Paper Info
Title
Herd behavior in social media: The role of Facebook likes, strength of ties, and expertise
Abstract
When do social media users click on sponsored content or intend to visit the website at a later time? A qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) using arguments based on herd theory, strength of ties, and social distance shows that only “likes” from socially close and knowledgeable users can consistently generate click-through or view-through intentions. Considering social tie strength in a herd behavior context, the analysis of sufficient configurations for click- and view-through intentions provides a nuanced perspective on social media user behavior and social influence. For instance, click-through intention requires observing a “like” from a close person, while view-through intentions can also develop after observing “likes” from less close acquaintances, yet in the last case only if the user assumes the acquaintance is better informed regarding the sponsored content. In addition, a “like” from a close friend deemed better informed can even make a user click on a sponsored content that was not considered valuable before.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1016/j.im.2020.103370
Information & Management
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Social media advertising,Social networking sites,Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA),Herd behavior,Strengths of ties,Click-through,View-through
Journal
57
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
8
0378-7206
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jens Mattke104.06
Christian Maier230036.00
Lea Reis312.46
Tim Weitzel466962.90