Professional Documents
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1 s2.0 S026840121400098X Main
1 s2.0 S026840121400098X Main
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: In just one decade, social media have revolutionized the life of many people and thus attracted much
Available online 19 October 2014 attention, not only from industry, but also academia. To understand how researchers have adopted the-
ories, used research constructs, and developed conceptual frameworks in their studies, a systematic and
Keywords: structured literature review based on five leading online academic databases was conducted. A total of 46
Social media articles on social media research were consolidated and analyzed, including empirical studies spanning
Literature review
from 2002 to 2011. A collection of theories/models and constructs/attributes adopted in these articles is
Research constructs
summarized and tabulated for easy reference and comprehension of extant research results. A causal-
Causal-chain framework
chain framework was developed based on the input-moderator–mediator-output model to illustrate the
causality between the research constructs used and the conceptualization of theoretical models/theories
proposed by previous researchers. Because social media cover a wide range of research topics, the lit-
erature review may not be exhaustive. However, the proposed causal-chain framework and suggested
research directions may be regarded as representative references for future research in the subject area.
This is believed to be the first comprehensive literature review of social media research, and it contributes
to a better understanding of the causes and effects of the adoption and usage of social media.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction revenue (Tang, Gu, & Whinston, 2012). Social media drive a new set
of models for various kinds of businesses that challenge traditional
The advent of social media has substantially changed the man- business processes and operations (Hanna, Rohm, & Crittenden,
ner in which many people, communities, and/or organizations 2011). The salient difference is that one-to-one mass customization
communicate and interact. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p. 61) has become the business transaction norm, replacing the one-to-
defined social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that many marketing promotion model (Peters, 1998). Moreover, in this
build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, Internet/computer era, online customer reviews have become an
and allow the creation and exchange of user generated content”. important yardstick by which marketers formulate their marketing
Using these applications, people can create, share, and exchange strategies.
information in a virtual community. The dramatic development of Social media can also serve as tools facilitating intra- and
social media has helped shape people’s connections with others inter-organizational activities among peers, customers, business
via different social media platforms (Colliander & Dahlén, 2011). partners, and organizations; such as collaborative product devel-
Today, the benefits of participating in social media not only involve opment (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Porter & Donthu, 2008), creation
simple social communication, but also building reputations and of knowledge sharing communities (Fernando, 2010; Kasavana,
bringing in career opportunities, and/or generating direct monetary Nusair, & Teodosic, 2010; Yates & Paquette, 2011), implementation
of corporate dialog at financial institutions (Bonsón & Flores, 2011),
marketing strategies for brand management (Jin, 2012; Laroche,
Habibi, & Richard, 2013), and collaborative learning and creativ-
∗ Corresponding author at: 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of ity (Peppler & Solomou, 2011). Individuals and/or organizations
Korea. Tel.: +852 2766 7296; fax: +852 2765 0611. therefore must be well prepared to embrace the challenges and
E-mail addresses: mswtngai@inet.polyu.edu.hk (E.W.T. Ngai),
opportunities brought about by social media. Notwithstanding, the
trstao@yahoo.com.hk (S.S.C. Tao), tcmoonkl@gmail.com, tcmoonkl@snu.ac.kr
(K.K.L. Moon). phenomenon of social media remains new to academia. In terms of
1
Tel.: +86 852 2766 7296; fax: +86 852 2765 0611. using the terminology of social media explicitly, papers on social
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.09.004
0268-4012/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
34 E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44
media have, for the most part, only been published in the last few 3.1. Theories and models
years. Based on the proliferation of social media uses and applica-
tions, we anticipate that more studies will be conducted and further A large number of theories and models are used in the extant
results will be available in the coming years. social media research to study the socio-psychological behavior of
This present study aims to review social media research in social media users and other stakeholders, such as marketing peo-
the extant literature and collect data from work conducted thus ple and customers. Table 1 presents the theories and models used
far to create a framework to understand the causal relationships in the 46 reviewed articles, from which three groups of theories
among different research constructs adopted. The value of this (i.e., personal behavior, social behavior, and mass communication)
study lies in its systematic review of the articles in this subject are identified and discussed below.
area, reporting the dimensions and variables studied by previ-
ous researchers as well as their proposed conceptual models
3.1.1. Personal behavior theories
and frameworks. Based on these findings, a causal-chain frame-
The first group of adopted theories and models in social media
work was developed to illustrate the inter-relationships among
research aims to explain the behavior of human beings at the per-
the adopted research constructs. This framework is expected to
sonal/individual level. Table 1 shows that a total of 15 theories
provide a reference for researchers, to serve as a research roadmap,
included in this group. Some of the most essential theories/models
and to stimulate new ideas in future research in this subject
are selected and discussed here.
area.
Personality Traits are often taken to be one of the fundamental
The paper is organized as follows: the next section briefly
theories explaining the characteristics affecting users’ subsequent
describes the method in conducting the search process. The
behavior. Digman (1990) summarized the Five Factor Model of
third section provides an exhaustive review of the identified aca-
Personality Traits as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
demic articles and a detailed discussion of the development of
agreeableness, and neuroticism, which individually or collectively
a causal-chain framework. The fourth section further discusses
expand the behavioral intentions of social media users in the extant
the implications from the findings and suggests four potential
literature. Examples include the works of Correa, Hinsley, and de
research areas. The final section is devoted to the conclusion
Zúñiga (2010); Labrecque, Markos, and Milne (2010); Lu and Hsiao
and a discussion of the contributions and limitations of this
(2010); and Zhong, Hardin, and Sun (2011).
study.
