ABSTRACT
Advancements in experiential media (EM) technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR), a subset of EM, can transform the ways public relations (PR) professions tell stories about a brand, organization, or mega-events. In the context of sports, PR content productions utilize various qualities of EM to offer immersive at-home, arena-like experiences for sports spectators. However, considering the novelty of such EM tools, limited studies have focused on how and the extent to which PR and sports journalistic content productions use VR technologies. In this qualitative content analysis, we examine how and the extent to which VR is utilized in pre-game YouTube VR contents produced for the FIFA World Cups 2018 and 2022. We analyzed YouTube VR contents produced by Russia Today (RT) in the buildup to 'Russia 2018' hosted by Russia, in comparison with pre-game YouTube VR contents produced by the Road To 2022, in view of the upcoming 'Qatar 2022'. Through qualitative analyses, we identified four broad thematic categories: stadium design, technology, facilities, and locality, as well as many sub-themes through observations and memos from all the seventeen YouTube VR content productions considered for the study. This study adds to the theoretical discussions on the role VR plays in sports journalism and sports PR and provides practical recommendations on the use of virtual reality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Drawing from social learning theory and the mobile advertising literature on key performance indicators (KPIs), two experiments examined the influence of peer users' conversion in mobile social commerce. Experiment 1 (N = 211, between-subjects [high vs. low number of “sold items”]) tested the effects of peer users' conversion, operationalized as the number of “sold items” in the seller's profile, on the seller-and-profile-related outcomes. The main effect of peer users' conversion was found such that high conversion induced greater cognitive and affective appraisals, higher seller credibility, a more positive profile attitude, greater perceived entrepreneurial talent of the seller, and stronger social commerce conversion intentions. The mediating effect of social learning (mainly affective appraisal) was found. Experiment 2 (N = 348, 2 [high vs. low number of “sold items”] x 2 [high vs. low “followers”] between-subjects factorial design) showed the interaction effects of the number of “sold items” (seller's sales performance) and the number of “followers” (seller's relationship performance) on cognitive and affective appraisals, seller credibility, and profile attitude. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that peer users' conversion exerts a positive impact on the outcome variables through cognitive and affective appraisals when the number of followers is high but not when it is low. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd