Drivers of e-newsletter engagement in the academia in the post-conflict region

The aim of this study is to investigate how various elements of digital content impact the behavioural engagement of the content’s users in the setting of Southeast Europe, which has recently experienced turbulence in its political and social interrelationships. Using the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory we develop a model that considers two types of stimuli: digital content tone (consisting of positive and negative valence) and digital content substance, as well as two types of behavioural responses: opens and clicks on the content. Research is conducted in six countries over a period of three years, investigating objective users’ behavioural indicators for a regional newsletter. The results show digital content tone impacts users’ response in terms of opens and that this effect differs across the region. Furthermore, we show that the digital content substance is significantly related to number of clicks on the newsletter content and that this effect is curvilinear for the number of news features and number of calls, while it is positive and linear for the stakeholder/keywords mentions. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study are elaborated and discussed.