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was developed by Davis
(1989) and has been used to study perceived ease of use and
perceived usefulness of new technologies in relation to people’s
2. Research methodology
attitude toward adoption. TAM has been widely utilized in social
media research to investigate similar scenarios with respect to dif-
A search for empirical studies in the extant literature was con-
ferent social media technologies; examples include the studies by
ducted to investigate the work of previous researchers on social
Casaló, Flavián, and Guinalíu (2010); Casaló, Carlos, and Guinalíu
media and to develop a causal-chain framework to illustrate the
(2011); Hossain and de Silva (2009); Hsu and Lin (2008); Kwon and
interrelationships of the research constructs adopted. Five dom-
Wen (2010); and Steyn, Salehi-Sangari, Pitt, Parent, and Berthon
inant business/management academic databases were adopted,
(2010).
including ABI/Inform, Business Source Premier, Emerald Manage-
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is a theory developed by Ajzen
ment eJournals, Science Direct, and ISI Web of Knowledge. These
and Fishbein (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Ajzen, 1985), which predicted
databases cover most of all social science and top management lit-
people’s volitional behavior based upon a summation of the rela-
erature. Since there are few papers which explicitly used the term
tive weights of their attitudes and subjective norms. This theory,
“social media”, other keywords with similar meanings related to
which resembles the situation where people voluntarily partici-
social media, such as “virtual communities”, “online communities”,
pate and engage in social media activities, is well cited in social
“blogs”, “Web 2.0”, “social networking sites”, and “social comput-
media research. Hsu and Lin (2008) provide a typical case.
ing”, were also applied in the search process. The scope of this study
Theory of Planned behavior (TPB) is an extension of TRA, which
is limited to the timeframe of 2002–2011, as this was the major
was subsequently developed by Ajzen (1985). TPB suggests that
growth period of the social media market.
perceived behavior control is employed to moderate the effects
The search for relevant papers in this process was by no means
of attitudes and subjective norms on behavior. In social media
exhaustive, but the findings nevertheless serve as a representa-
research, Casaló et al. (2010) and Chang and Zhu (2011) used this
tive summary of the research conducted thus far. Forty-six papers
theory to predict users’ behavior from intention to action.
were selected for in-depth analysis. Only refereed journal arti-
cles were included in our study; conference papers, doctorate
and master theses, textbooks, and documentaries were excluded, 3.1.2. Social behavior theories
as we believe refereed journal articles represent state-of-the-art The second group of theories relates to social behavior. Table 1
research outputs (Chan & Ngai, 2011; Ngai & Wat, 2002). In addition, shows that previous studies adopted 13 theories to explain individ-
this study focused on papers presenting empirical studies, therein uals’ behavior toward social media in a social context. We selected
the adopted variables and proposed models were reviewed and several of the most significant theories in this group and briefly
included in our causal-chain framework. discussed them below.
The Social Aspects Theory is a collective term comprising all social
factors; such as social influence (Kelman, 1958), which includes
3. Analysis and results social identity; and social capital (Chang & Chuang, 2011; Portes,
1998), which includes social interaction and social ties. As the use
This section begins with a narrative review on the theories and of social media relates to socio-psychological and volitional behav-
models adopted in the 46 identified empirical studies. The section ior, social factors have been widely utilized to study users’ attitudes,
then continues with the development of a causal-chain framework intentions, and actions in connection with social media adoption or
that is embedded in an analysis of the constructs investigated by usage; such as in the works of Cheung and Lee (2010), Blanchard
previous researchers in the formation of their conceptual models (2008), Chai and Kim (2010), Fischer and Reuber (2011) and Shiue,
or frameworks. Chiu, and Chang (2010).
E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44 35
Table 1
Theories and models used in social media research.
Social Loafing Theory is often used together with social ties in to study user behavior in relation to brand attitudes and purchase
social media studies. The term “social loafing theory” was first intentions.
coined by Latané, Williams, and Harkins (1979) to reflect the fact Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) is another theory of mass
that people exert less individual effort while performing in groups communication (Eighmey & McCord, 1998) that has been applied
than when alone. Social media are considered as a medium for col- to traditional media in an effort to understand customers’ behavior.
lective efforts in which the degree of individual contribution can UGT has received considerable attention in social media research,
be minimal. Shiue et al. (2010) adopted this theory to study users’ particularly in investigating how to satisfy customers’ needs, such
group cohesion in online communities. as in the studies by Chen (2010), Dholakia, Bagozzi, and Pearo
Social Power refers to the Five Bases of Power developed by (2004) and Porter and Donthu (2008).
French and Raven (1959), which include reward, coercive, legiti-
mate, referent, and expert power. Wei (2009, p. 540) defined social
power in the context of social media as the “blogger’s capacity to 3.2. Causal-chain framework of social media research
influence as many audiences as possible”, and used this narrow def-
inition to explain how many people a blogger could influence due Based on our in-depth analysis of the identified 46 arti-
to social power. cles, we conceptualized a casual-chain framework to express
the inter-relationships of different research dimensions and con-
structs that link to causes and results of user behavior in the
adoption of social media. This framework is based upon an input-
3.1.3. Mass communication theories moderator–mediator-output model from Mohammed, Ferzandi,
Mass communication exerts significant influence on people’s and Hamilton (2010), which consists of antecedents (as inputs),
behavior. In this literature review study, three types of mass com- moderators, mediators, and outcomes (as outputs). In brief, the
munication theories were found to explain the use of social media; antecedents are input variables that lead to the outcomes, the
two of which are discussed below. causalities between antecedents and outcomes are explained by
Para-social Interaction (PSI) is a theory originally used in televi- the mediators, whereas their direction and/or strength are affected
sion and film media in the 1950s to study the effect of celebrities on by moderators (Baron & Kenny, 1986). As shown in Figure, all
consumer behavior. PSI was originally observed online by Eighmey research constructs adopted are grouped in the respective pos-
and McCord (1998) in their study on website visitation rates in itions of antecedents, mediators, moderators, and outcomes in this
which PSI was related to websites and their visitors (i.e., users). framework. As the focuses of the various researchers differ, vari-
In social media research, Colliander and Dahlén (2011) used PSI ables appearing in different literature may be shown in different
36 E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44
positions in the framework. For instance, the variable “social influ- perspective. Kang, Lee, Lee, and Choi (2007) studied perceived
ence” was used as an antecedent in one paper (e.g., Bagozzi & community value to understand social participation in an online
Dholakia, 2002), but was taken as a mediator in another (e.g., community. Lu and Hsiao (2010) used perceived value in terms of
Dholakia et al., 2004). emotional value, social value, price/value for money, and perfor-
mance/quality to understand users’ intention to pay. Hau and Kim
3.2.1. Antecedents (2011) adopted the Existence, Relatedness, and Growth theory to
In the causal-chain framework, an antecedent is a stimulus that relate perceived intrinsic and extrinsic benefits with actual user
precedes a behavioral outcome and is always positioned at the behavior of knowledge sharing. Hsiao, Lin, Wang, Lu, and Yu (2010)
input side of the framework. In the extant literature on social media used the social network theory to understand how the perceived
research, antecedents are considered in three dimensions: social ability, benevolence/integrity, and critical mass of a website related
factors, user attributes, and organizational attributes. to the intention to purchase products from it. Chang and Zhu (2011)
adopted TPB to understand the effects of perceived behavioral con-
3.2.1.1. Social factors. In terms of social factors, a number of stud- trol on the intention to pre-adopt and post-adopt social networking
ies used social influence and social capital as antecedents to explain sites.
