Factors Affecting Upvoting Intention On Social Bookmarking Sites

Sammanfattning: Technological developments of last decade have changed how people communicate and how companies operate. With the emergence of the Internet, and specifically of the interactive web or Web 2.0, traditional word of mouth evolved to a new, more collaborative form where users can easily obtain, share and compare information about products or services with each other. This phenomenon, referred to as electronic Word of Mouth (eWoM), is at the heart of this dissertation. People share, like, bookmark or recommend content and resources to each other on a variety of platforms, including so-called social bookmarking sites. Their collective opinions can have asignificant impact on brands, and the shared electronic word of mouth can present a boon to firms when consumers praise and promote their services and products through votes etc. In order to maximize positive eWoM, managers require a clear understanding of when and why users decide tovote on social bookmarking sites. Despite the significant promises, this research topic of “voting intentionality” is little understood. Thus, this study concentrates on understanding “upvoting” (positive eWoM) intentionality on social bookmarking sites. In order to explore this phenomenon, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) are combined to form a conceptual framework and research hypotheses. In terms of the empirical context, data were collected from Reddit, currently the biggest (in terms of members) and most active social bookmarking sites (in terms of content posted and upvotes casted). Upvoting data were collectedthrough voluntary participation in a web survey. To analyze the 342 usable sample cases and to test the model, structural equation modeling SEM statistical techniques were employed, using SPSS and AMOS software packages. The structural model testing results indicate that a series of factors (e.g., perceived behavioral control and attitude toward voting for posts) significant influence upvoting intention among members of Reddit. The framework developed here contributes to our conceptualization of the dissemination of electronic word of mouth, and the findings help marketingpractitioners integrate social bookmarking sites into their social marketing campaigns to boost and improve the overall marketing performance.