International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Information Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijinfomgt

Social media research: Theories, constructs, and conceptual

frameworks
Eric W.T. Ngai a,1 , Spencer S.C. Tao a , Karen K.L. Moon b,∗
a
Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
b
Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design/The Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

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
The advent of social media has substantially changed the man-
ner in which many people, communities, and/or organizations
communicate and interact. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p. 61)
defined social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that
build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,
and allow the creation and exchange of user generated content”.
Using these applications, people can create, share, and exchange
information in a virtual community. The dramatic development of
social media has helped shape people’s connections with others
via different social media platforms (Colliander & Dahlén, 2011).
Today, the benefits of participating in social media not only involve
simple social communication, but also building reputations and
bringing in career opportunities, and/or generating direct monetary
∗ Corresponding author at: 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of
Korea. Tel.: +852 2766 7296; fax: +852 2765 0611.
E-mail addresses: mswtngai@inet.polyu.edu.hk (E.W.T. Ngai),
trstao@yahoo.com.hk (S.S.C. Tao), tcmoonkl@gmail.com, tcmoonkl@snu.ac.kr
(K.K.L. Moon).
1
Tel.: +86 852 2766 7296; fax: +86 852 2765 0611.
revenue (Tang, Gu, & Whinston, 2012). Social media drive a new set
of models for various kinds of businesses that challenge traditional
business processes and operations (Hanna, Rohm, & Crittenden,
2011). The salient difference is that one-to-one mass customization
has become the business transaction norm, replacing the one-to-
many marketing promotion model (Peters, 1998). Moreover, in this
Internet/computer era, online customer reviews have become an
important yardstick by which marketers formulate their marketing
strategies.
Social media can also serve as tools facilitating intra- and
inter-organizational activities among peers, customers, business
partners, and organizations; such as collaborative product devel-
opment (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Porter & Donthu, 2008), creation
of knowledge sharing communities (Fernando, 2010; Kasavana,
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-
ity (Peppler & Solomou, 2011). Individuals and/or organizations
therefore must be well prepared to embrace the challenges and
opportunities brought about by social media. Notwithstanding, the
phenomenon of social media remains new to academia. In terms of
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
years. Based on the proliferation of social media uses and applica-
tions, we anticipate that more studies will be conducted and further
results will be available in the coming years.
This present study aims to review social media research in
the extant literature and collect data from work conducted thus
far to create a framework to understand the causal relationships
among different research constructs adopted. The value of this
study lies in its systematic review of the articles in this subject
area, reporting the dimensions and variables studied by previ-
ous researchers as well as their proposed conceptual models
and frameworks. Based on these findings, a causal-chain frame-
work was developed to illustrate the inter-relationships among
the adopted research constructs. This framework is expected to
provide a reference for researchers, to serve as a research roadmap,
and to stimulate new ideas in future research in this subject
area.
The paper is organized as follows: the next section briefly
describes the method in conducting the search process. The
third section provides an exhaustive review of the identified aca-
demic articles and a detailed discussion of the development of
a causal-chain framework. The fourth section further discusses
the implications from the findings and suggests four potential
research areas. The final section is devoted to the conclusion
and a discussion of the contributions and limitations of this
study.
2. Research methodology
A search for empirical studies in the extant literature was con-
ducted to investigate the work of previous researchers on social
media and to develop a causal-chain framework to illustrate the
interrelationships of the research constructs adopted. Five dom-
inant business/management academic databases were adopted,
including ABI/Inform, Business Source Premier, Emerald Manage-
ment eJournals, Science Direct, and ISI Web of Knowledge. These
databases cover most of all social science and top management lit-
erature. Since there are few papers which explicitly used the term
“social media”, other keywords with similar meanings related to
social media, such as “virtual communities”, “online communities”,
“blogs”, “Web 2.0”, “social networking sites”, and “social comput-
ing”, were also applied in the search process. The scope of this study
is limited to the timeframe of 2002–2011, as this was the major
growth period of the social media market.
The search for relevant papers in this process was by no means
exhaustive, but the findings nevertheless serve as a representa-
tive summary of the research conducted thus far. Forty-six papers
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,
as we believe refereed journal articles represent state-of-the-art
research outputs (Chan & Ngai, 2011; Ngai & Wat, 2002). In addition,
this study focused on papers presenting empirical studies, therein
the adopted variables and proposed models were reviewed and
included in our causal-chain framework.
3. Analysis and results
This section begins with a narrative review on the theories and
models adopted in the 46 identified empirical studies. The section
then continues with the development of a causal-chain framework
that is embedded in an analysis of the constructs investigated by
previous researchers in the formation of their conceptual models
or frameworks.
3.1. Theories and models
A large number of theories and models are used in the extant
social media research to study the socio-psychological behavior of
social media users and other stakeholders, such as marketing peo-
ple and customers. Table 1 presents the theories and models used
in the 46 reviewed articles, from which three groups of theories
(i.e., personal behavior, social behavior, and mass communication)
are identified and discussed below.
3.1.1. Personal behavior theories
The first group of adopted theories and models in social media
research aims to explain the behavior of human beings at the per-
sonal/individual level. Table 1 shows that a total of 15 theories
included in this group. Some of the most essential theories/models
are selected and discussed here.
Personality Traits are often taken to be one of the fundamental
theories explaining the characteristics affecting users’ subsequent
behavior. Digman (1990) summarized the Five Factor Model of
Personality Traits as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, and neuroticism, which individually or collectively
expand the behavioral intentions of social media users in the extant
literature. Examples include the works of Correa, Hinsley, and de
Zúñiga (2010); Labrecque, Markos, and Milne (2010); Lu and Hsiao
(2010); and Zhong, Hardin, and Sun (2011).
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
attitude toward adoption. TAM has been widely utilized in social
media research to investigate similar scenarios with respect to dif-
ferent social media technologies; examples include the studies by
Casaló, Flavián, and Guinalíu (2010); Casaló, Carlos, and Guinalíu
(2011); Hossain and de Silva (2009); Hsu and Lin (2008); Kwon and
Wen (2010); and Steyn, Salehi-Sangari, Pitt, Parent, and Berthon
(2010).
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is a theory developed by Ajzen
and Fishbein (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Ajzen, 1985), which predicted
people’s volitional behavior based upon a summation of the rela-
tive weights of their attitudes and subjective norms. This theory,
which resembles the situation where people voluntarily partici-
pate and engage in social media activities, is well cited in social
media research. Hsu and Lin (2008) provide a typical case.
Theory of Planned behavior (TPB) is an extension of TRA, which
was subsequently developed by Ajzen (1985). TPB suggests that
perceived behavior control is employed to moderate the effects
of attitudes and subjective norms on behavior. In social media
research, Casaló et al. (2010) and Chang and Zhu (2011) used this
theory to predict users’ behavior from intention to action.
3.1.2. Social behavior theories
The second group of theories relates to social behavior. Table 1
shows that previous studies adopted 13 theories to explain individ-
uals’ behavior toward social media in a social context. We selected
several of the most significant theories in this group and briefly
discussed them below.