users’ socio-psychological motives. The social influence model, User experience is another input variable pertinent to users’
comprising subjective norms, group norms, and social identity, has involvement and time engaged in the social media. Chen (2010)
been frequently used to study users’ or customers’ motives in pur- studied the behavior of Twitter users by utilizing the uses and grat-
suing certain acts and behavioral changes, such as the studies of ifications approach and found that the more time users spent on
Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002), Hsu and Lin (2008), Kwon and Wen Twitter, the more they gratified a need for connection with oth-
(2010), and Wang and Lin (2011). ers and, in turn, the more they engaged in the use of social media.
The social capital model, comprising social ties, social interac- Nambisan and Watt (2010) analyzed users’ experience in terms of
tion, trust, and reciprocity, has similarly been used as antecedents pragmatic, hedonic, sociability, and usability to understand social
in various social media studies. Chiu, Hsu, and Wang (2006), Ip and media users’ attitude toward product, company, and service qual-
Wagner (2008), Lin, Hung, and Chen (2009), Chai and Kim (2010), ity. Akar and Topçu (2011) conducted a detailed study; in which,
Shiue et al., 2010, Chiu, Wang, Shih, and Fan (2011), and Hau and they proposed that the social media experience had positive effects
Kim (2011) all explored social capital in terms of both quality and on attitude toward marketing with social media.
quantity in delineating users’ knowledge sharing, users’ intention User personality was also taken as an antecedent in several
and behavior, and group cohesion in the context of social media. studies on social media. Correa et al. (2010) examined the inter-
Other social factors have likewise been considered by various section of a user’s personality and social media use, and revealed
scholars as inputs in the causal-chain framework. For instance, that extraversion and openness to experience had positive effects
Dholakia et al. (2004) used social enhancement as an antecedent to on the use of social media, whereas emotional stability did not.
evaluate users’ desires, whereas Wei (2009) examined social power Another study conducted by Zhong et al. (2011) sought to under-
in relation to the knowledge production gap between filter blogs stand the association between social media use and personality
and personal journals. traits of “need for cognition” and “information and communication
technology (ICT) innovativeness”; and verified that less effortful
3.2.1.2. User attributes. For user attributes, most researchers in this thinking led to more social media use. Huang, Chou, and Lin (2010)
subject area focused on user perception, user experience, and user examined the personal factors of a blogger in terms of involve-
personality and used them to express the attitudinal, behavioral ment in relation to advertisement effect and brand attitude. Lu and
and innate characteristics of social media users. In this category, Hsiao (2010) used personality traits to understand users’ intention
the most widely used input construct was user perception, which to obtain information and purchase services from social network
related to perceived feelings or other perceived issues. In partic- sites.
ular, a number of researchers used TAM to study perceived ease
of use and perceived usefulness of social media. For example, Hsu 3.2.1.3. Organizational attributes. For organizational attributes,
and Lin (2008) studied the roles of TAM in users’ attitude and inten- researchers applied customer orientation and marketing orientation
tion to blog. Hossain and de Silva (2009) studied TAM with a focus as input variables in their research framework to study the effect
on the actual usage of virtual communities under the moderation of social media usage on revenue, brand building, and customer
of social ties. Steyn et al. (2010) studied TAM in relation to social relationships. Customer orientation is related to the analysis of cus-
media releases within the public relations community to under- tomer behavior and actions toward product and company selection
stand bloggers’ intention to use the elements of the releases. Casaló under the influence of information obtained from the use of social
et al. (2011) used TAM to examine users’ intention to follow advice, media. Karakaya and Barnes (2010) studied the impact of customer
whereas Casaló et al. (2010) adopted TAM to investigate users’ care experience on brand or company selection with respect to
intention to use and recommend in an online travel community. online reviews and have shown the existence of a strong causal rela-
Apart from TAM, Porter and Donthu (2008) investigated the tionship between online consumer opinion and consumer choice
effects of users’ perceptions of the efforts projected by an organi- via socially based sites. In another study, de Valck, van Bruggen, and
zation as a sponsor of a virtual community on cultivating trust and Wierenga (2009) examined customer characteristics in a virtual
harvesting value. Freberg, Graham, McGaughey, and Freberg (2011) community to understand their pre- and post-purchase evaluation
studied the importance to public relations of the perceived person- and search for information.
