TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of user interaction and participation in social media on the consumption intention of niche products
AU - Phang, Chee Wei
AU - Zhang, Chenghong
AU - Sutanto, Juliana
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this paper was supported by the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (grant number: 20100071120036) from the Ministry of Education of The People's Republic of China; and the Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Fund (grant number: 2011BGL005 and 2012BGL009). We would also like to thank Yi Ding for her generous assistance provided in an initial version of this paper.
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - Social media may be particularly adept at promoting niche products because of the tendency of consumers to participate in generating reviews and discussing such products, thereby raising interest in them. In this study, we investigate how patterns of user interaction in discussing a niche cultural product may influence participation levels, which in turn enhance consumption intentions. We show that higher levels of participation can indeed enhance consumption intention. Furthermore, interaction patterns with high inclusiveness and betweenness centralization may enhance participation levels, whereas out-degree centralization and core-periphery have a detrimental influence. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
AB - Social media may be particularly adept at promoting niche products because of the tendency of consumers to participate in generating reviews and discussing such products, thereby raising interest in them. In this study, we investigate how patterns of user interaction in discussing a niche cultural product may influence participation levels, which in turn enhance consumption intentions. We show that higher levels of participation can indeed enhance consumption intention. Furthermore, interaction patterns with high inclusiveness and betweenness centralization may enhance participation levels, whereas out-degree centralization and core-periphery have a detrimental influence. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
KW - Network structural properties
KW - Niche cultural products
KW - Social media participation
KW - Social network analysis
KW - User interaction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893657318&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.im.2013.07.001
DO - 10.1016/j.im.2013.07.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84893657318
SN - 0378-7206
VL - 50
SP - 661
EP - 672
JO - Information and Management
JF - Information and Management
IS - 8
ER -