The Social Aspects Theory is a collective term comprising all social
factors; such as social influence (Kelman, 1958), which includes
social identity; and social capital (Chang & Chuang, 2011; Portes,
1998), which includes social interaction and social ties. As the use
of social media relates to socio-psychological and volitional behav-
ior, social factors have been widely utilized to study users’ attitudes,
intentions, and actions in connection with social media adoption or
usage; such as in the works of Cheung and Lee (2010), Blanchard
(2008), Chai and Kim (2010), Fischer and Reuber (2011) and Shiue,
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.

Theories and models References N

Personal Behavior Theories

Attribution theory Porter and Donthu (2008) 1
Elaboration likelihood model Zhong et al. (2011) 1
Existence, relatedness, growth theory Hau and Kim (2011) 1
Expectation and disconfirmation paradigm Chiu et al. (2011) and Hsieh et al. (2010) 2
Goal-directed behavior model Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002) 1
Hofstede’s theory of cultural difference Lewis and George (2008) 1
Personality traits Correa et al. (2010), Labrecque et al. (2010), Lu and Hsiao (2010) and Zhong et al. (2011) 4
Psychological choice model Zhu and Zhang (2010) 1
Risk perception theory Shiue et al. (2010) 1
Social cognitive theory Chiu et al. (2006) and Lin et al. (2009) 2
Switching behavior Zhang et al. (2009) 1
Task-technology fit model Ip and Wagner (2008) 1
Technology acceptance model (TAM) Casaló et al. (2010, 2011), Hossain and de Silva (2009), Hsu and Lin (2008), Kwon and Wen (2010) and 6
Steyn et al. (2010)
Theory of planned behavior (TPB) Casaló et al. (2010) and Chang and Zhu (2011) 2
Theory of reasoned action (TRA) Hsu and Lin (2008) 1

Social Behavior Theories

Cognitive map Kang et al. (2007) 1
Effectuation process Fischer and Reuber (2011) 1
Involvement theory Huang et al. (2010) 1
Justice theory Chiu et al., 2011 1
Social capital theory Chai and Kim (2010), Chiu et al. (2006), Hau and Kim (2011), Lu, Zhao, and Wang (2010) and Porter and 5
Donthu (2008)
Social Exchange theory Blanchard (2008) and Lin et al., 2009 2
Social identity theory Blanchard (2008) and Casaló et al. (2010), Cheung and Lee (2010), Dholakia et al. (2004) and Kwon and 5
Wen (2010)
Social influence theory Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002), Cheung and Lee (2010), Dholakia et al. (2004), Koo et al. (2011) and Wang 5
and Lin (2011)
Social interaction theory Fischer and Reuber (2011) 1
Social loafing Shiue et al. (2010) 1
Social network analysis Hossain and de Silva (2009), Hsiao et al. (2010) 2
Social power Wei (2009) 1
Social ties Shiue et al. (2010) 1

Mass Communication Theories

Media richness theory Koo et al. (2011) and Shiue et al., 2010 2
Para-social interaction Colliander and Dahlén (2011) 1
Uses and gratifications theory Chen (2010), Dholakia et al. (2004) and Porter and Donthu (2008) 3

Social Loafing Theory is often used together with social ties in
social media studies. The term “social loafing theory” was first
coined by Latané, Williams, and Harkins (1979) to reflect the fact
that people exert less individual effort while performing in groups
than when alone. Social media are considered as a medium for col-
lective efforts in which the degree of individual contribution can
be minimal. Shiue et al. (2010) adopted this theory to study users’
group cohesion in online communities.
Social Power refers to the Five Bases of Power developed by
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
influence as many audiences as possible”, and used this narrow def-
inition to explain how many people a blogger could influence due
to social power.
3.1.3. Mass communication theories
Mass communication exerts significant influence on people’s
behavior. In this literature review study, three types of mass com-
munication theories were found to explain the use of social media;
two of which are discussed below.
Para-social Interaction (PSI) is a theory originally used in televi-
sion and film media in the 1950s to study the effect of celebrities on
consumer behavior. PSI was originally observed online by Eighmey
and McCord (1998) in their study on website visitation rates in
which PSI was related to websites and their visitors (i.e., users).
In social media research, Colliander and Dahlén (2011) used PSI
to study user behavior in relation to brand attitudes and purchase
intentions.
Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) is another theory of mass
communication (Eighmey & McCord, 1998) that has been applied
to traditional media in an effort to understand customers’ behavior.
UGT has received considerable attention in social media research,
particularly in investigating how to satisfy customers’ needs, such
as in the studies by Chen (2010), Dholakia, Bagozzi, and Pearo
(2004) and Porter and Donthu (2008).
3.2. Causal-chain framework of social media research
Based on our in-depth analysis of the identified 46 arti-
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-
moderator–mediator-output model from Mohammed, Ferzandi,
and Hamilton (2010), which consists of antecedents (as inputs),
moderators, mediators, and outcomes (as outputs). In brief, the
antecedents are input variables that lead to the outcomes, the
causalities between antecedents and outcomes are explained by
the mediators, whereas their direction and/or strength are affected
by moderators (Baron & Kenny, 1986). As shown in Figure, all
research constructs adopted are grouped in the respective pos-
itions of antecedents, mediators, moderators, and outcomes in this
framework. As the focuses of the various researchers differ, vari-
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-
ence” was used as an antecedent in one paper (e.g., Bagozzi &
Dholakia, 2002), but was taken as a mediator in another (e.g.,
Dholakia et al., 2004).
3.2.1. Antecedents
In the causal-chain framework, an antecedent is a stimulus that
precedes a behavioral outcome and is always positioned at the
input side of the framework. In the extant literature on social media
research, antecedents are considered in three dimensions: social
factors, user attributes, and organizational attributes.
3.2.1.1. Social factors. In terms of social factors, a number of stud-
ies used social influence and social capital as antecedents to explain
users’ socio-psychological motives. The social influence model,
comprising subjective norms, group norms, and social identity, has
been frequently used to study users’ or customers’ motives in pur-
suing certain acts and behavioral changes, such as the studies of
Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002), Hsu and Lin (2008), Kwon and Wen
(2010), and Wang and Lin (2011).
The social capital model, comprising social ties, social interac-
tion, trust, and reciprocity, has similarly been used as antecedents
in various social media studies. Chiu, Hsu, and Wang (2006), Ip and
Wagner (2008), Lin, Hung, and Chen (2009), Chai and Kim (2010),
Shiue et al., 2010, Chiu, Wang, Shih, and Fan (2011), and Hau and
Kim (2011) all explored social capital in terms of both quality and
quantity in delineating users’ knowledge sharing, users’ intention
and behavior, and group cohesion in the context of social media.
Other social factors have likewise been considered by various
scholars as inputs in the causal-chain framework. For instance,
Dholakia et al. (2004) used social enhancement as an antecedent to
evaluate users’ desires, whereas Wei (2009) examined social power
in relation to the knowledge production gap between filter blogs
and personal journals.
