Image strength and identity diffusion as factors influencing the perception of hospitals by their facebook communities

Abstract

Facebook provides hospitals many potential benefits but also forces them to adapt the way they connect with their stakeholders in various fields of application. Within these fields of application hospitals can act in various roles. Hospitals might influence these roles, but they are also dependent on how they are perceived by their Facebook community. In this paper, we aim to find out how hospitals differ in the perception by their Facebook communities and how these differences can be measured. Furthermore, we develop hypotheses with image strength and identity diffusion as factors influencing how hospitals are perceived by their Facebook communities. We test our hypotheses with data of all hospitals in Switzerland. Our statistical analysis provides strong support for all of our hypotheses. Our findings might help hospitals better to assess their position in their Facebook community and to adapt their intended roles as well as their strategies, content, and behavior in accordance to that.