Anne Suphan
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A Time well wasted? Online Procrastination in Times of Unemployment

2015-05-25 , Müller, Severina , Fieseler, Christian , Suphan, Anne , Meckel, Miriam

This paper examines the argument that social exclusion perceived during unemployment leads to an escapist usage of online media, which in turn lowers job search efforts. Based on data from 386 unemployed heavy Internet users, the paper shows that online procrastination plays an important role in the lives of the unemployed, but not in a negative manner as to decrease their job search effort. The amount of motivational control the unemployed can muster exerts a strong effect on their job search effort, particularly for individuals with low self-efficacy and/or low job importance. Generally, heavy Internet users with low motivational control struggle more with their job search efforts. Low self-efficacy and/or low job importance increases this tendency additionally. Thus, for increasing the integration of this demographic, online media are not a detriment to reemployment, rather, skill-building and motivational support prove to be key antecedents to overcoming unemployment and should be fostered.

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Between Usefulness and Ease of Use : Social Media Acceptance among Swiss Parliamentarians

2012-04-20 , Hoffmann, Christian Pieter , Meckel, Miriam , Ranzini, Giulia , Suphan, Anne

For many years, the Internet has been heralded as a boon to citizen participation in political decision-making (White, 1997). Research has been quick to explore whether new technologies facilitate direct participation and create access for non-elite citizens (Stromer-Galley, 2000; Davis, 1999; Hacker, 1996). In fact, Internet use has repeatedly been found to be positively associated with political and civic participation (Moy et al., 2005; Boulianne, 2009). The emergence of social media has further energized the hope that the Web will boost political participation. Recent studies confirm that social media use positively impacts civic and political partici-pation (Towner & Dulio, 2011; Zhang et al., 2009; Vitak et al, 2011). An emerging stream of research analyzes the use of social media in political communication and campaigning (Bichard, 2006; Williamson, 2011; Towner & Dulio, 2011). These studies find an increasing use of social media, starting early in the new millennium, spreading from blogs to a wide range of platforms like wikis, social bookmarking, social networking and content sharing sites. In fact, integrating social media in political campaigns has largely become "business as usual" (Williamson, 2011, p. 60). Little research has been directed at the drivers of social media acceptance by politicians, though: what elements contribute to the use of social media in political communication, what factors stand in its way? Methodology and Results In late 2010, Switzerland held elections for both chambers of the national parliament, the "Nationalrat" and "Ständerat". In mid-2011, our research team conducted an online-survey, inviting all 246 members of parliament by e-mail. A questionnaire had been prepared in the three national languages (German, French and Italian), addressing the frequency and intensity of the participants' social media use and reasons for use. Furthermore, key drivers of social media acceptance were investigated, based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM3) as proposed by Venkatesh and Bala (2008). This model posits that the acceptance of specific technological applications (including intention to or actual use) is driven by the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use of the application (Davis 1989; Davis & Venkatesh, 1996). A total of 117 parliamentarians filled out the questionnaire (response rate of 48%). A first analysis of the data found significant differences between active users and non-users of social media. Aside from current behavioral patterns and intentions, these groups differ in their playfulness, i.e. their approach to the use of new technologies. Accordingly, those who actively engage in social media rate the perceived enjoyment of their use significantly higher. A closer look at the drivers of social media acceptance reveals that perceived useful-ness and (to a lesser degree) perceived ease of use strongly impact social media use. All of the drivers included in our model exhibit significant explanatory power when analyzing for perceived usefulness and ease of use. Among the drivers of perceived usefulness, output quality and job relevance most clearly characterize user perceptions. Among the drivers of perceived ease of use, anxiety and perceived enjoyment exhibit the strongest discriminatory power.

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Core Cues in Initial Trust Formation : Exploring Differences between Online Business Models

2011-08-15 , Hoffmann, Christian Pieter , von Kaenel, Andrea , Meckel, Miriam , Suphan, Anne

The formation of trust has been identified as a key success factor for online business: Users' willingness to provide personal data is a prerequisite for online transactions. This holds especially true in the earliest stage of a business relationship, when users transact with an online service for the first time. Among the drivers of initial trust identified in the trust literature are features of the online business that signal its trustworthiness to potential users, i.e. trust cues. This paper will identify core cues in the formation of initial trust based on a survey of 1'294 German internet users. The relevance of these cues will subsequently be differentiated by four distinct B2C business models.

