China is the world’s largest social network market in the world. The importance of tapping this massive market with rapid growth rate can’t be overstated. It has been widely acknowledged that culture is a significant variable in consumer attitudes and consumer behavior. Given that culture may influence individual’s interaction and consumption through social media, it is imperative to examine cultures’ influence in social media usage where much of the information is usually user generated. Traditionally, demographics like age, gender, education etc., are also considered as the key socioeconomic factors determining consumers’ media selection and buying decisions. To fill the research gap, this study is designed 1) to investigate the relationship between cultural dimensions and social media usages in China by introducing mediating factors of attitudes toward social media; 2) to investigate the role of individual characteristics (e.g., gender and living location) play on social networks usage in China. Pretest among small groups was first conducted for the purpose of scale validity evaluation. Later, a translation and back-translation method was employed to achieve the translation equivalence. A random stratified sample was obtained from an online panel in China in January 2018. A computer-assisted web interviews was conducted with adults age above 18. Total 600 usable samples were obtained in China in January 2018. The findings of this study evidenced the important role culture plays in defining the social context within which individuals behave. The result showed a strong positive relationship between power distance and negative attitude toward social media. This study also found a negative relationship between masculinity and using social media for direct purchase. The finding supports the fact that social networking, which has a strong focus on relationship building, is a relatively feminine value. Thus, the members of social networking, which espouses feminine values, demonstrate a more social orientation and expectation of shared values. Marketers need to ensure that they make their social media outlets user friendly and their spaces encourage communication and connectedness for their users.

In recent years, compulsive social media use has become an increasingly serious issue in the society. On the one hand, such compulsive behavior could even be viewed as a psychiatric disorder, as it may cause negative psychosocial and professional consequences (Aladwani and Almarzouqand, 2016). On the other hand, excessive involvement in social media may have a positive side—customer engagement which refers to “a customer’s behavioral manifestations that have a brand or firm focus, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers” (van Doorn et al., 2010, p. 254). Of particular interest, a behavioral dimension of engagement consists of vigor or “a customer’s level of energy and mental resilience in interacting with a focal engagement object”, and interaction or “the two-way communications between a focal engagement subject and object. The latter two dimensions” (Brodie et al., 2011, p. 257). In a computer-mediated context, this behavioral dimension of customer engagement implies continuous and repeated contact via social media. However, to our knowledge, little research has addressed the relationship between compulsive social media use and customer engagement. Against this background, this study first tests an explanatory model focusing on customer engagement, compulsive social media usage, and compulsive buying. Then, the study examines the moderating role of narcissism and vanity on the model. The data is collected from an online survey with general consumer sample in the UK. On this basis, we validate the model via structural equation model. In closing, we offer a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications.

This study tries to focus on the psychological influence by social media on user and tries to find a relationship between psychological influence and consumption patterns. Therefore, we contend that social media are platforms of interaction in that they can generate social empowerment—users feeling that they have an impact on others which gives them high self-worth (Sara Hanson, 2017) and temporarily rise self-worth can lead low self-control. Khan and Dhar (2006) find that a prior virtuous act can momentarily increase one’s self-concept, which leads to more self-indulgence in unrelated decisions. In this paper, we also investigated the two types of social media users by their presentation focus (self vs. other). In social media, there are two types of users: player & watcher. Players are users who have many followers, post lots of information about themselves and need love and attention from other users. Thus, a player which is called self-presentation focus (Wilcox, 2013) is defined as a user who focuses on information they are presenting to people in social media. In contrast, watchers are users who don’t post information on social media as actively as players but love to observe and like or dislike other users’ posts. Thus, a watcher which is called other-presentation focus (Wilcox, 2013) is defined as a user who focuses on information people present to them in social media and this is called other-presentation focus. In general, players could feel more social empowerment because posting information can be one of the activities involving interacting with other users. However, we contend that watchers will feel rather more social empowerment because having an impact, or having the feeling of social empowerment, involves the perception that one’s actions are beneficial to others, which is giving a like or comment to other user in social media (Grant and Campbell 2007). This research will have several theoretical and managerial implications. First, this study will show the influence of social media on users’ behavior and mentality, and which are related to self-control and social-empowerment. Second, this study will discover which type of social media user can be affected effectively by firms’ social media efforts.

In an increasingly digital and interactive global marketing landscape, social media marketing is emerging as one of the most important strategic tools for brand communication. This is especially true in the luxury fashion context, which traditionally exploited virtual environments as an effective communicational tool of brand-related content and product usage information all over the world. A contemporary consumer cohort that exhibits digital- and virtual-oriented behaviors are Millennials, which represent the digital native generation highly inclined to Internet interaction and, thus, a relevant strategic opportunity for social media marketers in the luxury industry. While the literature reports a positive relationship between Millennials’ social media usage and purchase intention towards luxury brand, scant attention has been paid to the underlying mechanisms explaining such a relationship. To fill this gap, the current research proposes and tests a conceptual model to provide three main contributions to the social media and brand communication literature: first, consumers’ perceptions of interactivity – a multidimensional construct comprised of real-time conversation, no delay/timing, and engaging/navigation – is hypothesized as an antecedent of social media usage. In this way, relevant theoretical and practical implications are provided to online luxury marketers interested in embracing virtual environments for brand communication. Next, two significant constructs of consumer behavior such as materialism – comprised of success, hedonism, and happiness – and morality – comprised of moral judgment and moral intensity – are hypothesized as mediating variables of the relationship between social media usage and purchase intention towards luxury brands. Particularly, these materialistic and ethical decision making processes emerge as relevant for Millennials’ online purchasing activities, with the expectation of transparent and effective brand-related information through social media. Finally, these mediating influences are hypothesized to be moderated by two other relevant constructs in the brand communication process—consumers’ motivation to use social media and advertising skepticism. In fact, a better assessment of Millennials’ motivation and skepticism toward social media marketing communication result as crucial for modern strategic marketers. Such hypotheses are tested using bootstrapped moderated mediation analysis on a sample of 297 Millennials actively following luxury brand social media activities. Our results confirm the proposed hypotheses, particularly both materialism and idealism partially mediate the relationship between social media usage and purchase intention. Moreover, motivation to use social media improves the effect of social media usage on materialism, whereas advertising skepticism reduces the effect of idealism on purchase intention. These findings contribute to the social media and brand communication literature, providing interesting avenues for future research.