ality of social media influencers as a third party endorser in shaping Market orientation is considered as the implementation of mar-
customer attitude toward a brand. Fischer and Reuber (2011) keting concepts, such as information quality, service quality, and
examined how interactions on Twitter affected the effectuation product price (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990), via the social media platform
processes of an entrepreneur, and identified how perceived time to understand consumer behavior. Mathwick (2002) used switch-
affordability predicted the level of social interaction in which an ing effort, continuity costs, and contractual costs to understand
entrepreneur engaged via Twitter. Parra-López, Bulchand-Gidumal, online customers’ entertainment value, escapism, intrinsic enjoy-
Gutiérrez-Taño, and Díaz-Armas (2011) used a theoretical model ment, and loyalty intention. Chen, Fay, and Wang (2011) used a
to study how perceived benefits affected the intention to use longitudinal methodology to analyze the effects of product price
social media to organize and take vacation trips from a consumer and quality in relation to customer online review posting behavior
E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44 37
from two timeframes in 2001 and 2008. The findings revealed that (2007) examined users’ attitude toward the use of social media in
the marketing variables affected, either negatively or positively, mediating user intention and/or behavior.
online posting behavior at different stages of Internet usage, which
in turn influenced customers’ choice of product and brand. Hsiao 3.2.3. Moderators
et al. (2010) studied the effects of information quality and sys- A moderator is a type of research variable, either qualitative (e.g.,
tem quality in terms of expectation, perceived performance, and sex, race, class) or quantitative (e.g., level of reward), characterized
disconfirmation in relation to blog-user satisfaction. statistically by its effects on the direction and/or strength of the
relation between dependent and independent variables (Baron &
3.2.2. Mediators Kenny, 1986). The moderators used in social media research can be
Mediators are variables that explain the causal relationships classified as user characteristics and social factors.
between antecedents and outcomes (Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes,
2007). In this study, mediators in social media research can be clas- 3.2.3.1. User characteristics. User characteristics refer to demo-
sified into three dimensions – platform attributes, social factors, and graphic variables, user personality, and cultural differences.
user attributes. Researchers analyze how these characteristics of social media
users can influence the strength and direction of the relationship
3.2.2.1. Platform attributes. Platform attributes consist of choice of between antecedents and resulting behavior. Some studies, such as
tools and tool integrity, which are considered to have a significant Zhang, Lee, Cheung, and Chen (2009), Chen (2010) and Correa et al.
impact on the causal relationship between inputs and outcomes. (2010); have used demographic variables, including age, gender,
There are various social media tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, and income, and education, as control variables in analyzing the mod-
LinkedIn, designed and tailored for different purposes and target erating effects. Lu and Hsiao (2010) studied users’ intention to pay
groups. The choice of these tools may mediate the causality effect of under the moderation of user personality. Specifically, their study
antecedents on expected behavior. Chen (2010) studied how active examined whether the user is extroverted or introverted. Lewis
use of Twitter gratified the need to connect with others and found and George (2008) studied the impact of cross-cultural deceptive
that the use of various Twitter functions can mediate such a rela- behavior moderated by cultural differences, such as individualism,
tionship. Koo, Wati, and Jung (2011) studied the mediating effect power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity.
of five media, including blogs as a social media platform, from task
characteristics to task performance and found that media usage 3.2.3.2. Social factors. Some researchers demonstrated how social
influenced task performance positively. Hsieh, Kuo, Yang, and Lin factors, such as social influence and social capital, can be used as
(2010) and Wang and Lin (2011) also studied how significantly tool moderators to determine the strength and direction of antecedents’
integrity, in terms of information and system quality, mediated the influence on expected outcomes. Koo et al. (2011) used social influ-
expected outcomes. ence to moderate the relationships between task characteristics
and usage of social communication technologies, which further led
3.2.2.2. Social factors. Social factors, such as social influence and to task performance. Results showed that social influence moder-
social capital, were used as mediators in previous studies on social ated some of the relationships in both directions (i.e., positively
media to examine the causality between input and outcome vari- and negatively). Casaló et al. (2011) also used social influence to
ables. In particular, Dholakia et al. (2004) used social influence as moderate the effect of user perceptions on the intention to follow
a mediator to examine user participation in different virtual com- advice. Fischer and Reuber (2011) proposed two social influence
munities. A number of other papers had utilized social capital as factors, community orientation and community norm adherence,
a mediator to explain users’ intentions and behavior; for example, and examined how these two factors moderate the consequences
Hsiao et al. (2010) examined the role of trust in mediating users’ of social interactions via Twitter on the effectual cognition (i.e.,
purchasing intention, and Shiue et al., 2010 studied the effect of thinking and behavior) of an entrepreneur. Hossain and de Silva
social ties and social loafing in mediating group cohesion. (2009) studied the influence of social capital in terms of social ties
on moderating the relationship of customer attitude toward use
3.2.2.3. User attributes. In terms of user attributes, some studies and customer behavioral intention; and revealed that both weak
have revealed the mediating effects of user perception and user and strong social ties exhibited a strong correlation with attitude
behavior. Although user perceptions have been extensively exam- toward use.
ined as an antecedent, they have also been adopted as a mediator.
Kwon and Wen (2010) adopted TAM to study its mediating effect on 3.2.4. Outcomes
actual social media use. Lin et al. (2009) used personal perceptions The outcomes are the expected results generated by antecedents
to mediate users’ behavior in a professional virtual community. Lu under the influence of mediators and moderators. The outcomes,
and Hsiao (2010) revealed the mediating effect of perceived value being dependent variables of the extant social media research, con-
on users’ intention to pay. sist of two major dimensions, personal context, and organizational
User behavior had similarly been used as a mediator to exam- context.