3.2.1.2. User attributes. For user attributes, most researchers in this
subject area focused on user perception, user experience, and user
personality and used them to express the attitudinal, behavioral
and innate characteristics of social media users. In this category,
the most widely used input construct was user perception, which
related to perceived feelings or other perceived issues. In partic-
ular, a number of researchers used TAM to study perceived ease
of use and perceived usefulness of social media. For example, Hsu
and Lin (2008) studied the roles of TAM in users’ attitude and inten-
tion to blog. Hossain and de Silva (2009) studied TAM with a focus
on the actual usage of virtual communities under the moderation
of social ties. Steyn et al. (2010) studied TAM in relation to social
media releases within the public relations community to under-
stand bloggers’ intention to use the elements of the releases. Casaló
et al. (2011) used TAM to examine users’ intention to follow advice,
whereas Casaló et al. (2010) adopted TAM to investigate users’
intention to use and recommend in an online travel community.
Apart from TAM, Porter and Donthu (2008) investigated the
effects of users’ perceptions of the efforts projected by an organi-
zation as a sponsor of a virtual community on cultivating trust and
harvesting value. Freberg, Graham, McGaughey, and Freberg (2011)
studied the importance to public relations of the perceived person-
ality of social media influencers as a third party endorser in shaping
customer attitude toward a brand. Fischer and Reuber (2011)
examined how interactions on Twitter affected the effectuation
processes of an entrepreneur, and identified how perceived time
affordability predicted the level of social interaction in which an
entrepreneur engaged via Twitter. Parra-López, Bulchand-Gidumal,
Gutiérrez-Taño, and Díaz-Armas (2011) used a theoretical model
to study how perceived benefits affected the intention to use
social media to organize and take vacation trips from a consumer
perspective. Kang, Lee, Lee, and Choi (2007) studied perceived
community value to understand social participation in an online
community. Lu and Hsiao (2010) used perceived value in terms of
emotional value, social value, price/value for money, and perfor-
mance/quality to understand users’ intention to pay. Hau and Kim
(2011) adopted the Existence, Relatedness, and Growth theory to
relate perceived intrinsic and extrinsic benefits with actual user
behavior of knowledge sharing. Hsiao, Lin, Wang, Lu, and Yu (2010)
used the social network theory to understand how the perceived
ability, benevolence/integrity, and critical mass of a website related
to the intention to purchase products from it. Chang and Zhu (2011)
adopted TPB to understand the effects of perceived behavioral con-
trol on the intention to pre-adopt and post-adopt social networking
sites.
User experience is another input variable pertinent to users’
involvement and time engaged in the social media. Chen (2010)
studied the behavior of Twitter users by utilizing the uses and grat-
ifications approach and found that the more time users spent on
Twitter, the more they gratified a need for connection with oth-
ers and, in turn, the more they engaged in the use of social media.
Nambisan and Watt (2010) analyzed users’ experience in terms of
pragmatic, hedonic, sociability, and usability to understand social
media users’ attitude toward product, company, and service qual-
ity. Akar and Topçu (2011) conducted a detailed study; in which,
they proposed that the social media experience had positive effects
on attitude toward marketing with social media.
User personality was also taken as an antecedent in several
studies on social media. Correa et al. (2010) examined the inter-
section of a user’s personality and social media use, and revealed
that extraversion and openness to experience had positive effects
on the use of social media, whereas emotional stability did not.
Another study conducted by Zhong et al. (2011) sought to under-
stand the association between social media use and personality
traits of “need for cognition” and “information and communication
technology (ICT) innovativeness”; and verified that less effortful
thinking led to more social media use. Huang, Chou, and Lin (2010)
examined the personal factors of a blogger in terms of involve-
ment in relation to advertisement effect and brand attitude. Lu and
Hsiao (2010) used personality traits to understand users’ intention
to obtain information and purchase services from social network
sites.
3.2.1.3. Organizational attributes. For organizational attributes,
researchers applied customer orientation and marketing orientation
as input variables in their research framework to study the effect
of social media usage on revenue, brand building, and customer
relationships. Customer orientation is related to the analysis of cus-
tomer behavior and actions toward product and company selection
under the influence of information obtained from the use of social
media. Karakaya and Barnes (2010) studied the impact of customer
care experience on brand or company selection with respect to
online reviews and have shown the existence of a strong causal rela-
tionship between online consumer opinion and consumer choice
via socially based sites. In another study, de Valck, van Bruggen, and
Wierenga (2009) examined customer characteristics in a virtual
community to understand their pre- and post-purchase evaluation
and search for information.
Market orientation is considered as the implementation of mar-
keting concepts, such as information quality, service quality, and
product price (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990), via the social media platform
to understand consumer behavior. Mathwick (2002) used switch-
ing effort, continuity costs, and contractual costs to understand
online customers’ entertainment value, escapism, intrinsic enjoy-
ment, and loyalty intention. Chen, Fay, and Wang (2011) used a
longitudinal methodology to analyze the effects of product price
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
from two timeframes in 2001 and 2008. The findings revealed that
the marketing variables affected, either negatively or positively,
online posting behavior at different stages of Internet usage, which
in turn influenced customers’ choice of product and brand. Hsiao
et al. (2010) studied the effects of information quality and sys-
tem quality in terms of expectation, perceived performance, and
disconfirmation in relation to blog-user satisfaction.
3.2.2. Mediators
Mediators are variables that explain the causal relationships
between antecedents and outcomes (Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes,
2007). In this study, mediators in social media research can be clas-
sified into three dimensions – platform attributes, social factors, and
user attributes.
3.2.2.1. Platform attributes. Platform attributes consist of choice of
tools and tool integrity, which are considered to have a significant
impact on the causal relationship between inputs and outcomes.
There are various social media tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, and
LinkedIn, designed and tailored for different purposes and target
groups. The choice of these tools may mediate the causality effect of
antecedents on expected behavior. Chen (2010) studied how active
use of Twitter gratified the need to connect with others and found
that the use of various Twitter functions can mediate such a rela-
tionship. Koo, Wati, and Jung (2011) studied the mediating effect
of five media, including blogs as a social media platform, from task
characteristics to task performance and found that media usage
influenced task performance positively. Hsieh, Kuo, Yang, and Lin
(2010) and Wang and Lin (2011) also studied how significantly tool
integrity, in terms of information and system quality, mediated the
expected outcomes.
3.2.2.2. Social factors. Social factors, such as social influence and
social capital, were used as mediators in previous studies on social
media to examine the causality between input and outcome vari-
ables. In particular, Dholakia et al. (2004) used social influence as
a mediator to examine user participation in different virtual com-
munities. A number of other papers had utilized social capital as
a mediator to explain users’ intentions and behavior; for example,
Hsiao et al. (2010) examined the role of trust in mediating users’
purchasing intention, and Shiue et al., 2010 studied the effect of
social ties and social loafing in mediating group cohesion.
3.2.2.3. User attributes. In terms of user attributes, some studies
have revealed the mediating effects of user perception and user
behavior. Although user perceptions have been extensively exam-
ined as an antecedent, they have also been adopted as a mediator.
Kwon and Wen (2010) adopted TAM to study its mediating effect on
actual social media use. Lin et al. (2009) used personal perceptions
to mediate users’ behavior in a professional virtual community. Lu
and Hsiao (2010) revealed the mediating effect of perceived value
on users’ intention to pay.
