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Enacting social media success in local public administrations: An empirical analysis of organizational, institutional, and contextual factors

J. Ignacio Criado (Department of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain)
Francisco Rojas-Martín (Department of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain)
J. Ramon Gil-Garcia (University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, USA) (Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas, Mexico City, Mexico)

International Journal of Public Sector Management

ISSN: 0951-3558

Article publication date: 9 January 2017

1928

Abstract

Purpose

The diffusion of social media among public administrations has significantly grown in the last years. This phenomenon has created a field of research that seeks to understand the adoption and impact of social media in the public sector. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that make social media successful in Spanish local governments.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an adapted version of a neo-institutional model: Enacting Electronic Government Success (EEGS). The data have been collected through three main sources: primary data from a questionnaire designed and conducted by the authors, secondary data of statistical sources, and tertiary data collected through Klout Score.

Findings

The results from a survey and statistical analysis provide preliminary validation of the model and show a direct relationship between organizational, institutional, and environmental factors with the successful use of social media in local public administrations. The data analysis shows that ten variables jointly explain 54.6 percent (adjusted R2=0.546) of the variability observed in the dependent variable.

Research limitations/implications

First, the analysis model used represents a limited sample size to carry out a complex quantitative analysis. Second, the use of Klout Scores can offer some bias. Finally, certain variables complicate the comparative potential of the study.

Originality/value

This study provides original primary data and contributes to the growing field of study related to social technologies in public administrations. This research also confirms in an exploratory way the validity of the EEGS model.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research has been possible with the support of the research programme S2015/HUM-3466 NEW TRUST-CM (Comunidad de Madrid) and research project CSO2013-48641-C2-1-R (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad).

Citation

Criado, J.I., Rojas-Martín, F. and Gil-Garcia, J.R. (2017), "Enacting social media success in local public administrations: An empirical analysis of organizational, institutional, and contextual factors", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 31-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-03-2016-0053

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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