Paradoxes of Social Support in Virtual Support Communities: A Mixed-Method Inquiry of the Social Dynamics in Health and Wellness Facebook Groups

IF 6.8 1区 管理学 Q1 BUSINESS
Ana Babić Rosario, C. Russell, D. Shanahan
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引用次数: 4

Abstract

From parenting to health and wellness, the number of virtual support communities (VSCs) keeps growing. The interactive marketing discipline has primarily documented the positive social dynamics of VSCs: communities provide informational and socio-emotional support that helps members achieve their goals. Yet evidence is mounting that VSCs also exhibit judgment and pressure that ultimately hurt community relationships and engagement. We adopted a mixed-methods approach: a qualitative phase, comprised of netnography and interviews, to explore members’ experiences of a VSC and its complex social dynamics, followed by a quantitative phase to test the emerging model with cross-sectional survey data collected from members of a large number of health- and wellness-related VSCs. The two studies provide empirical evidence of many paradoxical social dynamics of VSCs and their relational and engagement consequences. We find that positive group perceptions can generate the social empathy that ensures the group's informational value is helpful to members’ goals; however, we also find that negative group perceptions create social pressure that can be helpful to relational and engagement outcomes if it increases social empathy but can also be detrimental if it turns into angst. Our findings contribute to research on VSCs, inform interactive marketing practices, and suggest further research opportunities on the social dynamics of VSCs.
虚拟支持社区中社会支持的悖论:健康和健康Facebook群组中社会动态的混合方法调查
从养育子女到健康和身心健康,虚拟支持社区(VSC)的数量不断增长。互动营销学科主要记录了VSC的积极社会动态:社区提供信息和社会情感支持,帮助成员实现目标。然而,越来越多的证据表明,VSC也表现出判断力和压力,最终损害了社区关系和参与度。我们采用了一种混合方法:定性阶段,包括网络图和访谈,以探索VSC成员的经历及其复杂的社会动态,然后是定量阶段,用从大量健康和健康相关VSC成员那里收集的横断面调查数据来测试新出现的模型。这两项研究为VSCs的许多矛盾的社会动态及其关系和参与后果提供了经验证据。我们发现,积极的群体感知可以产生社会移情,确保群体的信息价值有助于成员的目标;然而,我们也发现,负面的群体认知会产生社会压力,如果它能增加社会同理心,那么它可能有助于关系和参与的结果,但如果它变成焦虑,也可能是有害的。我们的发现有助于对VSCs的研究,为互动营销实践提供信息,并为VSCs的社会动力学提供进一步的研究机会。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
20.20
自引率
5.90%
发文量
39
期刊介绍: The Journal of Interactive Marketing aims to explore and discuss issues in the dynamic field of interactive marketing, encompassing both online and offline topics related to analyzing, targeting, and serving individual customers. The journal seeks to publish innovative, high-quality research that presents original results, methodologies, theories, and applications in interactive marketing. Manuscripts should address current or emerging managerial challenges and have the potential to influence both practice and theory in the field. The journal welcomes conceptually rigorous approaches of any type and does not favor or exclude specific methodologies.
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