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ABSTRACT
The role of community manager is gaining importance as the proper usage of social media becomes a key factor for achieving more active involvement of citizens in social and political issues. Focused on Spanish local governments and in line with the literature of Excellence Theory, this paper aims to analyze whether some characteristics of the community manager function are determinant in their fostering of citizens’ online engagement via social media. In particular ‘independence’, ‘having access to the dominant coalition’, ‘gender diversity’, ‘continuous training’ and ‘culture of the organization’ are the characteristics considered in this paper. As to the main findings, this study confirms that community managers have not as yet achieved their goal of embedding the use of social media by citizens as a means of establishing more direct contact with their local governments. Moreover, in line with Excellence Theory, community managers of local governments should be aware of the importance of having direct access to key managers of the organization in order to better achieve the objectives of the organization and, more specifically, to increase citizens’ engagement. Furthermore, continuous training in issues related to social media truly helps develop the skills and potential of community managers. Likewise, an excellent communication department should rely on good professionals no matter their gender, and, in this sense, the gender of community managers is not a significant factor in their performance. However, the results of this study also reveal that in the case of public sector community managers, an authoritarian culture seems to be a determining factor for obtaining better results in enhancing citizens’ engagement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Dr María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics and Business at the University of Almería (Spain). Her line of research is focused on the management of web technologies for improving transparency, accountability and stakeholder engagement in organizations. She has published Journal Citation Reports (JCR) articles in VOLUNTAS, Online Information Review, Information Development and Public Relations Review [email: [email protected]].
Dr Arturo Haro-de-Rosario is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics and Business at the University of Almería (Spain). His research interests are focused on financial information disclosures on the Web (e-government) and on management systems and communication in federal and local governments. He is the author of numerous articles in national and international journals, including Small Business Economics, Social Science Computer Review, New Media and Society, Local Government Studies and so on [email: [email protected]].
Dr Carmen Caba-Pérez is a Professor in the Department of Economics and Business at the University of Almería (Spain). Her research pertains to online transparency and communication of public administrations. Dr Caba’s strong research and teaching activity have led to her being accredited as a Full Professor by Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación (ANECA), Spain’s National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation. She is the author of several articles published in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) publications including The American Review of Public Administration, International Review of Administrative Science, Online Information Review, Government Information Quarterly, VOLUNTAS, Latin American Research Review, Public Administration and Development, Public Relations Review, Information Development and so on [email: [email protected]].