The purpose of this research was to identify how students used social media during their experience with study abroad programs that focus on social and environmental sustainability. Key research questions included: Did students and program faculty directors perceive social media as beneficial or challenging to program goal? How did social media contribute to the overall learning process? How can this knowledge inform the design and implementation of future study abroad experiences? Surveys were conducted with students participating in three study abroad programs in three countries with varying levels of internet access. We found that most students used social media as a familiar support system to help acclimate to a foreign land, through the formation of cohesive peer groups and establishment of communication channels with family and friends. However, both students and program directors acknowledged the challenges of social media dependency. We conclude that judicious use of social media, when coupled with conscious immersion into the local environment and culture can enhance study abroad programs; and offer suggestions for future program planning.

The paper aims to investigate the relationship between firm size and organizational actions on adopting social media for corporate reputation management. The sample group of 198 companies is selected with a simple random sample method from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listings: Sixty nine companies were from the Fortune 500 listings, seventy one companies from the NYSE midsize capitalization and fifty eight companies from the NYSE small capitalization listings. This study employs cross tabulations and Chi-square analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis that enables the comparison of three samples that are independent. The results of the study show that (1) large firms have more social media ownership than small firms, (2) large firms respond to social media posts at a greater frequency and quickly than small firms, and (3) firm size is less likely associated with response styles to social media for online reputation management. The results show that reply time and response styles of organizations to social media customers in the 2015 survey has no significant change compared to that of 2011. There appears to be a pervasive lack strategic framework as most firms in the study were found not to be adequately monitoring or leveraging social media communication for their reputation management.

Purpose - This study aimed to identify the sub-dimensions of fashion social media quality (information quality, social quality, service quality, system quality) and investigate how they affect purchase intention through fashion information use behavior (information acceptance, information diffusion). Research design, data, and methodology – Data collection was carried out twice for systematic verification of the research model. In the first data collection, the reliability and validity of research variables were verified through 238 respondents and questionnaires were revised and supplemented based on their responses. In March 2018, the final survey was conducted from 755 respondents the age of 20 to 49. Using SPSS 23.0, descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis were performed. In order to test hypotheses, structural equational modeling technique was employed using AMOS 23.0. Results - First of all, fashion Social media quality consists of four factors including information quality, social quality , service quality and system quality. Second, fashion Social media information quality, social quality , and system quality were shown to have a positive(+) effect on information acceptance behavior, and social quality , service quality and system quality were shown to have a positive(+) effect on information diffusion behavior. It was also determined that the acceptance and diffusion behaviors of fashion information through fashion Social media had positive(+) influence on purchase intention. Conclusions - This study holds academic significance in its identification of the components of fashion Social media quality and for conducting an empirical analysis on the causal relationship between fashion information acceptance and diffusion behaviors, and purchase intention. The results of this study indicate that fashion involvement is the key factors in determining the quality of Social media, the acceptance of information through Social media, and, by extension, the purchase of fashion products. Practitioners in the fashion industry may use the findings of this study in order to build more effective Social media strategy.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among narcissism, usage motives, usage behaviors, satisfaction with and continuance intention to use fashion social media. Research design, data, methodology – A questionnaire survey was used to collect data after conducting a pilot test. Based on the reliability test of the preliminary questionnaire used for the pilot test, the questionnaire was revised. The final questionnaires were administered to 238 fashion social media users and 216 were used for the data analysis. To assess the validity of these measures, exploratory factor analysis and the confirmatory factor analysis were performed. Structural equation modeling analysis were employed for data analysis. Results - Five factors of the usage motivation of fashion social media were extracted: information-seeking, relationshipseeking, practicality-seeking, enjoyment-seeking and self-expression motives. The statistical analysis confirmed the influence of the narcissism tendency on all of the usage motives of fashion social media, three of the fashion social media usage motives influencing information diffusion behavior, and the influence of the information diffusion behavior on users' satisfaction and continuance intention to use fashion social media. Narcissism exerted the highest influences on self-expression motive followed by information-seeking, enjoyment-seeking, relationship-seeking and practicality-seeking motives in order. Factors affecting fashion information diffusion behaviors are practicality-seeking motive, self-expression motive, and relationship-seeking motive. The greater the diffusion of information, the higher the satisfaction with using fashion social media. The consumers with higher satisfaction intended to use fashion social media and share information more frequently. Conclusions - The results indicate that narcissism is an important factor in fashion social media usage motivation. The main motives for narcissistic people to spread information is for the practical purpose at the most, and then to express their personality and style, and to build relationship with others. The satisfaction through active information sharing behaviors seems to play a key role to lead high continuance intention of fashion social media. These implies that marketing strategies to satisfy consumers’ narcissism and motives to use social media, and to stimulate the information diffusion behaviors can be used to meet their needs for higher satisfaction with fashion social media.