ine the causal effect between antecedents and outcomes in several
papers. Hossain and de Silva (2009) analyzed customer attitude 3.2.4.1. Personal context. Personal context comprises user intention
toward the use of social media and utilized it as a mediator between and user behavior, which are the most important outcome variables
the inputs of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and influ- adopted by researchers to examine social media usage. In particu-
ence of ties; and the outputs of behavioral intention that led to lar, user intention has been studied extensively, with a majority
actual usage. Karakaya and Barnes (2010) studied how customers’ of papers focused on it. Thus, only a few representative papers
online engagement mediated their opinions on the choice of a are discussed in this part. Parra-López et al. (2011) studied the
brand or company. Chen (2010) used tweet frequency and the intention to use social media with respect to perceived benefits
number of @replies to mediate the relationship between active of use. Henderson and Bowley (2010) examined the intention to
Twitter users and their need for connection. Furthermore, Bagozzi use social media in an authentic social media environment. Zhong
and Dholakia (2002), Blanchard (2008), Casaló et al. (2010), Casaló et al. (2011) investigated the associations between use of social
et al. (2011), Chang and Zhu (2011), Chiu et al., 2006, Hau and Kim network sites (SNSs), analogous to social media use, and personal-
(2011), Hsu and Lin (2008), Huang et al. (2010), and Kang et al. ity traits (i.e., need for connection and ICT innovativeness). Correa
38 E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44
et al. (2010) also related the intention to use social media to person- independent variables in the presence or absence of media-
ality traits. Steyn et al. (2010) analyzed the relationship between tors and moderators, using both quantitative and qualitative
perceived effectiveness and intention to use social media in public methods. All these attributes are delineated in the proposed
relations. Cheung and Lee (2010) studied the collective intention to causal-chain framework of social media research (see Fig. 1 and
use social media in relation to subjective norms, group norms, and Table 2).
social identity. Overall, most of them have focused on studying the With regard to antecedents, social influence and social capi-
relationships between the conditions of using social media and the tal in the category of social factors are the two most frequently
intention to use, or actual use of, social media. adopted input variables. Researchers attempt to discover why
User behavior comprises certain behavioral changes exhibited people engage with social media and how socio-psychological
by users, such as the need for connection, effectual cognition, factors and perceptions affect their engagement and interaction
knowledge sharing, and satisfaction, and was also widely regarded with others. For the category of user attributes, the user per-
as the expected outcome. Chen (2010) studied the need for connec- ception, in terms of ease of use, usefulness, and benefits of use,
tion by analyzing Twitter users, and suggested that heavy Twitter attracts considerable research attention. Some researchers also
users were gratifying a need for connection. Fischer and Reuber study whether user experience occupies a function in encour-
(2011) studied how social interactions on Twitter affect effectual aging social media use, as well as how user personality affects
cognition. They also investigated how perceived time affordability the ways social media is used. In the category of organiza-
observed by the entrepreneur has a positive effect on the amount of tional attributes, researchers have focused on investigating the
time he/she spends in social media usage from the perspective of a effect of customer orientation and marketing orientation in an
social media user. Hau and Kim (2011) identified the actual behav- organizational context. A few papers are found to examine how cus-
ior of knowledge sharing as the outcome due to user perceived tomers’ attitude relates to devising marketing strategies for social
benefits. media.
For the outcome variables, most researchers are devoted to
3.2.4.2. Organization context. Organization context in this study investigate user intention and user behavior in the personal con-
relates to brand equity and customer relationship, which was put by text in relation to various antecedents, as users’ intention to use or
some researchers to the output side in the causal-chain framework. purchase social media for both leisure and business purposes is the
For brand equity, some studies regarded it as a beneficial outcome most important aspect in social media research. Notwithstanding,
for a company. Karakaya and Barnes (2010) examined a causal rela- minimal research has been conducted on the organization context,
tionship between customer online opinion and choice of brand or except a few for the examination of the effect of brand equity and
company, and highlighted that the selection of company is con- customer relationships.
sidered as a type of brand equity in this instance. Labrecque et al. Among the mediators, choice of tools is found to be an impor-
(2010) conducted an in-depth study into online personal branding, tant element in the category of platform attributes in conducting
which can be borrowed for company brand positioning and equity. social media research because different social media tools, like
Colliander and Dahlén (2011) investigated and compared the brand Facebook and Twitter, are used in different ways and require dif-
publicity in social media and traditional digital media, and found ferent styles of approach and analysis. Thus, the choice of tools
that blogs generated high brand attitudes, which led to purchase has a mediating effect on the relationship between antecedents
intentions. Freberg et al. (2011) also studied the benefits brought and outcomes. Moreover, some researchers are concerned with
by social media influencers to brands, and found that the effects tool integrity in information and system qualities, which affect
on brand equity depend upon the perceived creditability of social the way users engage in social media applications. For social
media influencers by social media users. factors, social influence and social capital are widely used in medi-
Customer relationship was also studied and analyzed in social ating the ways antecedents affect outcomes. In the user attributes
media research as a proxy of intention to use. Porter and Donthu category, user perception and user behavior are also important medi-
(2008) explored the role of a firm’s efforts in cultivating trust and ators.
harvesting value for itself via its sponsored virtual communities, As regards the moderators in the category of user characteris-
and found that trust motivates customers to behave relationally tics, demographic factors, user personality, and cultural differences are
toward the sponsoring firm, as shown in their willingness to share some of the basic controlling factors used to examine the changes
personal information, to cooperate in new product development, in strength and direction of the causalities between antecedents
and to grant their loyalty. Akar and Topçu (2011) examined fac- and outcomes in social media research. Other moderators in the
tors affecting customers’ attitudes toward social media marketing, social factors category comprise social influence and social capital.
and revealed a positive relationship between social media use and Some researchers placed importance in understanding how these
customers’ attitude, suggesting that social media marketers should social factors moderated the relationships between dependent and
shape their social media marketing strategies to improve their cus- independent variables in a social media context.
tomer relationships. The proposed causal-chain framework clearly shows that
In summary, the attributes in our developed causal-chain frame- researchers selected and used various attributes in different com-
work of social media research in the categories of antecedents, binations in pursuing their academic studies. For instance, some
mediators, moderator, and outcomes are shown in Table 2. scholars retained user perception, social factors, and user inten-
tion, but had different choice of tools for analysis. Different social
4. Implications and future research directions media tools yield different results by virtue of their nature, content,
and characteristics, as seen in the comparison between Facebook
Based on the proposed causal-chain framework of social media and Twitter. Moreover, variables adopted can be put in different
research, this section discusses the implications of the above find- positions along the causal-chain framework. This decision highly
ings and identifies opportunities for future research in social media. depends on the individual researcher’s research focus. For instance,
social factors can be used as an antecedent, mediator, and/or mod-
4.1. Implications of the findings erator variable. Indeed, social factors play a very important role in
social media research because many researchers aim to understand
This literature review study shows that numerous researchers the socio-psychological aspects of users’ participation in various
had studied the causal relationships of various dependent and social media activities.