User behavior had similarly been used as a mediator to exam-
ine the causal effect between antecedents and outcomes in several
papers. Hossain and de Silva (2009) analyzed customer attitude
toward the use of social media and utilized it as a mediator between
the inputs of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and influ-
ence of ties; and the outputs of behavioral intention that led to
actual usage. Karakaya and Barnes (2010) studied how customers’
online engagement mediated their opinions on the choice of a
brand or company. Chen (2010) used tweet frequency and the
number of @replies to mediate the relationship between active
Twitter users and their need for connection. Furthermore, Bagozzi
and Dholakia (2002), Blanchard (2008), 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.
37
(2007) examined users’ attitude toward the use of social media in
mediating user intention and/or behavior.
3.2.3. Moderators
A moderator is a type of research variable, either qualitative (e.g.,
sex, race, class) or quantitative (e.g., level of reward), characterized
statistically by its effects on the direction and/or strength of the
relation between dependent and independent variables (Baron &
Kenny, 1986). The moderators used in social media research can be
classified as user characteristics and social factors.
3.2.3.1. User characteristics. User characteristics refer to demo-
graphic variables, user personality, and cultural differences.
Researchers analyze how these characteristics of social media
users can influence the strength and direction of the relationship
between antecedents and resulting behavior. Some studies, such as
Zhang, Lee, Cheung, and Chen (2009), Chen (2010) and Correa et al.
(2010); have used demographic variables, including age, gender,
income, and education, as control variables in analyzing the mod-
erating effects. Lu and Hsiao (2010) studied users’ intention to pay
under the moderation of user personality. Specifically, their study
examined whether the user is extroverted or introverted. Lewis
and George (2008) studied the impact of cross-cultural deceptive
behavior moderated by cultural differences, such as individualism,
power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity.
3.2.3.2. Social factors. Some researchers demonstrated how social
factors, such as social influence and social capital, can be used as
moderators to determine the strength and direction of antecedents’
influence on expected outcomes. Koo et al. (2011) used social influ-
ence to moderate the relationships between task characteristics
and usage of social communication technologies, which further led
to task performance. Results showed that social influence moder-
ated some of the relationships in both directions (i.e., positively
and negatively). Casaló et al. (2011) also used social influence to
moderate the effect of user perceptions on the intention to follow
advice. Fischer and Reuber (2011) proposed two social influence
factors, community orientation and community norm adherence,
and examined how these two factors moderate the consequences
of social interactions via Twitter on the effectual cognition (i.e.,
thinking and behavior) of an entrepreneur. Hossain and de Silva
(2009) studied the influence of social capital in terms of social ties
on moderating the relationship of customer attitude toward use
and customer behavioral intention; and revealed that both weak
and strong social ties exhibited a strong correlation with attitude
toward use.
3.2.4. Outcomes
The outcomes are the expected results generated by antecedents
under the influence of mediators and moderators. The outcomes,
being dependent variables of the extant social media research, con-
sist of two major dimensions, personal context, and organizational
context.
3.2.4.1. Personal context. Personal context comprises user intention
and user behavior, which are the most important outcome variables
adopted by researchers to examine social media usage. In particu-
lar, user intention has been studied extensively, with a majority
of papers focused on it. Thus, only a few representative papers
are discussed in this part. Parra-López et al. (2011) studied the
intention to use social media with respect to perceived benefits
of use. Henderson and Bowley (2010) examined the intention to
use social media in an authentic social media environment. Zhong
et al. (2011) investigated the associations between use of social
network sites (SNSs), analogous to social media use, and personal-
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-
ality traits. Steyn et al. (2010) analyzed the relationship between
perceived effectiveness and intention to use social media in public
relations. Cheung and Lee (2010) studied the collective intention to
use social media in relation to subjective norms, group norms, and
social identity. Overall, most of them have focused on studying the
relationships between the conditions of using social media and the
intention to use, or actual use of, social media.
User behavior comprises certain behavioral changes exhibited
by users, such as the need for connection, effectual cognition,
knowledge sharing, and satisfaction, and was also widely regarded
as the expected outcome. Chen (2010) studied the need for connec-
tion by analyzing Twitter users, and suggested that heavy Twitter
users were gratifying a need for connection. Fischer and Reuber
(2011) studied how social interactions on Twitter affect effectual
cognition. They also investigated how perceived time affordability
observed by the entrepreneur has a positive effect on the amount of
time he/she spends in social media usage from the perspective of a
social media user. Hau and Kim (2011) identified the actual behav-
ior of knowledge sharing as the outcome due to user perceived
benefits.
3.2.4.2. Organization context. Organization context in this study
relates to brand equity and customer relationship, which was put by
some researchers to the output side in the causal-chain framework.
For brand equity, some studies regarded it as a beneficial outcome
for a company. Karakaya and Barnes (2010) examined a causal rela-
tionship between customer online opinion and choice of brand or
company, and highlighted that the selection of company is con-
sidered as a type of brand equity in this instance. Labrecque et al.
(2010) conducted an in-depth study into online personal branding,
which can be borrowed for company brand positioning and equity.
Colliander and Dahlén (2011) investigated and compared the brand
publicity in social media and traditional digital media, and found
that blogs generated high brand attitudes, which led to purchase
intentions. Freberg et al. (2011) also studied the benefits brought
by social media influencers to brands, and found that the effects
on brand equity depend upon the perceived creditability of social
media influencers by social media users.
Customer relationship was also studied and analyzed in social
media research as a proxy of intention to use. Porter and Donthu
(2008) explored the role of a firm’s efforts in cultivating trust and
harvesting value for itself via its sponsored virtual communities,
and found that trust motivates customers to behave relationally
toward the sponsoring firm, as shown in their willingness to share
personal information, to cooperate in new product development,
and to grant their loyalty. Akar and Topçu (2011) examined fac-
tors affecting customers’ attitudes toward social media marketing,
and revealed a positive relationship between social media use and
customers’ attitude, suggesting that social media marketers should
shape their social media marketing strategies to improve their cus-
tomer relationships.
In summary, the attributes in our developed causal-chain frame-
work of social media research in the categories of antecedents,
mediators, moderator, and outcomes are shown in Table 2.
4. Implications and future research directions
Based on the proposed causal-chain framework of social media
research, this section discusses the implications of the above find-
ings and identifies opportunities for future research in social media.
4.1. Implications of the findings
This literature review study shows that numerous researchers
had studied the causal relationships of various dependent and
independent variables in the presence or absence of media-
tors and moderators, using both quantitative and qualitative
methods. All these attributes are delineated in the proposed
causal-chain framework of social media research (see Fig. 1 and
Table 2).
With regard to antecedents, social influence and social capi-
tal in the category of social factors are the two most frequently
adopted input variables. Researchers attempt to discover why
people engage with social media and how socio-psychological
factors and perceptions affect their engagement and interaction
with others. For the category of user attributes, the user per-
ception, in terms of ease of use, usefulness, and benefits of use,
attracts considerable research attention. Some researchers also
study whether user experience occupies a function in encour-
aging social media use, as well as how user personality affects
the ways social media is used. In the category of organiza-
tional attributes, researchers have focused on investigating the
effect of customer orientation and marketing orientation in an
organizational context. A few papers are found to examine how cus-
tomers’ attitude relates to devising marketing strategies for social
media.
For the outcome variables, most researchers are devoted to
investigate user intention and user behavior in the personal con-
text in relation to various antecedents, as users’ intention to use or
purchase social media for both leisure and business purposes is the
most important aspect in social media research. Notwithstanding,
minimal research has been conducted on the organization context,
except a few for the examination of the effect of brand equity and
customer relationships.
