Online Conversation and Corporate Reputation: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Study on the Effects of Social Media Exposure

• In Event: Best Faculty Papers in Public Relations

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate whether and to which extent exposure to a company's social media activities in time is beneficial for corporate reputation, and the mediating role of conversational human voice in this relation. In a two-wave longitudinal survey among 1969 respondents, we measured consumers' exposure to an international airline's social media activities, perceived level of conversational human voice and perception of corporate reputation. Results show that consumers' level of exposure to company social media activities has, in time, a positive effect on perception of corporate reputation. Conversational human voice mediates the relation between consumers' level of exposure to company social media activities and perception of corporate reputation. We discuss the implications of the results for the presence of organizations in social media.

Authors

• Corne Dijkmans, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences

• Peter Kerkhof, VU U Amsterdam

• Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik, VU U Amsterdam

• Camiel J. Beukeboom, VU U Amsterdam