Understanding eWOM of Chinese Governments information service: a perceived value-based perspective
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-08-2019-0058 |
| Pages | 251-258 |
| Published date | 18 November 2019 |
| Date | 18 November 2019 |
| Author | Zhen Zhang,Haihua Chen,Bo Xiao |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
Understanding eWOM of Chinese Governments
information service: a perceived
value-based perspective
Zhen Zhang
School of Information Management, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
Haihua Chen
Department of Information Science, University of North Texas, Denton, USA, and
Bo Xiao
School of Management, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
Abstract
Purpose –In a people-oriented society, it is necessary to understand the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) of information service of the
government. Government affair microblogs (GAM), which play an important role in orienting online opinions, listening to public voices, establishing
government image, is an ideal channel to achieve this goal. In essence, the application of GAM is to improve the communication efficiency between
the government and the public. The purpose of this study is to the influence factors of GAM eWOM which will not only benefits the gove rnment in
better understanding the information dissemination rules of microblogs but also provides directions for the government to improve the information
service over microblogs.
Design/methodology/approach –In this paper, the authors investigate and verify the regulating function, herd effect applied on GAM. The
authors conduct an innovative empirical study based on perceived value theory, aiming to explore the factors that influence the eWOM of the
Chinese Government.
Findings –Experiments on 502 GAM users show that social identification positively affects perceived value while effort cost negatively
affects perceived value, and perceived value positively influences the microblogs’eWOM. The authors also find that the herd effect
positively regulates the relationship between perceived value and GAM’s eWOM. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings
are discussed.
Originality/value –In this research, the regulating effect of herd effect on the relationship between perceived value and GAM’s eWOM has been
explored. This study also provides inspirations for future government information service research and administrative measurement.
Keywords Social identity, eWOM, Microblogs, Perceived value, Government affairs, Effort cost, Herd effect
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
As an online social media platform which made its debut
10 years ago, microblogs provide a swift mean for
information transmission with interactive approaches,
which in return made the announcement much more
effective (Java et al., 2007). For the past few years, the
amount of microblog users has increased exponentially, in
thecaseofthemostinfluential microblog platform in China,
Sina, the number of its monthly active users had exceeded
39.2 million as well as the daily active users reached 17.2
million (CNNIC, 2018). It results in Sina becoming a
dominant social media platform in China. Meanwhile, the
digitalized management approach for government
information publication started to emerge and gained
momentum increasingly. In 2016, the State Council of
China issued a set of guidelines for development of
E-government and services, which highlighted the
implementation of an integrated E-government system for
improving the services. Therefore, more and more
government institutions are opening official accounts on
Sina microblog platform. Government affair microblogs
have been adopted into “Internet 1Civil Service system”.
According to a joint document government affair index and
influences of microblogs issued by People’sDailyand Sina,
there are 173, 569 registered government affair microblogs
on the platform, 134,827 of which are under the name of
official accounts, and 38,742 are personal accounts of civil
service workers (People’sDaily, 2018). Government affair
microblogs have been playing a pivotal role in the opinion
guidance, the openness of government information and the
implementation of E-government.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
47/4 (2019) 251–258
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-08-2019-0058]
Received 25 August 2019
Revised 23 September 2019
13 October 2019
Accepted 13 October 2019
251
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