Among the mediators, choice of tools is found to be an impor-
tant element in the category of platform attributes in conducting
social media research because different social media tools, like
Facebook and Twitter, are used in different ways and require dif-
ferent styles of approach and analysis. Thus, the choice of tools
has a mediating effect on the relationship between antecedents
and outcomes. Moreover, some researchers are concerned with
tool integrity in information and system qualities, which affect
the way users engage in social media applications. For social
factors, social influence and social capital are widely used in medi-
ating the ways antecedents affect outcomes. In the user attributes
category, user perception and user behavior are also important medi-
ators.
As regards the moderators in the category of user characteris-
tics, demographic factors, user personality, and cultural differences are
some of the basic controlling factors used to examine the changes
in strength and direction of the causalities between antecedents
and outcomes in social media research. Other moderators in the
social factors category comprise social influence and social capital.
Some researchers placed importance in understanding how these
social factors moderated the relationships between dependent and
independent variables in a social media context.
The proposed causal-chain framework clearly shows that
researchers selected and used various attributes in different com-
binations in pursuing their academic studies. For instance, some
scholars retained user perception, social factors, and user inten-
tion, but had different choice of tools for analysis. Different social
media tools yield different results by virtue of their nature, content,
and characteristics, as seen in the comparison between Facebook
and Twitter. Moreover, variables adopted can be put in different
positions along the causal-chain framework. This decision highly
depends on the individual researcher’s research focus. For instance,
social factors can be used as an antecedent, mediator, and/or mod-
erator variable. Indeed, social factors play a very important role in
social media research because many researchers aim to understand
the socio-psychological aspects of users’ participation in various
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
Fig. 1. Causal-chain framework for social media research.
2012). In this regard, some basic questions need to be researched.
For instance, why do organizations not adopt social media in their
business operations? What factors or variables affect or hinder
organizations’ adoption of social media? Most importantly, does
social media adoption really contribute to firm performance? These
questions are not well-addressed by existing research.
Referring to the research conducted on information technology
(IT) adoption, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), a num-
ber of research studies have shown the importance of organization
orientation (i.e., organizational factors) in the adoption of new tech-
nologies, which lead to improved firm performance. For instance,
Law and Ngai (2007) conducted a research study to identify CEO-
IT distance, senior management support, and strategic intent as
organizational factors, which drive firm performance in adopting
ERP. Ngai, Law, and Wat (2008) examined the critical success fac-
tors (CSFs) in implementing an ERP, and found that among all CSFs,
top management support, ERP teamwork and composition, project
management, and change in management culture were the top
four most important CSFs. In accordance with another study by Lin
(2006) on the organizational determinants for Internet-based inter-
organizational systems, top management support, organizational
centralization, and technological competence affected the success-
ful achievement of the planned objectives for such systems. Based
on these research results, organizational factors can be posited to be
important in the adoption of new technologies, which leads to the
improvement of firm performance. The application of social media
technology is close to that of ERP or other IT systems. Thus, such
an argument can be extended to social media research in future
studies.
4.2.2. Social power
Social factors, particularly social influence and social capital, are
well researched in social media studies. Researchers have largely
focused on understanding users’ socio-psychological behavior in
social media use and applications. However, a major social factor,
social power, has not been extensively studied. The only excep-
tion is the work of Wei (2009), who used a narrow definition to
analyze how social power is exhibited in different levels of blogs.
Recently, a sixth power type, information power, was added by
Ke, Liu, Wei, Gu, and Chen (2009) to the Five Bases of Power (i.e.,
reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power,
expert power). They examined the causal relationship between
these six types of social power and the adoption of the electronic
supply chain management system (eSCMS) in dyadic conditions
of an inter-organizational system. Their findings indicated that all
types of power, with the exception of referent power, had direct
effects on the adoption intention of eSCMS under the mediation of
coercive pressure, normative pressure, and trust.
Likewise, Oke, Idiagbon-Oke, and Walumbwa (2008) studied
social power in a network-based environment to investigate the
relationships among social influence, strength of ties, and project
outcomes in a new product development (NPD) process. Their find-
ings indicated that the use of social power had a significant effect
on the project outcomes of design performance and development
time. In addition, Nygaard and Biong (2010) studied the effect of
the use of social power by retail management on corporate ethical
values. Their results showed that, with the exception of reward and
legitimate power, all types of social power had significant effects on
corporate ethical values. Azad and Faraj (2011) went a step further
by using a case study to analyze and prove the relationship between
social power and meaning construction within the confines of the
IT project implementation process. All in all, social power has a
strong impact on various business practices.
Conceptually, social power rests on the premise that power
involves a relationship of at least two agents, sender and recipient.
Social power theory aims to understand and explain the reaction
phenomenon of the recipient agent in response to the influences of
the sender agent. In social media research, an analysis of whether
some or all types of social power act as antecedents that directly
cause anticipated outcomes, as mediating factors that explain
causal relationship, or as moderating factors that influencing the
strength and direction of the bonds between dependent and inde-
pendent variables is noteworthy. In this regard, certain important
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
affect and/or mediate users’ intentions and behaviors as well as
firms’ performance in the adoption of social media? If yes, what
types of social power yield significant effects on these outcomes?
Given that social media represent a free environment for anyone
to participate, can social power also have a backfire effect on the
outcomes if coercive power is used in the business context? These
questions provide a range of research opportunities in this subject
area.
4.2.3. Cultural differences
At present, social media are widely used in all countries and
all regions of the world. However, little research has been con-
ducted to reveal the influences of cultural differences on social media
usage and application. Only a few exceptions are found, includ-
ing Lewis and George (2008), who employed Hofstede’s (2001)
cultural dimensions as moderating factors to understand cross-
cultural deception in social networking sites; and Pookulangara and
Koesler (2011), who developed a conceptual framework to study
cultural influence on users’ social media usage and online purchase
intentions, through the employ of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
as moderating factors.
Provided that social media have no boundaries and link up dif-
ferent nations and people, understanding whether any differences
exist in the adoption and usage of social media in different cultures
is important. For instance, the unique cultural characteristics of
Koreans, such as “Ppalli! Ppalli!” (i.e., Hurry! Hurry!) behavior and
strong need for connection, give Korea the world’s highest visita-
tion rate in social media. Nonetheless, minimal research on cultural
considerations in social media adoption has been conducted. This
limitation leads to certain research questions such as: does cultural
difference really matter in social media usage and application? How
does cultural difference affect the ways users behave and act in the
social media setting? Do all cultural dimensions display the same
degree of significance in social media? The answers to these ques-
tions can extend our knowledge on cultural differences as well as
help marketers devise appropriate strategies to meet the needs and
wants of customers in different cultural contexts.
4.2.4. Impacts of social media
The influence of social media on our world is so tremendous
that we could not have imagined it a few years ago. Such effects are
not only confined at the individual level but also at the organization
and social levels. Today, many individuals’ private lives are linked to
social media. According to a Pew Research report in 2013, more that
70% of online adults in America use social networking sites of some
kind, and about 60% of them visit these social media sites at least
once a day (Duggan & Smith, 2013). Inevitably, social media enable
individuals to access and connect to a boundless world to make
friends, share information, access entertainment, and receive news.
