Microblogging for Engagement: Effects of Prior Company Involvement, Communication Strategy, and Emojis on Western and Chinese Users

Figures & data

Figure 1. Example of one of the microblogs used in three communication strategy versions.

Table 1. Participants’ background characteristics.

Variable		Western	Chinese	Total
N		191	197	388
Age (M, SD)		21.4 (2.4)	21.7 (1.8)	21.6 (2.1)
Gender (N, %)	Male	98 (51)	95 (49)	193 (43)
	Female	92 (48)	100 (50)	252 (56)
	Other	1 (1)	2 (1)	3 (1)
Academic discipline (N, %)	Science and engineering	92 (48)	74 (38)	166 (43)
	Social science	99 (52)	123 (62)	222 (57)

Table 2. Results of the manipulation checks for communication strategy.

	Information	Community	Action	Significance
Community recognized	4.22^a (1.05)	4.55^b (.92)	4.35^ab (.99)	F (2,385) = 3.78, p < .05, partial eta^2 = .02
Action recognized	4.28^a (.95)	4.39^a (.90)	4.65^b (.86)	F (2,385) = 5.77, p < .005, partial eta^2 = .03

Note: Measured on seven-point scales (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). Different letters in superscript indicate significant differences between groups, based on an LSD post hoc test.

Table 3. Multivariate test results.

	Wilks’ lambda	F	df	Significance	Partial eta^2
Communication strategy	.968	2.990	4,726	p < .05	.02
Emoji use	.995	.909	2,363	p = .40
Culture	.766	55.375	2,363	p < .001	.23
Prior company involvement	.894	21.449	2,363	p < .001	.11
Communication strategy * emoji use	.984	1.473	2,363	p = .21
Communication strategy * culture	.981	1.714	4,726	p = .15
Communication strategy * prior company involvement	.994	.519	4,726	p = .72
Emoji use * culture	.996	.777	2,363	p = .46
Emoji use * prior company involvement	.991	1.708	2,363	p = .18
Culture * prior company involvement	.964	6.808	2,363	p < .005	.04
Communication strategy * emoji use * culture	.983	1.559	4,726	p = .18
Communication strategy * emoji use * prior company involvement	.985	1.343	4.726	p = .25
Communication strategy * culture * prior company involvement	.983	1.552	4,726	p =.19
Emoji use * culture * prior company involvement	.988	2.146	2,363	p = .12
Communication strategy * emoji use * culture * prior company involvement	.998	.159	4,726	p = .96

Table 4. Univariate test results: Effects of prior company involvement on appreciation and active online engagement.

	Low involvement	High involvement	Univariate test result
Appreciation	3.00 (1.43)	3.81 (1.37)	F (1,364) = 42.335, p < .001, partial eta^2 = .10
Online engagement	1.91 (1.61)	1.95 (1.62)	F (1,364) = 15.848, p < .001, partial eta^2 = .04

Note: Measured with slider questions on sliders between 0 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree). As the dependent variables were considered separately, we made adjustments to the alpha level (.05/2=.025) using Bonferroni adjustment.

Table 5. Univariate test results: Effects of communication strategy on appreciation and engagement.

	Information	Community	Action	Univariate test result
Appreciation	3.72 (1.36)^a	3.38 (1.52)^b	3.11 (1.41)^b	F (2,364) = 5.275, p < .01, partial eta^2 = .03
Online engagement	2.04 (1.68)	1.88 (1.64)	1.86 (1.52)	F (2,364) = 1.223, p = .30

Note: Measured with slider questions on sliders between 0 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree). Different letters in subscript indicate significant differences between groups (LSD post hoc test, p < .05). As the dependent variables were considered separately, we made adjustments to the alpha level (.05/2=.025) using Bonferroni adjustment.

Table 6. Univariate test results: Effects of national culture on appreciation and engagement.

	Western users	Chinese users	Univariate test result
Appreciation	3.30 (1.22)	3.51 (1.64)	F (1,364) = 14.454, p < .001, partial eta^2 = .04
Active engagement	1.25 (1.07)	2.58 (1.78)	F (1,364) = 93.467, p < .001, partial eta^2 = .20

Note: Measured with slider questions on sliders between 0 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree).

Figure 2. Interaction effect of culture and prior company involvement on overall appreciation.

Figure 3. Interaction effect of culture and prior company involvement on active online engagement.

Table 7. Overview of hypotheses.

H1	Users’ prior company involvement is positively related to their appreciation of and engagement with companies’ microblogs	Confirmed
H2	Companies’ microblogs using interactive or engaging communication strategies evoke higher appreciation and more online engagement than companies’ microblogs that broadcast	Rejected
H3	Companies’ microblogs with emojis evoke higher appreciation and more online engagement than companies’ microblogs without emojis	Rejected
H4	Chinese users have a higher appreciation of and more online engagement with companies’ microblogs than Western users	Confirmed
H5	Prior company involvement has a stronger positive effect on appreciation and online engagement among Chinese users than among Western users	Confirmed
H6	The use of interactive and engaging strategies in companies’ microblogs has a stronger positive effect on appreciation and online engagement among Chinese users than among Western users	Rejected
H7	The use of emojis in companies’ microblogs has a stronger positive effect on appreciation and online engagement among Chinese users than among Western users	Rejected