E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44 39
Table 2
Attributes adoption in social media research.
Attributes References N
Antecedents
1. Social factors
• Social influence Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002), Hsu and Lin (2008), Kwon and Wen (2010) and Wang and Lin (2011) 4
• Social capital Chiu et al. (2006), Ip and Wagner (2008), Lin et al. (2009), Chai and Kim (2010), Shiue et al. (2010), Chiu 7
et al. (2011) and Hau and Kim (2011)
• Others (social engagement, social power) Dholakia et al., 2004 and Wei (2009) 2
2. User attributes
• User perceptions Porter and Donthu (2008), Hsu and Lin (2008), Hossain and de Silva (2009), Steyn et al. (2010), Casaló et al. 14
(2011), Casaló et al. (2010), Freberg et al. (2011), Fischer and Reuber (2011), Parra-López et al. (2011),
Kang et al. (2007), Lu and Hsiao (2010), Hau and Kim (2011), Hsieh et al. (2010) and Chang and Zhu (2011)
• User experience Chen (2010), Nambisan and Watt (2010) and Akar and Topçu (2011) 3
• User personality Correa et al. (2010), Zhong et al. (2011), Huang et al. (2010) and Lu and Hsiao (2010) 4
3. Organizational Attributes
• Customer orientation Karakaya and Barnes (2010) and de Valck et al. (2009) 2
• Marketing orientation Chen et al. (2011) and Hsieh et al. (2010) 2
Mediators
1. Platform attributes
• Choice of tools Chen (2010) and Koo et al. (2011) 2
• Tool integrity Hsieh et al., 2010 and Wang and Lin (2011) 2
2. Social factors
• Social influence Dholakia et al. (2004) 2
• Social capital Hsiao et al. (2010) and Ip and Wagner (2008) 2
• Others (social loafing) Shiue et al. (2010) 2
3. User attributes
• User perceptions Kwon and Wen (2010), Lin et al., 2009 and Lu and Hsiao (2010) 3
• User behavior Hossain and de Silva (2009), Karakaya and Barnes (2010), Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002), Blanchard (2008), 12
Casaló et al. (2010), Casaló et al. (2011), Chang and Zhu (2011), Chiu et al., 2006, Hau and Kim (2011), Hsu
and Lin (2008), Huang et al. (2010) and Kang et al. (2007)
Moderators
1. User characteristics
• Demographic variables Chen (2010), Correa et al. (2010) and Zhang et al. (2009) 3
• User personality Lu and Hsiao (2010) 1
• Cultural differences Lewis and George (2008) 1
2. Social factors
• Social influence Koo et al. (2011) and Casaló et al. (2011) 2
• Social capital Hossain and de Silva (2009) and Fischer and Reuber (2011) 2
Outcomes
1. Personal context
• User intention Hossain and de Silva (2009), Parra-López et al., 2011, Henderson and Bowley (2010), Zhong et al. (2011), 21
Correa et al. (2010), Steyn et al. (2010), Cheung and Lee (2010), Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002), Casaló et al.
(2010), Casaló et al. (2011), Chang and Zhu (2011), Chiu et al. (2011), Hsiao et al. (2010), Hsu and Lin
(2008), Huang et al. (2010), Lu and Hsiao (2010), Lu et al. (2010), Mathwick (2002), Wang and Lin (2011),
Zhang et al. (2009) and Zhu and Zhang (2010)
• User behavior Chen (2010), Dholakia et al. (2004), Fischer and Reuber (2011), Hau and Kim (2011), Lewis and George 6
(2008) and Lin et al. (2009)
2. Organizational context
• Brand equity Karakaya and Barnes (2010), Labrecque et al. (2010), Colliander and Dahlén (2011) and Freberg et al. 4
(2011)
• Customer relationship Porter and Donthu (2008) and Akar and Topçu (2011) 2
4.2. Future research directions on these research gaps, we give four potential research areas related
to organization orientation, social power, cultural differences, and
In this intensive literature review study, the attributes adopted impacts of social media. Further discussion on each of these areas
in previous studies in social media are found to be numerous will be expanded in the following Sections of 4.2.1–4.2.4, respec-
and varied. The proposed causal-chain framework shows that the tively.
majority of past research concentrated on studying the causal rela-
tionship, which translates users’ personal beliefs into their personal
4.2.1. Organization orientation
desire to carry out their behavior toward social media. Such focus
From the extant literature, scholars are clearly very focused
on personal and individual perspective suggests a research gap in
on personal attributes and pay less attention to organizational
the study of social media adoption pertinent to an organization set-
attributes; even worse, only customer orientation and marketing
ting. Moreover, although numerous papers reviewed in this study
orientation are included in the discussion of social media adoption
discuss various aspects of social factors, social power is unexpect-
in business contexts. Social media are known to be used to con-
edly seldom used as a construct in the existing research models.
nect and help organizations improve their brand equity, customer
In addition, provided that social media used cross boundaries, lit-
retention, and other business issues (Hanna et al., 2011; He, Zha, &
tle research exploring the cultural effects on social media adoption
Li, 2013; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Laroche et al., 2013). However,
and applications is found. Lastly, the emergence of social media has
apart from using emails for communication and website posting for
influenced, or even controlled, every aspect of all human activities.
information sharing, social media are surprisingly not widely used
As such, it is definitely worthwhile for researchers to investigate the
by organizations in their daily operations, or applied as strategic
impacts of social media from a wider and deeper perspective. Based
tools for relationship marketing management (Mitic & Kapoulas,
40 E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44
2012). In this regard, some basic questions need to be researched. analyze how social power is exhibited in different levels of blogs.