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Social Media for the Bottom of the Digital Pyramid

2011-10-31 , Feuls, Miriam , Fieseler, Christian , Meckel, Miriam , Suphan, Anne

The advent of social media has changed the information environment drastically over the past 10 years. The new Internet is characterized by the vital participation of its users and comprises a variety of tools and sites for shared information creation and updating as well as social networking and communication (Bawden, 2008). The ongoing digitalization which affects all aspects of life makes media competency even more important to successfully participate in society. In order to do so, people must not only adapt their existing skills to the new context, but also develop new ones (Correira & Teixeira, 2002, p. 3). In short, social media call for a broadened view of literacy - one that includes competencies to locate, classify and process information with communication technologies, and to constantly redevelop these skills as technology progresses (Correira & Teixeira, 2002; Kellner, 2002; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2003; Rainie & Horrigan, 2005; Senn-Breivik, 2005). However, many individuals hardly have the time and means to adapt their skills accordingly (OECD, 2010), and, as Hargittai (2010) adds, the development of new skills as well as the adjustment to new conditions are dependent on the socio-economic status, the personality traits and the social and technological context of the individual. As more and more people are using the Web to communicate, retrieve information, and contribute with content, the discourse of the frequently discussed topic of the digital divide is shifting from a digital divide seen as a gap between those who do and those who do not have access to digital technologies (e.g.,Hoffman & Novak, 1998; Katz & Aspden, 1997; van Dijk, 2006) to a digital divide describing a gap between those who fail to make effective and purposeful use of the digital opportunities and those who use the Internet productively. In other words, the focus is shifting from a simplistic and binary conceptualization of Internet access to a more advanced and complex approach that involves width and depth of Internet usage (Dholakia, Dholakia, & Kshetri, 2004; Livingstone & Helsper, 2007; van Dijk, 2006). Beside the diverse types of Internet usages, the social and strategic competencies to make full use of the participatory potentials of social media differ among the socially disadvantaged, the "bottom of the digital pyramid", and the more "elite' users. The digital pyramid spans different types of web users. Thereby, only a relatively small group of individuals, namely the top of the pyramid, make up the active and literate elite of users. And primarily this elite is addressed by companies, new developments and the literature. And it is this relatively small percentage of the society that can enjoy the potentials of social media to the fullest extent. The majority of people, which you may label the 'bottom of the digital pyramid' is unable to do so. Passivity, inability and/ or uncertainty in using social media are for them a hindering factor in realizing the economic and social benefits of these new applications. This paper addresses the shift in focus of the digital divide discourse as well as the potentials of social media for the socially disadvantaged in particular by exploring the factors that shape participation in the Web, primarily among the "bottom of the digital pyramid'. We will discuss how social media changes and possibly facilitates the way of coping with societal exclusion, and possible means of organizing and action to empower this specific group for participation. In particular, the paper will address the concerns of one particular marginalized group, those of the unemployed, and will examine the potential of social media for coping with unemployment and facilitating the reentry into the job market. The authors are aware that the "group" of unemployed persons is as heterogeneous as society itself, having different socio-demographic characteristics, affinities, and competences which are necessary to be taken into account when identifying and classifying social media usage and literacy patterns. However, as we are interested in analyzing the media competencies of unemployed persons especially those belonging to the socially disadvantaged, we will refer especially to this specific group when referring to the unemployed or unemployed persons for the sake of simplicity. Recent evidence suggests that it is important to consider inequality in social media usage (Hargittai, 2010, Hargittai & Walejko, 2008). Our contribution is one step to address this gap in social media research that has a natural tendency to focus on the more articulate users. We also point out to the relevance for society in general, for which the lack of permeability in social systems might query their essential civil principles if these issues are not addressed. In the increasingly user generated Web, a divide in the breadth and frequency of participation may lead to the emergence of a system that is dominated by elite contributors while the rest will remain mere consumers of content (Hargittai & Walejko, 2008). The new information and communication technologies are a chance to counteract those devel-opments. The disadvantaged might build more strategic social relationships and use better suited forms of information reception and production to catch up with society. Therefore, the new possibilities and opportunities enabled by the new generation of social media technologies are of high relevance for the unemployed. Furthermore, new digital media opens up additional possibilities to overcome exclusionary processes and structures, and influence the subjective perception of precarity by disadvantaged persons and therefore their feeling of societal exclusion. Finally, chances for governmental and corporate actors to act on their responsibility to foster societal cohesion are addressed, which may ultimately lead to the development of new digital product offerings tailored to the needs of the disadvantaged and business opportunities. The people at the "bottom of the digital pyramid' could for instance benefit from a more sophisticated Internet usage, by gaining enhanced autonomy and by improving their capacity to accomplish more productive tasks for and by themselves. Our paper will both address theoretical and practical issues. From a theoretical point of view, the context and the implications of social media are applied to the context of the marginalized and the unemployed, thus widening the scope of social media research. From a practical point of view, the article presents a novel perspective on the question of social participation in a more and more digital environment, as well as engagement opportunities for the corporate sector with the "bottom of the digital pyramid'. Being a review contribution at the current, all the limitations that apply for theoretical research apply to our contribution. The paper is divided into four parts. After this introduction, this paper continues with an over-view of recent literature addressing the digital divide, followed by a discussion of the implication of digital divide research for the unemployed. Finally, we propose a model of a digital inequality pyramid that compromises four dimensions of skills, which will be explained and discussed last.

