Re-tweeting and the theory of middle-status conformity in the PostAdoption use of twitter

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the post-adoption usage of the micro-blogging platform Twitter at the firm level, specifically the act of re-tweeting (reposting what others have tweeted) and the propensity to have one's tweets re-tweeted by others. Using a sample of tweeting activity from US colleges and universities, we demonstrate empirically that re-tweeting activity is consistent with the theory of middle-status conformity and that re-tweeting in a manner inconsistent with the institution's status in the marketplace has a differential impact on their successful post-adoption usage of the platform, which was measured as the propensity to have one's tweets re-tweeted by others. For highstatus and upper middle-status colleges and universities, re-tweeting content posted by others less than normative expectations is more effective than more, but for lower middle-status and low-status colleges and universities, re-tweeting content posted by others more than normative expectations is more effective than less. Our study contributes to the postadoption usage of information systems literature at the firm level by demonstrating empirically the importance of status to the technology, organization and environment (TOE) framework. © 2014 IEEE.