The Effect Of Entrepreneurs'Microblogging Information On Their Image Evaluation

In recent years, research on the role and the behavior of entrepreneurs has shifted its focus from internal management supervisors to external social influencers. As an important aspect of front stage behaviors, entrepreneurs' micro-blogging communication activity has received much attention from academic researchers and practitioners. More and more entrepreneurs tweet (send microblog messages) directly to the public, in order to enhance personal visibility and influence, build entrepreneurs'image so that they can improve enterprise performance. However, as for what microblogging communicational strategy entrepreneurs should take to enhance personal image, there is no enough practical experience for entrepreneurs to follow examples, nor relevant theoretical guiding.Therefore, this dissertation, from the consumers'perspective, focuses on the effect of entrepreneurs'micro-blogging content on their image evaluation. Based on the characteristics of the local culture, we have divided entrepreneurs'micro-blogging information into two categories:information presenting how an entrepreneur conduct himself(herself) and information presenting how an entrepreneur does things. Grounded with impression management theory, moral identity and cognitive-affective system information-processing theory, we explored the effect of entrepreneurs' micro-blogging content on their image evaluation, employing several experiments and secondary data from Sina Microblog website. The result indicated that two types of information both have a positive impact on consumers'evaluation of entrepreneur image; for consumers with a highly (low) self-important moral identity, entrepreneurs presenting information about conducting self (doing things) will earn more positive image evaluation; Furthermore, microblog information type ("conducting self vs."doing things") and entrepreneur fame (high vs. low) have an interaction effect on entrepreneur image evaluation. For entrepreneurs with low (high) fame, microblog content about "conducting self ("doing things") will earn more positive evaluation from consumers; Under low fame condition, affective information-processing mediates the effect of microblog content on consumer evaluation of entrepreneur image; under high fame condition, cognitive information-processing mode mediates the effect of microblog content on consumer evaluation of entrepreneur image.This dissertation consists of five major parts:introduction, literature review and relevant theory, research study1and its empirical estimation, research study2and its empirical estimation, the overall discussion. The first chapter is the introduction part which mainly overviews the research question, research objective and significance, innovation points, frameworks and methods. The literature review and theory background part include the second and third chapter, which retrospect the literature about microblogs, entrepreneur micro-blogging communication, and entrepreneur image in order to help find theoretical gap; also review the theories about local culture, impression management, moral identity and cognitive-affective information processing to ground this research. The fourth and fifth chapters are theory building and empirical part of research study1. Two experiments have been done to estimate theoretical hypotheses of study1. The sixth and seventh chapters are theory building and empirical part of research study2. We used two types of research method, including secondary data analysis and experiments to estimate theoretical hypotheses of study2. The eighth chapter is the general discussion part, in which we conclude with a summary, a discussion of our research's implications for marketing theory and practice, and some limitations and opportunities for further research.This dissertation proceeds as follows:Chapter ? summarizes the research question, research objective and significance, innovation points, frameworks and methods. The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the impact of entrepreneur micro-blogging content on their image evaluation from consumers. The research can contribute to the empirical literature in marketing communication, and also provide guidance for entrepreneurs who seek use microblogging to enhance personal influence and consumer trust.Chapter ? is the literature review which focuses on three relevance part, such as microblogs, entrepreneur micro-blogging communication and entrepreneur image. As for the literature on microblog, we summarize its definition, current situation, characteristics of communication and its application. The literature on entrepreneur micro-blogging communication focuses on two parts:the enterprise micro-blogging and entrepreneur micro-blogging communication. The literature on entrepreneur image is mainly about its conception, influential factors and influence result.Chapter ? is the review of relevant theories which consist of local (Chinese) culture, impression management, moral identity and cognitive-affective information processing theories. Firstly, the local culture—"Conducting self and "Doing things" characteristics are reviewed in order to ground our typology of entrepreneur micro-blogging content. After that, impression management, moral identity and cognitive-affective information processing theories are presented to ground the research framework of this paper.Chapter ? proposed the theoretical framework and assumptions of study1. Study1focuses on how the entrepreneur micro-blogging content ("conducting self vs."doing things") has impact on the entrepreneur's image evaluation from consumers. Furthermore, under different circumstances that consumers' moral identity self-importance is high or low, what kind of micro-blogging content the entrepreneur should present in order to obtain consumers better ratings to their image. Grounded with relevant literature and theories, this chapter derived the hypotheses.Chapter ? is the empirical process and findings of study1. Through pretest and two main experiments, the assumptions are estimated. The purpose of the pretest is for testing the scales'reliability and validity and also choosing for the manipulation materials. Experiment1tested the main effect of entrepreneur micro-blogging content on their image evaluation from consumers; Experiment2tested the moderation effect of consumers'moral identity on the relationship between entrepreneur micro-blogging content and their image evaluation.Chapter ? proposed the theoretical framework and assumptions of study2. Study2explored the effect of micro-blogging content of entrepreneurs with different awareness (popularity: high or low) on their image evaluation and its mechanism. Based on relevant theories and literature, this chapter derived the hypotheses.Chapter ? is the empirical process and findings of study2. Study2tested the assumptions using secondary data from Sina Weibo and two experiments design. Firstly, we collected and analyzed objective data of entrepreneur micro-blogging record to test the interaction effect of entrepreneur awareness and micro-blogging content on entrepreneur image evaluation. Secondly, the interaction effect was tested again with an experiment design to enhance the research validity. At last, the theoretical mechanism was tested through an experiment design which reveals that cognitive-affective information processing mode mediates the interaction effect on entrepreneur image evaluation.Chapter ? is the general discussion part. Based on previous empirical findings in Chapter5and7, final conclusion was summarized, and theoretical contribution and management implication were discussed. Furthermore, some limitations and opportunities for further research were also discussed.