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Participatory Media for Participatory Politics? : Comparing Politicians' Social Media Use in Switzerland and Germany

2014-05-28 , Hoffmann, Christian Pieter , Meckel, Miriam , Suphan, Anne

Recently, a number of studies have addressed antecedents of politicians' social media use, such as incumbency status, party size or composition of the electorate. Rarely have these findings been based on a comparative analysis of political systems, though. Our study focusses on one element of the political system, in particular: the effect of direct democracy, i.e., the availability of popular initiatives and referendums, on parliamentarians' social media use. Based on a survey of members of the national parliaments of Germany and Switzerland, it explores the effect of direct democracy on politicians' social media use. In order to control for constituency size, members of German state parliaments are included in the comparison. Accordingly, administrative units are differentiated based on past experience with popular initiatives and referendums. Our analysis reveals significantly lower levels of social media use among Swiss politicians compared to their German counterparts. Within Germany, politicians on the national level report higher levels of social media use, while past experience with direct democracy does not differentiate social media use on the state level.

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I'll tweet my representative : Antecedents of Social Media use among German Parliamentarians

2012-09-20 , Hoffmann, Christian Pieter , Meckel, Miriam , Ranzini, Giulia , Suphan, Anne

Participatory social media platforms facilitate the political communication and cooperation of interested citizens, leading, some believe, to the strengthening of political and civic participation offline. Given such a tangible effect of social media on political engagement, how do politicians react to their proliferation? Previous studies have analyzed antecedents of the adoption of new media applications in online campaigning. However, only little is known about the drivers of social media use in day-to-day political routine, outside of a campaign setting. The present study measures the frequency of political communication by members of the German federal parliament on a variety of social media platforms throughout the year 2010 - a year without any elections at either the federal or state level in Germany. It tests for a range of possible antecedents, and finds that supply-side (age), demand-side (electoral district type), and structural factors (party affiliation) significantly impact the use of social media by parliamentarians.

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"I'll Tweet My Representative!" : Antecedents of Social Media Use Among German Parliamentarians

2013 , Hoffmann, Christian Pieter , Meckel, Miriam , Ranzini, Giulia , Suphan, Anne , Okay, Aydemir , Tench, Ralph , Carayol, Valérie

Participatory social media platforms facilitate the political communication and cooperation of interested citizens, leading, some believe, to the strengthening of political and civic participation offline. Given such a tangible effect of social media on political engagement, how do politicians react to their proliferation? Previous studies have analyzed antecedents of the adoption of new media applications in online campaigning. However, only little is known about the drivers of social media use in day-to-day political routine, outside of a campaign setting. The present study measures the frequency of political communication by members of the German federal parliament on a variety of social media platforms throughout the year 2010 - a year without any elections at either the federal or state level in Germany. It tests for a range of possible antecedents, and finds that supply-side (age), demand-side (electoral district type), and structural factors (party affiliation) significantly impact the use of social media by parliamentarians.

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The Impact of Use Motives on Politicians' Social Media Adoption

2013-06-19 , Hoffmann, Christian Pieter , Suphan, Anne , Meckel, Miriam

Social media are believed to contribute to a more participatory political environment by providing access to online conversations and by facilitating connections between like-minded individuals. Still, politicians seem slow in actually adopting social media into their communication efforts. Based on a survey conducted among politicians active on the federal level in Switzerland, we explore motives of social media use and their impact on social media adoption. We are able to differentiate three use motives which contribute to distinct use patterns. Based on a model of social media acceptance, we find that use motives do in fact impact social media adoption. We conclude that politicians with more use experience and a clearer grasp of the specific benefits of social media choose a more active, strategic and professional approach to social media communication.

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Social Media Acceptance in the Workplace : A Conceptual Model

2011-08-16 , Bucher, Eliane , Fieseler, Christian , Meckel, Miriam , Suphan, Anne

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Social Media and the Communication Profession

2011-01-31 , Bucher, Eliane , Fieseler, Christian , Meckel, Miriam , Suphan, Anne

With the increasing popularity of Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn and the like, the communication profession is facing new and exciting opportunities to communicate - as well as new challenges that have to be met. Professionals from 30 different European countries participated in a joint survey of the European Association of Communication Directors and the University of St. Gallen that looked into the way Social Media affect and change the way communication professionals conduct their daily work and how they react to and cope with it. The results presented in this report show the main challenges in the field and develop approaches to help and support practitioners throughout Europe in their effective use of Social Media

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