News by Popular Demand: Ideological Congruence, Issue Salience, and Media Reputation in News Sharing

Social media news sharing has become a central subject of scholarly research in communication studies. To test current theories, it is of an utmost importance to estimate the meaningful parameters of news sharing behavior from observational data. In this article, we retrieve measures of ideological congruence, issue salience, and media reputation to explain news sharing in social media. We describe how the proposed statistical model connects to different strands of the news sharing literature. We then exemplify the usefulness of the model with an analysis of the relationship between ideological congruence and issue salience. Results show that if ideology and salience correlate with each other, the preferences of ideologues (i.e., users who give higher weight to ideological congruence) will be overrepresented in observational data. This will result in the heightened perceptions of polarization. We test the performance of the model using data from Brazil, Argentina, and the United States.

An opportunity to reset

Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings: CEOs of Fortune firms can benefit both in terms of social media reputation but also firm performance through disseminating SDG-related messaging on social media. Originality: The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The Role of Source Credibility and Message Credibility in Fake News Engagement. Perspectives from an Experimental Study

Nowadays controversial stories, conspiracy theories, or false information are massively shared on social media. Fake news is supported by the online environment because it generates traffic and financial benefits (Tandoc et al., 2018). It is a chain — users share the news on their feed, then they receive the same type of content, later on, creating the illusion of veracity through popularity. Media credibility becomes more and more relevant in the context of the proliferation of fake news. The present paper addresses the mediating role of source and message credibility in relationship with the engagement with ‘poor journalistic’ content. We aimed to identify the effects of media reputation and of the facticity of the news on (digital) behavior such as the intent to disseminate or to comment on fake news on social media and also on discussing these contents with friends. For this purpose, we applied a 2x2 between subjects online experiment by manipulating the (1) the source (high vs. low reputation online media outlets) and (2) information facticity (high vs. low). Participants (N=177), aged 18 to 53 years were selected via Facebook and the study was carried out in February 2020. The results of our research are in line with previous literature that underlined the role of source and message credibility in influencing online and offline news engagement. We observed that source credibility has an impact on news sharing on Facebook and that message credibility encourages discussion with friends. This applies to both veridical and false information. The most important takeaway of our study is perhaps that users are aware that high reputation media outlets can make mistakes. Besides, media reputation is subject to change and is related to the audiences.

How does entrepreneurial orientation and SDG orientation of CEOs evolve before and during a pandemic

PurposeAligning business innovation with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) creates immense opportunities to solve societal challenges along with business growth and productivity. This study aims to understand the evolution of Fortune firms' strategic addressing of SDG on social media as a step towards post-pandemic recovery. Using attribution theory as a theoretical lens, the authors try to investigate how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and SDG orientation evolve with the crisis and affect the appreciation and advocacy of the SDG-related posts.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methodology of machine learning and Social media analytics such as content analysis, sentiment analysis and space–time analysis have been used, followed by multivariate analysis to validate the findings.FindingsAn evolution in CEOs’ strategic focus surrounding SDG dimensions was found, from economic in pre-pandemic phase to social and environment during the pandemic. The SDG disclosure on social media by the Fortune CEOs seems to have an influence on their social media reputation, whereas EO has no impact on social media reputation.Research limitations/implicationsWise practice of EO in information diffusion by CEOs on social media may lead to a healthy relationship with the stakeholders and better firm performance. The SDG adoption at organisation level contributes towards a sustainable society and helps tackling the challenges faced during the pandemic.Originality/valueThis study analyses the contribution of the Fortune firms to achieve a sustainable society in a pandemic environment by strategic adoption of SDGs and effective use of digital platforms.

Study on the Reputation of the (MASS) Media in Romania

Part of a bigger research project conducted by Media Reputation Lab (Media REP Lab) on the reputation of media in Europe, the study explores the reputation of media among informed population in Romania. A sample of 100 cases was involved in the online survey taking place in December 2019. The results provide a description of the country’s media reputation (media in general: radio, print, digital and television). For each one of these media, the valuation obtained by each of the reputational attributes (credibility, rigor, impartiality, willingness to rectify) by the informed population would be indicated. Moreover, insights on the knowledge and use, as well as on the reputation (overall and by category, considering ten key reputation aspects) - of twelve selected media - would be provided.

Comparing the Five Measures of Media Reputation Attributes in Local and National Newspapers

Researchers have developed multiple measures to assess media reputation as a driving force of corporate reputation. This study compared five measures that have been used to examine the seven attributes of media reputation. These five measures of media reputation have different fundamental assumptions such as linearity, inclusion of neutral tone items, and negative items. A content analysis of 2,817 news articles regarding nine big food corporations revealed significant differences in the media reputation attribute scores between elite national newspapers and local newspapers using the five measures. The findings indicate that these measures cannot substitute for one another, and using elite national newspapers versus local newspapers would lead to significantly different assessments of media reputation.

The Role of Youth Non-profit Organizations in the Formation and Development of Social Elevators in Modern Russia

Youth non-profit organizations are described con-sidering their participation in the modern political life of Russian society and their role in the political socialization of young people. The author raises the problem of formation and development of social elevators in the context of ensuring social mobility of young people, as well as the possibility of access to this tool in modern Russia. As part of the study of youth non-profit organizations, the author gave a charateristics of the organizations operating on a national scale, which have a media reputation, and develop projects focused on the vertical mobility of their participants. Arguments are given in favor of individual and collective social elevators within the framework of youth non-profit organizations. The conclusions presented in the study allow us to eval-uate the activities of youth non-profit organizations as a mechanism for changing the social status of an individual in the stratification structure of society, a channel for vertical social mobility, and prospects for further development of non-profit organizations in this direction.

Media reputation: a source of banks' financial performance

PurposeBased on the resource-based view (RBV) and the signaling theory, this paper examines the effect of media reputation on financial performance as well as the moderating role of bank characteristics (risk management and financial capacities) in this relationship, using Vietnamese commercial bank data for the period 2007–2018.Design/methodology/approachWe rely on the agenda-setting theory to measure the media reputation of banks. Return on average equity (ROE) is used as a proxy of financial performance. We regress financial performance on media reputation with fixed effects to control unobserved variables. In addition, the instrumental variable (IV) method is applied to deal with the endogeneity problem. We use the change in bank logo as an IV for media reputation.FindingsWe find that media reputation has a positive effect on financial performance. This effect becomes prominent for large banks, listed banks or banks that demonstrate good risk management capacities, and is particularly strong when we control for endogeneity bias. The effect of media reputation on financial performance is transmitted through the non-performing loan (NPL) channel.Research limitations/implicationsThe research findings further endorse the positive impact of media reputation on financial performance in the low-quality institutional settings. Moreover, these findings expand the existing knowledge regarding the relationship between media reputation and financial performance by affirming two strategies which could be used to leverage the contribution of media reputation including improving banks' risk management capacities and raising financial capital.Originality/valueThis is the first known paper to examine the effect of media reputation on financial performance in commercial banks in an underdeveloped institutional setting while exploring the moderators in this relationship. This study, therefore, provides insightful implications for different bank segments in managing NPL and taking advantage of media reputation as a potential resource of financial performance.