The Nexus between Twitter, as a Social Blog, and Social Capital in Corporate Reputation Behaviour for the Zimbabwe Telecommunications Industry

Abstract

This paper seeks to develop insights on the nexus between Twitter, as a social blog, and social capital in the management of corporate reputation in  the Zimbabwean telecommunications industry. Further, the study seeks to develop a framework for the industry and stakeholders to utilise towards  improved corporate reputation behaviour. The main objective is to understand the factors that have impacted on the use of Twitter in the  telecommunications industry with the aim of developing a framework that can address the knowledge and practice gaps identified. A mixed method  approach was employed in gathering the data from the industry through a quan-qual sequential method. The respondents and  participants to the study were n=369, which was deduced from the total identified population of 4834 employees in the telecommunications  industry through the Yamane Formula. Of these participants, 18 were key interview informants (KII) purposefully selected from the industry’s,  management, call centres, public relations departments, front offices, and marketing departments based on their experience and knowledge of the  industry. The results show that Twitter, as a social blog, can be used by the practitioners in the telecommunications industry which have a positive  contribution to social capital and new approaches towards corporate reputation and behavior management in an industry that predominantly relies  on traditional media for corporate reputation and behaviour management. The study developed a framework which both the practitioners and  stakeholders can utilise to manage corporate reputation behaviour and further research on the subject matter. This study, however, given the nature  of the industry, developed insights based on the internal stakeholders as the industry is heavily regulated, hence providing scope for future  research on the customers’ firsthand perspectives.