Using social media for business communication: A symbolic interaction perspective
Chen,R. Davison,R.M. Ou,Carol
Chen,R.
Davison,R.M.
Ou,Carol
Abstract
It is important to understand the symbolic meaning of social media perceived by users in a particular communication context, as it may completely deviate from designers’ original intentions. In the exploratory case study of Moon Struck hotel in China, we investigate how customers interpret this hotel’s use of WeChat (the most dominant instant messaging tool in China) for business communication and how customers respond to the messages received from WeChat in this context. Leveraging the symbolic interaction perspective, we report that customers’ interpretations towards the symbolic meaning of WeChat vary across personal and business communication contexts, and subsequently affect customers’ usage behaviour of WeChat. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 12 selected followers of the hotel’s WeChat account, as well as company executives at this hotel, we identify the key findings and discuss the theoretical implications and practical recommendations.
Description
Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Association for Information Systems
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Citation
Chen, R, Davison, R M & Ou, C 2016, Using social media for business communication : A symbolic interaction perspective. in Proceedings of the 27th Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS 2016) : Occupying the Sweet Spot: IS at the Intersection. Association for Information Systems, Wollongong, Australia, 27th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Wollongong, Australia, 5/12/16.