For instance, why do organizations not adopt social media in their Recently, a sixth power type, information power, was added by
business operations? What factors or variables affect or hinder Ke, Liu, Wei, Gu, and Chen (2009) to the Five Bases of Power (i.e.,
organizations’ adoption of social media? Most importantly, does reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power,
social media adoption really contribute to firm performance? These expert power). They examined the causal relationship between
questions are not well-addressed by existing research. these six types of social power and the adoption of the electronic
Referring to the research conducted on information technology supply chain management system (eSCMS) in dyadic conditions
(IT) adoption, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), a num- of an inter-organizational system. Their findings indicated that all
ber of research studies have shown the importance of organization types of power, with the exception of referent power, had direct
orientation (i.e., organizational factors) in the adoption of new tech- effects on the adoption intention of eSCMS under the mediation of
nologies, which lead to improved firm performance. For instance, coercive pressure, normative pressure, and trust.
Law and Ngai (2007) conducted a research study to identify CEO- Likewise, Oke, Idiagbon-Oke, and Walumbwa (2008) studied
IT distance, senior management support, and strategic intent as social power in a network-based environment to investigate the
organizational factors, which drive firm performance in adopting relationships among social influence, strength of ties, and project
ERP. Ngai, Law, and Wat (2008) examined the critical success fac- outcomes in a new product development (NPD) process. Their find-
tors (CSFs) in implementing an ERP, and found that among all CSFs, ings indicated that the use of social power had a significant effect
top management support, ERP teamwork and composition, project on the project outcomes of design performance and development
management, and change in management culture were the top time. In addition, Nygaard and Biong (2010) studied the effect of
four most important CSFs. In accordance with another study by Lin the use of social power by retail management on corporate ethical
(2006) on the organizational determinants for Internet-based inter- values. Their results showed that, with the exception of reward and
organizational systems, top management support, organizational legitimate power, all types of social power had significant effects on
centralization, and technological competence affected the success- corporate ethical values. Azad and Faraj (2011) went a step further
ful achievement of the planned objectives for such systems. Based by using a case study to analyze and prove the relationship between
on these research results, organizational factors can be posited to be social power and meaning construction within the confines of the
important in the adoption of new technologies, which leads to the IT project implementation process. All in all, social power has a
improvement of firm performance. The application of social media strong impact on various business practices.
technology is close to that of ERP or other IT systems. Thus, such Conceptually, social power rests on the premise that power
an argument can be extended to social media research in future involves a relationship of at least two agents, sender and recipient.
studies. Social power theory aims to understand and explain the reaction
phenomenon of the recipient agent in response to the influences of
4.2.2. Social power the sender agent. In social media research, an analysis of whether
Social factors, particularly social influence and social capital, are some or all types of social power act as antecedents that directly
well researched in social media studies. Researchers have largely cause anticipated outcomes, as mediating factors that explain
focused on understanding users’ socio-psychological behavior in causal relationship, or as moderating factors that influencing the
social media use and applications. However, a major social factor, strength and direction of the bonds between dependent and inde-
social power, has not been extensively studied. The only excep- pendent variables is noteworthy. In this regard, certain important
tion is the work of Wei (2009), who used a narrow definition to questions need to be answered. For instance, does social power
E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44 41
affect and/or mediate users’ intentions and behaviors as well as of social media in the workplace. Surfing social networking sites
firms’ performance in the adoption of social media? If yes, what has often been seen as a major distraction for some employees,
types of social power yield significant effects on these outcomes? as it can pull their attention away from work tasks and, in turn,
Given that social media represent a free environment for anyone damage the productivity of a firm. An upward trend also exists
to participate, can social power also have a backfire effect on the for employees working from home, which blurs the boundaries
outcomes if coercive power is used in the business context? These between work and private life. As such, it is necessary to manage
questions provide a range of research opportunities in this subject home workers’ involvement in social networking to ensure their
area. output performance meets the requirements of the job.
In addition to supporting internal communications, social media
4.2.3. Cultural differences also gives aspiring business owners a platform from which to build
At present, social media are widely used in all countries and their networks, as they can gain access to and connect with existing
all regions of the world. However, little research has been con- or potential members along the entire supply chains. However, the
ducted to reveal the influences of cultural differences on social media very nature of social media makes data control difficult. Organiza-
usage and application. Only a few exceptions are found, includ- tion must achieve a balance between the need to use social media to
ing Lewis and George (2008), who employed Hofstede’s (2001) connect to trading partners and the need to assure the security and
cultural dimensions as moderating factors to understand cross- integrity of their businesses. Therefore, the challenge is to set up a
cultural deception in social networking sites; and Pookulangara and proper technological infrastructure, such as a big data management
Koesler (2011), who developed a conceptual framework to study system, to manage all data related to social media use. Organiza-
cultural influence on users’ social media usage and online purchase tions need to involve defining groups of employees whose primary
intentions, through the employ of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions objective is to manage corporate social media (Kaplan & Haenlein,
as moderating factors. 2010).
Provided that social media have no boundaries and link up dif- At the social level, social media has broken communication
ferent nations and people, understanding whether any differences barriers once caused by geographic isolation, which has helped
exist in the adoption and usage of social media in different cultures individuals develop more “friends” and expand their social circles;
is important. For instance, the unique cultural characteristics of especially those who have social or physical mobility restrictions.