However, spending hours on social media could lead to addiction,
reduced motivation to participate in other activities, and perhaps
cause physical health problems. Another downside of social media
at the individual level is that users need to maintain their social pro-
files constantly, which may lead to severe stress. More importantly,
sharing too much information could allow personal information
to be leaked on the Internet. Furthermore, the increase of cyber-
bullying can terrorize an individual and cause negative effects to
his or her psychology. This influence has been identified as an
important problem specifically amongst youth over the last decade
(Slongje, Smith, & Frisen, 2013).
At the organization level, social media enable people to con-
nect, share information, and participate in all business processes,
no matter their physical location. The increase in popularity of
applying social media in the business world has forced executives
to rethink how they operate their businesses. Internally, manage-
ment needs to be aware and possibly control their employees’ use
41
of social media in the workplace. Surfing social networking sites
has often been seen as a major distraction for some employees,
as it can pull their attention away from work tasks and, in turn,
damage the productivity of a firm. An upward trend also exists
for employees working from home, which blurs the boundaries
between work and private life. As such, it is necessary to manage
home workers’ involvement in social networking to ensure their
output performance meets the requirements of the job.
In addition to supporting internal communications, social media
also gives aspiring business owners a platform from which to build
their networks, as they can gain access to and connect with existing
or potential members along the entire supply chains. However, the
very nature of social media makes data control difficult. Organiza-
tion must achieve a balance between the need to use social media to
connect to trading partners and the need to assure the security and
integrity of their businesses. Therefore, the challenge is to set up a
proper technological infrastructure, such as a big data management
system, to manage all data related to social media use. Organiza-
tions need to involve defining groups of employees whose primary
objective is to manage corporate social media (Kaplan & Haenlein,
2010).
At the social level, social media has broken communication
barriers once caused by geographic isolation, which has helped
individuals develop more “friends” and expand their social circles;
especially those who have social or physical mobility restrictions.
From this perspective, social media has brought society some pos-
itive changes. However, despite the extent to which we can meet
more people within the vast social media platform, we cannot build
strong ties with all of these “virtual” friends, as our available time is
limited. More importantly, this further weakens our real-life rela-
tionships with family members and friends. In addition, the human
elements of conversation, such as laughter, facial expressions, the
feel of touch, are removed with social media. These elements are
all very real human qualities that individuals need to express and
interpret through face-to-face interactions.
Furthermore, social media unite people at individual, organi-
zational, and social levels through the provision of a boundless
platform, which has nurtured a new concept of “crowdpreneur” and
opened many opportunities and challenges in the business world
(Goossen, 2008). Individuals or organizations with entrepreneurial
ideas, which could include inventions, creative product concepts,
or new business strategies, can be empowered by the crowd on the
Internet. Through the social media platform, people can raise funds
to start or run a business, obtain advice or expertise from mem-
bers of the crowd, source materials and goods from a wide range
of sources, and engage in many other activities. By capitalizing
on crowd power, the “crowdpreneur” can make an entrepreneur’s
dream come true or make a business more successful and sustain-
able.
Overall, the adoption of social media generates both positive and
negative effects on our lives at various levels. Because these effects
are so large that we cannot ignore them, further studies should be
conducted to monitor the changes brought about by social media
over time to discover possible solutions to the problems created
by the use of social media. Potential research questions in this area
may include the following: How does a firm apply technologies
and train staff to manage the availability, storing, and filtering of
data captured or used in social media to ensure the wise use of
data and protect the privacy of all stakeholders? How does a busi-
ness interact with clients and manage employees who use social
media frequently at work and in their private lives, and access pro-
cesses and data anywhere at any time? How does one make use of
collective wisdom and mass collaboration from a crowd to capture
opportunities to build and sustain a business? How do social media
use for work purpose that produce harmful effects to the inter-
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-
pose, that may emerge? A study to address these questions may
help us better understand the true value of social media.
5. Conclusion
The arrival of social media has changed private lives, business
operations, and relational interactions within various communities
tremendously, which has led directly to the increase of academic
research and studies on social media adoption (Hanna et al., 2011;
Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011; Mangold &
Faulds, 2009). The present study provides an intensive review
on 46 identified articles in the extant literature to understand
how previous researchers developed their models and theories to
explain users’ behaviors toward social media. The variables adopted
by researchers are incorporated in a representative causal-chain
framework and classified into four categories: antecedents, medi-
ators, moderators, and outcomes.
The sample articles in this study exhibit the various research
constructs that researchers have adopted together with the interre-
lationships among these constructs. Notably, social factors in terms
of social influence and social capital appear in three positions of the
framework: antecedents, moderators, and mediators. This finding
is understandable as the use of social media involves numerous
socio-psychological factors. Thus, previous research is bound to
involve social theories in various areas. User attributes, particu-
larly in terms of user perceptions that act as both antecedents and
mediators, are also important variables that researchers have ana-
lyzed in relation to the outcomes of their proposed frameworks. In
view of outcome variable, user intention has been a major focus
because researchers have aimed to examine how the social media
environment affects user intention.
Conversely, other important areas, such as organization ori-
entation, social power, cultural differences, and impacts of social
media, have not received sufficient research attention. Accordingly,
we identified several research gaps and proposed four potential
research directions for these areas. Nonetheless, a coin always has
two sides; social media are a double-edged sword that can help and
harm. Future research should address both the positive and nega-
tive sides of adopting social media and provide explanations and
resolutions to enable healthy growth of the social media market in
the years to come.
Overall, the contribution of this study is significant. Qualita-
tively, we conducted an intensive review of identified articles
to reveal the researchers’ focuses on social media and their key
findings, which can be used as an immediate reference for other
researchers in this subject area. Quantitatively, we devised one
causal-chain framework to incorporate the various constructs used
in the 46 empirical studies, which provides a pictorial summary and
enables readers to understand the body of research conducted on
social media. Further, we suggested four future research directions,
which may help researchers identify relevant topics in this subject
area.
While this study has its merits, certain limitations remain. First,
the review of the extant literature may not be exhaustive. More
work is required to include relevant papers from different sources.
Second, social media research is in its early stages. Thus, additional
journal papers with empirical results will continue to surface. More
recently published social media research should be considered
in future studies. Finally, in terms of terminology, “social media”
is occasionally confused with other computer/Internet-related
expressions. Although the search process in this study embraced
similar terms, such as “virtual communities,” “online communi-
ties,” “blogs,” “Web 2.0,” “social networking sites,” and “social
computing,” exploration of the use of other relevant keywords
within the boundaries of social media is required, especially with
the continuous proliferation of new social media technologies.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the constructive comments of the
reviewers on the earlier version of this paper. This research was
supported in part by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University under
grant number ZZAU.
References
Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J.
Kuhl, & J. Beckman (Eds.), Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11–39).
Heidelberg: Springer.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Akar, E., & Topçu, B. (2011). An examination of the factors influencing consumers’
attitudes toward social media marketing. Journal of Internet Commerce, 10(1),
35–67.
Azad, B., & Faraj, S. (2011). Social power and information technology implementa-
tion: A contentious framing lens. Information Systems Journal, 21(1), 33–61.
