Causal effects of affordance change on communication behavior: Empirical evidence from organizational and leadership social media use

Abstract

This article provides empirical evidence for two hypotheses in the a ordance literature. First, by leveraging a small a ordance change -Twitter increasing its character limit from 140 to 280 on November 7, 2017, employing an instrumental variable approach, and examining 143,771 original tweets published by organizational and leadership accounts half a year before and after the intervention, we showed the direct causal relationship between a ordances and communication behavior on digital media platforms. Second, by exploring what factors could explain the heterogeneity of causal e ects, we showed that previous endogenous perceptions of communication constraint predicted later behavioral changes, despite the same exogenous intervention. These ndings highlight the role of human agencies in the face of technological changes and provide empirical support for the a ordance approach to information communication technologies (ICTs) as a reconciliation between technological determinism and social constructivism.

Evaluating E-leadership Self-efficacy Through Social Media Efficacy and Participation

“…The study established a strong relationship between efficacy and leadership, which is in sync with prior studies (Liu et al, 2017;Newman et al, 2018;Zhou, 2021). Besides, the results of the study reveal that SMSE has a significant effect on SMCE.…”

“…Currently, as there is no broadly accepted definition for online participation, there is a need for serious discussion and deliberation over the issue. Social media serves various purposes such as employee engagement, employee collaboration and leadership skill development (Ewing et al, 2019; Men et al, 2020; Oksa et al, 2021; Zhou, 2021). SMP exposes employees to social information and such a network facilitates team support through thought-provoking activities (Hou & Ge, 2019; Leonardi, 2014).…”

“…Research on ELSE revealed a direct relationship between self-efficacy and leadership roles (Kraft, 2019). While various studies (Oh & Syn, 2015; Zhou, 2021) have examined the influence of social media on leadership development, it is at an early stage of understanding and requires additional examination to gain better insights.…”

Why Do People Choose Different Social Media Platforms? Linking Use Motives With Social Media Affordances and Personalities

“…Some treated the affordances as objective characteristics of the technologies and examined their effects on people’s perceptions and behavioral intentions (e.g., Mao & DeAndrea, 2019). By contrast, others viewed it as a relational construct between technology capabilities and human agency (e.g., Ledbetter & Meisner, 2021; Zhou, 2021). Considering users may react to affordances differently, we conceptualize it as users’ perceived affordances in this article.…”

Digital Public Relations Through the Lens of Affordances: A Conceptual Expansion of the Dialogic Principles

“…The general theory of affordance is by no means promoting technological determinism, but it highlights the point that communication platforms' technical infrastructure is crucial to any mediated communication (e.g., Zhou, 2021), including digital dialogic communication.…”