Koreans, such as “Ppalli! Ppalli!” (i.e., Hurry! Hurry!) behavior and From this perspective, social media has brought society some pos-
strong need for connection, give Korea the world’s highest visita- itive changes. However, despite the extent to which we can meet
tion rate in social media. Nonetheless, minimal research on cultural more people within the vast social media platform, we cannot build
considerations in social media adoption has been conducted. This strong ties with all of these “virtual” friends, as our available time is
limitation leads to certain research questions such as: does cultural limited. More importantly, this further weakens our real-life rela-
difference really matter in social media usage and application? How tionships with family members and friends. In addition, the human
does cultural difference affect the ways users behave and act in the elements of conversation, such as laughter, facial expressions, the
social media setting? Do all cultural dimensions display the same feel of touch, are removed with social media. These elements are
degree of significance in social media? The answers to these ques- all very real human qualities that individuals need to express and
tions can extend our knowledge on cultural differences as well as interpret through face-to-face interactions.
help marketers devise appropriate strategies to meet the needs and Furthermore, social media unite people at individual, organi-
wants of customers in different cultural contexts. zational, and social levels through the provision of a boundless
platform, which has nurtured a new concept of “crowdpreneur” and
4.2.4. Impacts of social media opened many opportunities and challenges in the business world
The influence of social media on our world is so tremendous (Goossen, 2008). Individuals or organizations with entrepreneurial
that we could not have imagined it a few years ago. Such effects are ideas, which could include inventions, creative product concepts,
not only confined at the individual level but also at the organization or new business strategies, can be empowered by the crowd on the
and social levels. Today, many individuals’ private lives are linked to Internet. Through the social media platform, people can raise funds
social media. According to a Pew Research report in 2013, more that to start or run a business, obtain advice or expertise from mem-
70% of online adults in America use social networking sites of some bers of the crowd, source materials and goods from a wide range
kind, and about 60% of them visit these social media sites at least of sources, and engage in many other activities. By capitalizing
once a day (Duggan & Smith, 2013). Inevitably, social media enable on crowd power, the “crowdpreneur” can make an entrepreneur’s
individuals to access and connect to a boundless world to make dream come true or make a business more successful and sustain-
friends, share information, access entertainment, and receive news. able.
However, spending hours on social media could lead to addiction, Overall, the adoption of social media generates both positive and
reduced motivation to participate in other activities, and perhaps negative effects on our lives at various levels. Because these effects
cause physical health problems. Another downside of social media are so large that we cannot ignore them, further studies should be
at the individual level is that users need to maintain their social pro- conducted to monitor the changes brought about by social media
files constantly, which may lead to severe stress. More importantly, over time to discover possible solutions to the problems created
sharing too much information could allow personal information by the use of social media. Potential research questions in this area
to be leaked on the Internet. Furthermore, the increase of cyber- may include the following: How does a firm apply technologies
bullying can terrorize an individual and cause negative effects to and train staff to manage the availability, storing, and filtering of
his or her psychology. This influence has been identified as an data captured or used in social media to ensure the wise use of
important problem specifically amongst youth over the last decade data and protect the privacy of all stakeholders? How does a busi-
(Slongje, Smith, & Frisen, 2013). ness interact with clients and manage employees who use social
At the organization level, social media enable people to con- media frequently at work and in their private lives, and access pro-
nect, share information, and participate in all business processes, cesses and data anywhere at any time? How does one make use of
no matter their physical location. The increase in popularity of collective wisdom and mass collaboration from a crowd to capture
applying social media in the business world has forced executives opportunities to build and sustain a business? How do social media
to rethink how they operate their businesses. Internally, manage- use for work purpose that produce harmful effects to the inter-
ment needs to be aware and possibly control their employees’ use est of organizations or social media users themselves, especially
42 E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44
“technostress,” stress stimulated by social media use for work pur- within the boundaries of social media is required, especially with
pose, that may emerge? A study to address these questions may the continuous proliferation of new social media technologies.
help us better understand the true value of social media.
Acknowledgments
5. Conclusion The authors are grateful for the constructive comments of the
reviewers on the earlier version of this paper. This research was
The arrival of social media has changed private lives, business supported in part by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University under
operations, and relational interactions within various communities grant number ZZAU.
tremendously, which has led directly to the increase of academic
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Law, C. C. H., & Ngai, E. W. T. (2007). ERP systems adoption: An exploratory study
of the organizational factors and impacts of ERP success. Information & Manage- Eric W.T. Ngai is an Associate Head and Professor in the Department of Man-
ment, 44(4), 418–432. agement and Marketing at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His current
Lewis, G. G., & George, J. F. (2008). Cross-cultural deception in social network- research interests are in the areas of e-commerce, supply chain management, deci-
ing sites and face-to-face communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(6), sion support systems, and social media technology and applications. He has over
2945–2964. 120 refereed international journal publications, including MIS Quarterly, Journal of
44 E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44
Operations Management, Decision Support Systems, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Karen Ka-Leung Moon is an Associate Professor at Seoul National University,
Management, and Production & Operations Management. He is an Associate Editor of Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design, Republic of Korea.
Information & Management and serves on the editorial board of three other interna- Dr. Moon has worked in the fashion industry as a designer, R&D researcher,
tional journals. Prof. Ngai has attained an h-index of 22, and received 1,380 citations, merchandiser, and retail entrepreneur. She has also worked as a faculty mem-
ISI Web of Science. ber at various tertiary education institutions, including Hong Kong Vocational
Training Council, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hanyang Univer-
Spencer C.S. Tao is the Chief Executive Officer at the Hong Kong Federation sity. Her professional expertise and research interests embrace fashion business,
of Innovative Technologies and Manufacturing Industries (FITMI). He has held supply chain management, implementation of innovative technologies, and con-
various executive management positions at different academic and commercial sumer behavior. She has over 50 publications in peer-reviewed international
organizations. His research interests include social media technology and strategic journals, including IJPE, IJOPM, EJOR, IMDS, JOTI, IJPR, JBIM, ESWA, JECR, and
management. EAAI.