Bagozzi, R. P., & Dholakia, U. M. (2002). Intentional social action in virtual commu-
nities. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16(2), 2–21.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction
in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical consider-
ations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.
Blanchard, A. L. (2008). Testing a model of sense of virtual community. Computers in
Human Behavior, 24(5), 2107–2123.
Bonsón, E., & Flores, F. (2011). Social media and corporate dialogue: The response of
global financial institutions. Online Information Review, 35(1), 34–49.
Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C., & Guinalíu, M. (2010). Determinants of the intention to
participate in firm-hosted online travel communities and effects on consumer
behavioral intentions. Tourism Management, 31(6), 898–911.
Casaló, L. V., Carlos, F., & Guinalíu, M. (2011). Understanding the intention to follow
the advice obtained in an online travel community. Computers in Human Behav-
ior, 2792, 622–633.
Chai, S., & Kim, M. (2010). What makes bloggers share knowledge? An investiga-
tion on the role of trust. International Journal of Information Management, 30(5),
408–415.
Chan, Y. Y. Y., & Ngai, E. W. T. (2011). Conceptualising electronic word of mouth
activity: An input-process-output perspective. Marketing Intelligence & Planning,
29(5), 488–516.
Chang, H. H., & Chuang, S. S. (2011). Social capital and individual motivations on
knowledge sharing: Participant involvement as a moderator. Information & Man-
agement, 48(1), 9–18.
Chang, Y. P., & Zhu, D. H. (2011). Understanding social networking sites adoption in
China: A comparison of pre-adoption and post-adoption. Computers in Human
Behavior, 27(5), 1840–1848.
Chen, G. M. (2010). Tweet this: A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others. Computers in Human Behavior,
27(2), 755–762.
Chen, Y., Fay, S., & Wang, Q. (2011). The role of marketing in social media: How
online consumer reviews evolve. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 25(2), 85–94.
Cheung, C. M. K., & Lee, M. K. O. (2010). A theoretical model of intentional social
action in online social networks. Decision Support Systems, 49(1), 24–30.
Chiu, C. M., Hsu, M. H., & Wang, E. T. G. (2006). Understanding knowledge shar-
ing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive
theories. Decision Support Systems, 42(3), 1872–1888.
Chiu, C. M., Wang, E. T. G., Shih, F. J., & Fan, Y. W. (2011). Understanding knowledge
sharing in virtual communities: An integration of expectancy disconfirmation
and justice theories. Online Information Review, 35(1), 134–153.
Colliander, J., & Dahlén, M. (2011). Following the fashionable friend: The power of
social media. Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1), 313–320.
Correa, T., Hinsley, A. W., & de Zúñiga, H. G. (2010). Who interacts on the Web?
The intersection of users’ personality and social media use. Computers in Human
Behavior, 26(2), 247–253.
Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance
of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340.
de Valck, K., van Bruggen, G. H., & Wierenga, B. (2009). Virtual communities: A
marketing perspective. Decision Support Systems, 47(3), 185–203.
Dholakia, U. M., Bagozzi, R. P., & Pearo, L. K. (2004). A social influence model of con-
sumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities.
International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21(3), 241–263.
Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model.
Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417–440.
Duggan, M., & Smith, A. (2013). Social media update 2013. Available from:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/12/30/social-media-update-2013/.
Retrieved on 05.05.14
Eighmey, J., & McCord, L. (1998). Adding value in the information age: Uses and
gratifications of sites on the World Wide Web. Journal of Business Research, 41(3),
187–194.
 E.W.T. Ngai et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 33–44
Fernando, I. (2010). Community creation by means of a social media paradigm.
Learning Organization, 17(6), 500–514.
Fischer, E., & Reuber, A. R. (2011). Social interaction via new social media: (How) can
interactions on Twitter affect effectual thinking and behavior. Journal of Business
Venture, 26, 1–18.
Freberg, K., Graham, K., McGaughey, K., & Freberg, L. A. (2011). Who are the social
media influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality. Public Relations
Review, 37(1), 90–92.
French, J. R. P., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.),
Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). Oxford, England: Univer. Michigan.
Goossen, R. (2008). e-Preneur: from Wall Street to Wiki: Succeeding as a crowd-
preneurin the new virtual marketplace. Pompton Plains, NJ: Career Press.
Hanna, R., Rohm, A., & Crittenden, V. L. (2011). We’re all connected: The power of
the social media ecosystem. Business Horizons, 54(3), 265–273.
Hau, Y. S., & Kim, Y. G. (2011). Why would online gamers share their innovation-
conducive knowledge in the online game user community? Integrating
individual motivations and social capital perspectives. Computers in Human
Behavior, 27(2), 956–970.
He, W., Zha, S., & Li, L. (2013). Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A
case study in the pizza industry. International Journal of Information Management,
33(3), 464–472.
Henderson, A., & Bowley, R. (2010). Authentic dialogue? The role of friendship in
a social media recruitment campaign. Journal of Communication Management,
14(3), 237–257.
Hofstede, G. H. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institu-
tions and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Sage Publication.
Hossain, L., & de Silva, A. (2009). Exploring user acceptance of technology
using social networks. Journal of High Technology Management Research, 20(1),
1–18.
Hsiao, K. L., Lin, J. C. C., Wang, X. Y., Lu, H. P., & Yu, H. (2010). Antecedents and
consequences of trust in online product recommendations. Online Information
Review, 34(6), 935–953.
Hsieh, C. C., Kuo, P. L., Yang, S. C., & Lin, S. H. (2010). Assessing blog-user satisfac-
tion using the expectation and disconfirmation approach. Computers in Human
Behavior, 26(6), 1434–1444.
Hsu, C. L., & Lin, J. C. C. (2008). Acceptance of blog usage: The roles of technology
acceptance, social influence and knowledge sharing motivation. Information &
Management, 45(1), 65–74.
Huang, C. Y., Chou, C. J., & Lin, P. C. (2010). Involvement theory in constructing
bloggers’ intention to purchase travel products. Tourism Management, 31(4),
513–526.
Ip, R. K. F., & Wagner, C. (2008). Weblogging: A study of social computing and its
impact on organizations. Decision Support Systems, 45(2), 242–250.
Jin, S.-A. A. (2012). The potential of social media for luxury brand management.
Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(7), 687–699.
Kang, I., Lee, K. C., Lee, S., & Choi, J. (2007). Investigation of online community
voluntary behavior using cognitive map. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(1),
111–126.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and
opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59–68.
Karakaya, F., & Barnes, N. G. (2010). Impact of online reviews of customer care expe-
rience on brand or company selection. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 27(5),
447–457.
Kasavana, M. L., Nusair, K., & Teodosic, K. (2010). Online social networking: Redefin-
ing the human web. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 1(1), 68–82.
Ke, W., Liu, H., Wei, K. K., Gu, J., & Chen, H. (2009). How do mediated and non-
mediated power affect electronic supply chain management system adoption?
The mediating effects of trust and institutional pressures. Decision Support Sys-
tems, 46(4), 839–851.
Kelman, H. C. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three pro-
cesses of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2(1), 51–60.
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media?
Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Busi-
ness Horizons, 54(3), 241–251.
Kohli, A. K., & Jaworski, B. J. (1990). Market orientation: The construct, research
propositions, and managerial implications. Journal of Marketing, 54(2), 1–18.
Koo, C., Wati, Y., & Jung, J. J. (2011). Examination of how social aspects moderate
the relationship between task characteristics and usage of social communica-
tion technologies (SCTs). International Journal of Information Management, 31(5),
445–459.
Kwon, O., & Wen, Y. (2010). An empirical study of the factors affecting social network
service use. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(2), 254–263.
Labrecque, L. I., Markos, E., & Milne, G. R. (2010). Online personal branding: Processes,
challenges, and implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 25(1), 37–50.
Laroche, M., Habibi, M. R., & Richard, M-O. (2013). To be or not to be in social
media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media? International Journal of
Information Management, 33(1), 76–82.
Latané, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work:
The causes and consequences of social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 37(6), 822–832.
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-
ment, 44(4), 418–432.
Lewis, G. G., & George, J. F. (2008). Cross-cultural deception in social network-
ing sites and face-to-face communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(6),
2945–2964.
43
Lin, H. F. (2006). Interorganizational and organizational determinants of plan-
ning effectiveness for Internet-based interorganizational systems. Information
& Management, 43(4), 423–433.
Lin, M. J. J., Hung, S. W., & Chen, C. J. (2009). Fostering the determinants of knowl-
edge sharing in professional virtual communities. Computers in Human Behavior,
25(4), 929–939.
Lu, H. O., & Hsiao, K. L. (2010). The influence of extro/introversion on the inten-
tion to pay for social networking sites. Information & Management, 47(3),
150–157.
Lu, Y. B., Zhao, L., & Wang, B. (2010). From virtual community members to
C2C e-commerce buyers: Trust in virtual communities and its effect on con-
sumers’ purchase intention. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 9(4),
346–360.
Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the
promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), 357–365.
Mathwick, C. (2002). Understanding the online consumer: A typology of
online relational norms and behavior. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16(1),
40–55.
Mitic, M., & Kapoulas, A. (2012). Understanding the role of social media in bank
marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(7), 668–686.
Mohammed, S., Ferzandi, L., & Hamilton, K. (2010). Metaphor no more: A 15-year
review of the team mental model construct. Journal of Management, 36(4),
876–910.
Nambisan, P., & Watt, J. H. (2010). Managing customer experiences in online product
communities. Journal of Business Research, 64(8), 889–895.
Ngai, E. W. T., & Wat, F. K. T. (2002). A literature review and classification of electronic
commerce research. Information & Management, 39(5), 415–429.
Ngai, E. W. T., Law, C. C. H., & Wat, F. K. T. (2008). Examining the critical success
factors in the adoption of enterprise resource planning. Computers in Industry,
59(6), 548–564.
Nygaard, A., & Biong, H. (2010). The influence of retail management’s use of social
power on corporate ethical values, employee commitment, and performance.
Journal of Business Ethics, 97, 87–108.
Oke, A., Idiagbon-Oke, M., & Walumbwa, F. (2008). The relationship between bro-
kers’ influence, strength of ties and NPD project outcomes in innovation-driven
horizontal networks. Journal of Operations Management, 26(5), 571–589.
Parra-López, E., Bulchand-Gidumal, J., Gutiérrez-Taño, D., & Díaz-Armas, R. (2011).
Intentions to use social media in organizing and taking vacation trips. Computers
in Human Behavior, 27(2), 640–654.
Peppler, K. A., & Solomou, M. (2011). Building creativity: Collaborative learning and
creativity in social media environments. On the Horizon, 19(1), 13–23.
Peters, L. (1998). The new interactive media: One-to-one, but who to whom? Mar-
keting Intelligence & Planning, 16(1), 22–30.
Pookulangara, S., & Koesler, K. (2011). Cultural influence on consumers’ usage of
social networks and its’ impact on online purchase intentions. Journal of Retailing
and Consumer Services, 18(4), 348–354.
Porter, C. E., & Donthu, N. (2008). Cultivating trust and harvesting value in virtual
communities. Management Science, 54(1), 113–128.
Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology.
Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–24.
Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated medi-
ation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral
Research, 42(1), 185–227.
Shiue, Y. C., Chiu, C. M., & Chang, C. C. (2010). Exploring and mitigating social loafing
in online communities. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(4), 768–777.
Slonje, R., Smith, P. K., & Frisen, A. (2013). The nature of cyberbullying and strategies
for prevention. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 26–32.
Steyn, P., Salehi-Sangari, E., Pitt, L., Parent, M., & Berthon, P. (2010). The social media
release as a public relations tool: Intentions to use among B2B bloggers. Public
Relations Review, 36(1), 87–89.
Tang, Q., Gu, B., & Whinston, A. B. (2012). Content contribution for revenue sharing
and reputation in social media: A dynamic structural model. Journal of Manage-
ment Information Systems, 29(2), 41–76.
Wang, S. M., & Lin, J. C. C. (2011). The effect of social influence on bloggers’ usage
intention. Online Information Review, 35(1), 50–65.
Wei, L. (2009). Filter blogs vs. personal journals: Understanding the knowledge pro-
duction gap on the Internet. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(3),
532–559.
Yates, D., & Paquette, S. (2011). Emergency knowledge management and social
media technologies: A case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. International
Journal of Information Management, 31(1), 6–13.
Zhang, K. Z. K., Lee, M. K. O., Cheung, C. M. K., & Chen, H. (2009). Understanding the
role of gender in bloggers’ switching behavior. Decision Support Systems, 47(4),
540–546.
Zhong, B., Hardin, M., & Sun, T. (2011). Less effortful thinking leads to more social
networking? The associations between the use of social network sites and per-
sonality traits. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(3), 1265–1271.
Zhu, F., & Zhang, X. Q. M. (2010). Impact of online consumer reviews on sales: The
moderating role of product and consumer characteristics. Journal of Marketing,
72(March), 133–148.
Eric W.T. Ngai is an Associate Head and Professor in the Department of Man-
agement and Marketing at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His current
research interests are in the areas of e-commerce, supply chain management, deci-
sion support systems, and social media technology and applications. He has over
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
Management, and Production & Operations Management. He is an Associate Editor of
Information & Management and serves on the editorial board of three other interna-
tional journals. Prof. Ngai has attained an h-index of 22, and received 1,380 citations,
ISI Web of Science.
Spencer C.S. Tao is the Chief Executive Officer at the Hong Kong Federation
of Innovative Technologies and Manufacturing Industries (FITMI). He has held
various executive management positions at different academic and commercial
organizations. His research interests include social media technology and strategic
management.
Karen Ka-Leung Moon is an Associate Professor at Seoul National University,
Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design, Republic of Korea.
Dr. Moon has worked in the fashion industry as a designer, R&D researcher,
merchandiser, and retail entrepreneur. She has also worked as a faculty mem-
ber at various tertiary education institutions, including Hong Kong Vocational
Training Council, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hanyang Univer-
sity. Her professional expertise and research interests embrace fashion business,
supply chain management, implementation of innovative technologies, and con-
sumer behavior. She has over 50 publications in peer-reviewed international
journals, including IJPE, IJOPM, EJOR, IMDS, JOTI, IJPR, JBIM, ESWA, JECR, and
EAAI.