Networked Identities: Exploring the Role of Social Networking to Optimize Event Marketing by Higher Education Institutions in the Middle East

ORCID Identifiers

0000-0001-7843-3058

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Asia Pacific Media Educator

Publication Date

12-1-2020

Abstract

© 2020 University of Wollongong. This article examines the growing use and influence of two popular social networking sites—Facebook and LinkedIn—in the Middle East. Under the premise of Social Identity theory, we focus on the impact of posting information about academic-related events on social networking sites. We recruited 180 participants in a laboratory-based experiment using a 2 (medium type) × 2 (message valance) × 2 (group affiliation) factorial design to assess the moderating role of medium credibility, electronic word-of-mouth valence (eWOM) and perceived in-group affiliation of the respondents. The results indicate that, under the same moderating conditions, popular and widely used social sites are more capable of generating a positive response from students than sites that are not popular or widely used. In addition, the theoretical and practical implications of the findings are addressed.

ISSN

1326-365X

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Volume

30

Issue

2

First Page

180

Last Page

199

Disciplines

Computer Sciences

Keywords

eWOM, Facebook, LinkedIn, social identity, social networking

Scopus ID

85097777352

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Share

COinS