commerce and social networking channels, these technologies have enabled many crafters to transform their hobbies into home-based businesses. To understand the opportunities and challenges that fusing social networking platforms, personal fabrication equipment, and e-commerce have afforded these homepreneurs, an online survey and follow-up interviews were conducted with crafters who use hobbyist cutting plotters to personalize and sell goods online. The findings uncovered an emerging group of homepreneurs, i.e., mompreneurs, who use these technologies for supplemental income for their families and highlighted the emotional and opportunistic benefits that such personalized, at-home manufacturing affords. They also highlighted the workflows and lifestyle implications of using these technologies to run home-based businesses, the multi-faceted usage and dependence these homepreneurs have on online social platforms such as Facebook, the complex software toolchains that are used, and the commonplace practice of appropriating designs from others that occurs in this community.

Comparison of Research on Social Media in China and Foreign Countries Based on Bibliometric Analysis

This paper aims to compare the similarities and differences of Chinese and foreign research on social media. Cluster analysis, co-word analysis and social network analysis have been used to compare the research trends, content relevance and network structure of research on social media. (1) Similarities: Social media is a hot topic for scholars both in China and foreign countries; the development of social network technology leads to many new areas; social media research tends to study privacy, commerciality and service; hotspots of social media research in China and foreign countries both include social media, platform and social network. (2) Difference: Chinese research mainly focuses on big data, Wechat and Weibo, while foreign research mainly focuses on Facebook, Twitter and other kinds of social network media; Chinese research is clustered while foreign research is extensive; Chinese research pays more attention on macroscopic perspectives, such as media convergence, big data and libraries; foreign research tends to microcosmic perspectives, such as emotional analysis, crisis information dissemination, social media marketing.

Enhancing hospitality business performance: The role of entrepreneurial orientation and networking ties in a dynamic environment.

Utilizing a sample of 192 hospitality firms, this study investigates the moderating role of a dynamic environment, coupled with business and social networking ties and technology resources, on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance in hospitality firms. This research is novel in that we adopt business network ties and social network ties as two moderating variables along with technology resources between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance, providing evidence on a topic which has received little attention to date. The results posit that in an uncertain, dynamic environment a higher level of risk and entrepreneurial orientation benefit business performance especially when coupled with strong business and social networks.

Social network technology (SNT) as a tool and a social actor: from self-verification to SNT use

PurposeRather than viewing social network technology (SNT) as a mere tool to access a networked audience, we emphasize its role as both a means and a social actor to help verify people’s self-images in an online social context.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon self-verification theory, this study investigates a mechanism of how users are willing to use SNTs continuously through the cognitive and affective reactions on two different SNTs. Structural equation modeling was used via data collected from 320 Facebook and 313 Twitter users.FindingsOur results demonstrated that Facebook users regard it only as a useful tool for presenting self-images, while Twitter users are likely to feel an emotional attachment to technology as a social actor when ideal self-verification is gained, and that different types of SNTs create differential contexts for self-verification.Research limitations/implicationsThis study suggests a new lens to understand SNT’s role as a social actor in the self-verification process, further identifying the SNT context in which SNT takes different roles.Practical implicationsIn a certain SNT usage context, users are attached to SNTs, suggesting SNT providers consider features that enable SNT users to fulfill their own self-verification motives.Originality/valueThis study explores the roles of SNTs from a self-verification perspective. Our conceptualization of technology as a self-verifying social actor can further extend existing discussions on the role of SNT in response to self-verifying needs, while also promoting the continued use of SNTs in the future.

The four dimensions of social network analysis: An overview of research methods, applications, and software tools

Social network based applications have experienced exponential growth in recent years. One of the reasons for this rise is that this application domain offers a particularly fertile place to test and develop the most advanced computational techniques to extract valuable information from the Web. The main contribution of this work is three-fold: (1) we provide an up-to-date literature review of the state of the art on social network analysis (SNA); (2) we propose a set of new metrics based on four essential features (or dimensions) in SNA; (3) finally, we provide a quantitative analysis of a set of popular SNA tools and frameworks. We have also performed a scientometric study to detect the most active research areas and application domains in this area. This work proposes the definition of four different dimensions, namely Pattern & Knowledge discovery, Information Fusion & Integration, Scalability, and Visualization, which are used to define a set of new metrics (termed degrees) in order to evaluate the different software tools and frameworks of SNA (a set of 20 SNA-software tools are analyzed and ranked following previous metrics). These dimensions, together with the defined degrees, allow evaluating and measure the maturity of social network technologies, looking for both a quantitative assessment of them, as to shed light to the challenges and future trends in this active area.

