How do CEOs communicate on Twitter? A comparative study between Fortune 200 companies and top startup companies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare Fortune 200 and top startup chief executive officers’ (CEOs) communication strategies on Twitter and the effectiveness of these strategies in influencing public engagement. Specifically, guided by the dialogic communication theory and social presence t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Corporate communications Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 532 - 552
Main Authors: Yue, Cen April, Thelen, Patrick, Robinson, Katy, Men, Linjuan Rita
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 31.07.2019
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Subjects:
Animation
Business
Business communications
Chief executive officers
Chief executives
Coders
Coding
Communication strategies
Communication theory
Companies
Comparative analysis
Comparative studies
Computer mediated communication
Content analysis
Data analysis
Dialogue
Digital media
Discourse strategies
Executives (Business)
Knowledge management
Leadership
Mass media
Nonprofit organizations
Principles
Public participation
Public relations
Regression analysis
Reliability
Social media
Social networks
Stakeholders
Startups
Strategies
Tactics
User behavior
Leadership
Social presence
Startups
Dialogic communication
CEO communication
Social media
ISSN:1356-3289, 1758-6046
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare Fortune 200 and top startup chief executive officers’ (CEOs) communication strategies on Twitter and the effectiveness of these strategies in influencing public engagement. Specifically, guided by the dialogic communication theory and social presence theory, this study explored CEOs’ use of dialogic communication, social presence strategies and message tactics. Additionally, public engagement on Twitter measured by total number of likes, retweets and comments was associated with communication strategies utilized by CEOs. Design/methodology/approach This study employed the quantitative content analysis. A total sample of 720 posts from 36 CEOs were selected and analyzed. Drawing from prior studies, a coding scheme was developed and employed during the coding process. Two authors of this study served as coders and reached satisfactory inter-coder reliability. A series of χ2 tests and negative binomial regressions were conducted for data analysis. Findings Neither Fortune 200 CEOs nor top startup CEOs fully utilized dialogic principles for Twitter communication. Although Fortune CEOs seemed to be experts in strategically tailoring messages and therefore present themselves on Twitter in a friendly manner, startup CEOs demonstrated a higher level of authenticity, animation and informality. Findings are mixed regarding the direction of associations between dialogic principles and public engagement. Originality/value This study expands the application of dialogic principles in examining online executive communication and its influence in public engagement on Twitter. This study was among the first that examined executive leadership communication in the context of social media setting. In this sense, the study shifted the internal focus of leadership research to investigating leaders’ interaction with a variety of online publics.
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ISSN:1356-3289
1758-6046
DOI:10.1108/CCIJ-03-2019-0031