Building a Firm-Hosted Online Community

Building a Firm-Hosted Online Community

Date: Friday 5 April, 2019
Time: 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Location: Digital Learning Space (Room 224, Level 2), Joyce Ackroyd Building (#37) 

Presenter: Professor Leona Achtenhagen, Jönköping International Business School, Sweden 

Abstract: 

Online communities are a topic of increasing academic and practitioner interest. Yet, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of building a firm-hosted online community. Our in-depth single-case study of how the world’s largest miniature model railway exhibition established a vital firm-hosted online community addresses this gap. We identify a process consisting of three key practices – luring, documenting, and moderating – that explains the inherent challenge of building a firm-hosted online community: how to attract and how to keep people engaged with the online community. The longitudinal nature of our data further suggests that the three core practices must adapt to changes in the environment. The findings carry important implications for the management of firm-hosted online communities

About the Presenter:

Prof Leona Achtenhagen is Director of the Media, Management and Transformation Centre (MMTC) at Jönköping International Business School in Sweden where she researches media management and entrepreneurialism in the media industries. Since its 2003 establishment the Media, Management and Transformation Centre has been a central academic institution in the field of Media Management exploring how digital technologies have changed the ways media are produced and consumed and their effect on consumers, companies and other stakeholders in society. Prof Achtenhagen is also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Media Business Studies.  Prof Achtenhagen is currently visiting the School of Communication and Arts as a guest of the Platform Media: Algorithms, Accountability and Media Design initiaitve

This seminar is supported by The Platform Media SRF and IASH. This seminar is part of the “Platform Media: Algorithms, Accountability and Media Design” project,  a Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences initiative bringing together researchers in the School of Communication and Arts and the T.C. Beirne Law School.