The path to WeChat: How Tencent’s culture shaped the most popular Chinese app, 1998–2011

Negro, Gianluigi; Balbi, Gabriele; Bory, Paolo

doi:10.1177/1742766520923008

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The theory of cultural affordances does not directly provide the explanations, but instead can be used as a tool to delineate the interactive patterns among WeChat, users, and Chinese culture. Equally important, prior studies show that Chinese cultural attributes are inherent in the design of WeChat [46,62]. Due to the limitation of resources, we did not include WeChat designers as part of the research but are seeking access in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Cultural and Technological Change: A Study of Cultural Affordances on WeChat

Sun¹,

Suthers²

2022

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

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This study presents qualitative research of the interaction among WeChat, users, and Chinese culture by applying a three-dimensional notion of cultural affordances. The data is collected by conducting 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews, follow-up discussions, and observations, and is analyzed via the grounded theory approach. The study provides preliminary findings that demonstrate the roles of WeChat, users, and Chinese culture in terms of cultural and technological changes. The study also discusses the interactive patterns among three dimensions of cultural affordances and offers possible direction for further study.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Cultural and Technological Change: A Study of Cultural Affordances on WeChat

Sun¹,

Suthers²

2022

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

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“…Game for Peace TM was selected as the study context because it is one of the most widely adopted mobile social games in China (Fang et al , 2019). Game for Peace TM is operated by Tencent, China's largest social networking company (Negro et al , 2020; Zhao and Lin, 2021). The popularity of Game for Peace TM allowed for the collection of a large sample.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding peer recommendation in mobile social games: the role of needs–supplies fit and game identification

Wang

2021

ITP

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the antecedents of peer recommendations (generating positive word-of-mouth and recruiting others) in the context of mobile social games.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the needs–supplies fit framework and social identity theory, this paper proposes that game design characteristics (challenge, fairness, innovativeness and ease of use) influence game identification, which further predicts word-of-mouth (WOM) generation and recruitment intention. This paper further suggests fits between gamer orientation (passing time and seeking achievements) and game design lead to enhanced game identification. The model was tested using data from an empirical survey with 767 mobile social gamers.FindingsGame challenge, game fairness, game innovativeness and ease of use are positively associated with game identification, whereas game identification positively predicts WOM generation and recruitment intention. Achievement-seeking use was found to enhance the effects of game challenge and game fairness on game identification, and passing time use was found to strengthen the effects of game innovativeness and ease of use on game identification.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study provide operable implications to facilitate peer recommendations in a mobile gaming context. The model was only tested within the context of mobile social games, however, so caution is advised when generalizing the findings to other game subgenres.Originality/valueThis study distinguishes itself from other peer recommendation studies by taking recruitment, a more straightforward and salient form of peer recommendation, into account. This paper enriches theory by investigating the antecedents and consequences of game identification. This study clarifies the underlying mechanism of how game design influences peer recommendations and examines the interactions between game design and gamer orientation.

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“…This design shows "the cultural attribute of respect for authority" [91, p. 6]. Negro, Balbi, and Bory [63] contend that WeChat's funding company TenCent has a long-termed essential strategy called "Sinicization (Zhongguohua)", which means ways of providing new products with roles and meanings that are inspired by Chinese cultures (p.11). Like other products of Tencent, WeChat "undergoes a process of Sinicization, ….…”

Section: Cultural Affordances Of Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like other products of Tencent, WeChat "undergoes a process of Sinicization, …. one of the most emblematic recent cases is the success of red envelope" [63].…”

Section: Cultural Affordances Of Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Affordances and Social Media

Sun¹,

Suthers²

2021

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

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This paper first reviews the development and application of affordances theory in the field of social media studies. Then, it examines the significance and limitations of the original meaning of affordances of the environment that is provided by American psychologist James Gibson. The paper argues that the cultural aspect of affordances has been understated and should be included as part of affordances theory. To enrich theoretical understanding of affordances and further facilitate empirical studies of social media affordances, the paper offers a novel definition of cultural affordances that bridges cultural studies and social media studies. The new definition of cultural affordances includes two layers, which are cultural affordances of technology and affordances of the cultural. Later, the paper provides examples to showcase how this novel definition can be applied in prior empirical studies with a focus on WeChat. 2. Social Media Affordances: Divergence and Convergence 2.1. Platform-centered Social Media Affordance Prior studies of affordances of ICTs demonstrate a tendency to centralize properties of a technology and focus on how it affects social interaction [37, 38, 93]. Gaver [25] defines technology affordances as independent, inherent, and physical properties of an object that are compatible with a user for possible action. Wellman et al. [94] states that affordances of the Internet, such as boarder bandwidth, portability, connectivity, facilitate networked individualism. Kreijin [46] states that social affordances are properties in a computer-mediated environment that facilitates learners' social interaction. Research demonstrates the same inclination when developing the theory of affordances in the field of social media studies. Graves [26] claims that read input, fixity and juxtaposition are the affordances of blogging, which have "a democratizing influence … making journalists more accountable to their audiences" (p.344). boyd [10] argues that networked technology inducts structural

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The path to WeChat: How Tencent’s culture shaped the most popular Chinese app, 1998–2011

Cited by 20 publications

References 24 publications

Examining Cultural and Technological Change: A Study of Cultural Affordances on WeChat

Examining Cultural and Technological Change: A Study of Cultural Affordances on WeChat

Understanding peer recommendation in mobile social games: the role of needs–supplies fit and game identification

Cultural Affordances and Social Media

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