Role of Social Media in Shaping Local Youth Tourists' Behaviour Across the Sri Lankan Tourism Industry

The integration of social networking and new technologies has changed the way of communication and information sharing among the people, especially of young people is a fact. As well as, the development of Social Media (SM) has conveyed important changes in the behavioural pattern of tourists. Therefore, it is very essential to understand this new influential trending among the youth tourists, in order to accelerate the tourists’ arrival and contribute to the development of Sri Lanka tourism. Therefore, this research aims at providing an insight to the Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka with regards to how social media platforms influence youth tourists’ behavior. A sample of 103 youth tourists’ response attained through online. The data obtained from the online survey were analyzed with descriptive, reliability test, mean and regression analysis.
 Results from the survey have identified that Social Media does influence in the youth tourists’ behaviour. In detail, eWOM and Online reviews/comments significantly influence in the behavior of youth tourists. And also the study confirmed that in order to attract tourists to a destination mainly revolves in the ability to convey the information to create positive images in the mind of youth tourists via social media. Thereby this study has recommended many suggestions for the Tourism and authorities. Including tourist authority should make its social media pages more interesting, appealing, informative and interactive so the customers can enjoy their social media experiences and they could spread eWOM and online reviews. And also they need to focus on how to create a positive and satisfactory image to their social media users in many other ways.

Enhancing Mole Trust Algorithm Based Analysis User Profile

Social networking is exploited for Internet-based marketers’ purposes in which, advertising companies are seeking to engage customers for their products.The research presented to improve the work of trust-based algorithms by analysing the user’s behaviour of the check and this analysis was done by taking a set of features and parameters that can be granted knowledge of this behaviour if it is doubtful or normal. Parameters are (fairness, similarity and number of previews per products) generated for each user to get user weight score. User weight score is using to enhancing the weight of mole trust algorithm. Mole Trust algorithm used to build social trust network between users based on the rating given by the users on the products. whilst the proposed model used user weight score to enhancing the algorithm, therefore, it gives markable and effective result comparing with traditional models.The results were very satisfactory compared to previous work to classify users and build networks using traditional social network technologies. Furthermore, proposed model performance has provided better accuracy (72%) than traditional mole algorithm (35%).

MedShr: improving patient care through clinical case discussion.

Case discussion is an essential part of clinical practice and medical education, and as part of patient care takes place both informally between medical staff and formally in case conferences and other meetings. Case presentations are often the most popular sessions at medical congresses and increasingly have moved to digital channels and social media. MedShr was developed to help doctors improve patient care: to empower doctors to use their own smartphones to share and discuss clinical cases, whilst protecting patient privacy and confidentiality. In this manuscript, we review the current climate of digital and social media networks used for clinical case discussion, and outline the importance of moving to a dedicated digital platform. We discuss the common drivers for digital case discussions which include multidisciplinary team groups, diagnostic doubt, new techniques, clinical equipoise and debate and case discussion amongst professionals from different training levels and specialties. One key observation is that if clinical guidelines and published evidence tell doctors what to do, case discussion shows them how to do it in terms of drugs, devices, procedures, techniques, and applying the evidence to individuals or patient groups. We explore how MedShr works and the range of features which promote professional compliance, protect privacy and enable case-based education. We also discuss example cases, case series and discussion themes from MedShr. In summary, the MedShr platform provides a trusted, secure environment for clinicians that uses state of the art social network technology to support case discussion whilst protecting patient privacy and confidentiality.

Effect of Social Networking Technology Addiction on Academic Performance of University Students in Nigeria

The benefits of social media networking platforms on students’ academic performance in contemporary times cannot be, overemphasized. These social networking platforms crafts out opportunities for information sharing andalso danger for students in diverse fields. The danger of social networking addiction on students’ academic performance, health, and social well-being triggered this study.400 students enrolled in this cross-sectional study, through stratified random sampling technique. Using the online survey of Google Form for data collection. The Ordinary Least Square and Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to quantify and examine the impact. Findingsrevealed that social networking impact significantly on students’ academic performance, and was more prevalent among undergraduate students (P = 0.000). Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed a significant relationship between social networking addiction, academic performance, health and social well-being of students (p=0.001). The misapplication of social media can become addictive among users and students.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is proposed to diminish the negative effect of social network addiction on students and other co-users.