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Online communicatie: Wie ben ik als non-profit organisatie in een interactieve online omgeving?

Loos, Bouke de (2010) Online communicatie: Wie ben ik als non-profit organisatie in een interactieve online omgeving?

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Abstract:Communication between organizations and consumers has changed drastically in the last ten years. These days, receivers in the communication process wants to decide themselves how, when and where which information is received. The receiver personally takes the initiative. This is reflected in the growing number of online communities, in which current events are discussed, and the explosive growth of social media. These developments within new media reduces the control over place and context of organizations in comparison to the traditional media. However, the consumer remains sensitive to communication with people in their direct environment. This form of communication has consequences for the forming of opinions, sales numbers and brand reputation. This research examined the effects of a non-profit organization joining in online forum conversations to influence the public opinion. The goal of this research is to determine the effects of the source type on the variables underdog effect, perceived conversational voice, organizational credibility, the attitude toward the placed message and the relationship quality within a social medium. Central in this research is the effect of the sender. The central question is: What effect does a corporate reaction, a personal reaction by an employee or through a well-known figure have on negative messages within social media on the perceived relationship between the non-profit organization and the user? To answer the central question, three comparable forums are built, each with its own sender; the organization in general, an employee and a well-known person. A control group was added in which no reaction from the organization was given. A general discussion was placed on the forum. The sender from within the organization reacted to two specific messages. In total there were 201 respondents, dispersed over four forums, who answered a questionnaire associated to the constructs. Based on the used literature, the expectation was that a personal sender in the form of an employee would be perceived best and the impersonal sender in the form of an organization would cause the highest underdog effect. After regression analyses, manova-tests and anova post-hoc tests this research found no significant differences between the senders. This means that the expected effects of the sender were not found and the currently used literature can be questioned.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Olympisch Vuur
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/60561
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