The Influence of Global Connectedness and Demographic Distance on Stakeholder Claims Via Social Media Within the Firm’S Issue Management Process

The influence of global connectedness and demographic distance on stakeholder claims via social media within the firm’s issue management process

Master thesis International Management

MSc. Business Administration – Specialization: International management

University of Amsterdam

Supervisor: Drs. Michelle Westermann-Behaylo

Second supervisor: Drs. Francesca Ciulli

Student: Carla Brouwer (10188134)

Data: 29th of January, 2016

Word count: 22,144

Statement of Originality

This document is written by student Carla Brouwer who declares to take full responsibility for the

contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the

work, not for the contents.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor, Drs. Michelle Westermann-Behaylo, for her guidance, feedback and patience during the execution of my research. Also, I would like to thank my Australian friend

Ashton Pereira for reading my thesis and providing feedback. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my father for his unconditional support and encouragement.

Table of Contents Statement of Originality ...... 2 Acknowledgements ...... 3 Abstract ...... 6 1.Introduction ...... 7 2.Literature review ...... 11 2.1 Social media use by stakeholders ...... 11 2.2 Firm’s issue management process ...... 13 2.3 Global connectedness, demographic distance and social media issues ...... 16 2.3.1 Institutional theory and Institutional distance ...... 16 2.3.2 Global connectedness ...... 17 2.3.3 Demographic distance ...... 18 3. Conceptual Framework ...... 23 3.1 Stakeholder issues on social media and perception ...... 24 3.2 Stakeholder issues on social media and interpretation ...... 25 3.3 Stakeholder issues on social media and response ...... 26 3.4 Global connectedness ...... 27 3.5 Demographic distance, stakeholder issues on social media and firm’s issue management ...... 29 4. Methodology ...... 31 4.1 Research philosophy and approach ...... 31 4.2 Research design ...... 32 4.3 Data Collection ...... 32 4.4 Data analysis ...... 34 5. Findings ...... 36 5.1 Within-case analysis ...... 36 5.1.1 Case A: Google Inc...... 36 5.1.2 Case B: PayPal Inc...... 37 5.1.3 Case C: Lenovo Group Ltd...... 39 5.1.4 Case D: Bharti Airtel Limited...... 41 5.1.5 Case E: Walmart...... 42 5.1.6 Case F: Netflix Inc...... 44 5.1.7 Case G: IKEA...... 45 5.1.8 Case H: H&M...... 47 5.2 Cross-case analysis ...... 49 5.2.1 Perception ...... 49

5.2.2 Interpretation ...... 53 5.2.3 Response ...... 53 5.2.4 Global connectedness ...... 54 5.2.5 Demographic distance ...... 57 5.2.6 Process ...... 60 6. Discussion, implications and limitations ...... 62 6.1 Discussion ...... 62 6.2 Theoretical and managerial implications ...... 65 6.3 Limitations and future research...... 66 7. Conclusion ...... 68 References ...... 70

Abstract

This study provides an answer to the issue of how global connectedness and demographic distance

influence the way firms manage stakeholders issues that arise through social media. Using an

explorative multiple case study approach, the concepts social media, firm’s issue management, global

connectedness and demographic distance are all analyzed. The chosen cases are retrieved from

Change.org and involve online petitions that are signed by certain stakeholders from developed or

developing countries. The findings seem to support the working propositions stating that firms

prioritize issues who they perceive as important and interpret and respond faster since the issues are

exacerbated by internet and social media attention. Furthermore, a MNC headquartered in a developed

country responds faster to stakeholder issues that arise through social media as there is greater internet use among the population in that country. Also, a MNC from a country with a greying demographic structure facing a stakeholder issue raised by stakeholders on social media in a host-country with a youth bulge demographic structure is most likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as the issue will be faster distributed in a country where more young individuals spend time on social media.

Keywords: Social media; firm’s issue management process; global connectedness and demographic distance

1.Introduction

The fact that blind people could not enjoy a new show about blind people on Netflix threatened to

damage the reputation of the on-demand internet streaming company. Netflix lacked important

accessibility features for the blind and was missing the “visual description” option that orally explains

them what is happening on the screen. As a result, a Change.org petition to add a visual description

option for original content for newer shows garnered thousands of supporters.1 Netflix responded on

this issue within less than a week by adding audio descriptions for the visually impaired on newer

shows (Wright, 2015). According to Zyglidopoulos (2003), attention to issues from stakeholders

frequently forces firms to change and to respond to those issues to save their reputation. The rise of

social media changes the way that firms manage stakeholder issues (Perrault, Westermann-Behaylo

and Berman, 2014).

Generating publicity for business plays an important role in confirming the legitimacy of a

firm, because firms want to maintain a positive reputation in the public eye (Greening & Gray, 1994).

In the past, there has been a dramatic rise in generating publicity for business via television, radio,

newspapers etc. Nowadays, social media is increasingly prevalent for business exposure. Social media refers to interactive platforms of mobile and web-based technologies via which individuals and communities share, co-create and discuss user-generated content (UGC) (Kietzmann, Hermkens,

McCarthy & Silvestre, 2011), including user forums, blogs and websites as Facebook or Twitter

(Besiou, Hunter & Van Wassenhoven, 2013). It allows like-minded people to share their opinions, information and objectives (Besiou et al., 2013).

It has been no surprise then that communication among a group of like-minded people about a firm happens with or without the firm’s permission. Stakeholder’s claims on organizations had confronted firms with social and political issues, for example clean air (Besiou et al., 2013).

1https://www.change.org/p/netflix-make-daredevil-available-to-blind-people, accessed on June 16th, 2015.

Organizations perceive these issues by scanning the environment for clues (Besiou et al., 2013), while issues could be interpreted in a sequence of four stages; anticipation, confirmation, culmination and aftermath (Isabella, 1990).Once an issue has been perceived and interpreted as strategically significant for a firm, also referred to as tipping point, it is important to successfully address the issue by taking action (Perrault et al., 2014). In other words, organizations need to develop internal procedures in order to evaluate and respond appropriately to the issues they face (Greening & Gray, 1994), as firms can be unable to allocate resources to filter and screen the content of a social media post (Kietzman et al., 2011).

Previous research has generated insights into the relationship between organizations and their environment, especially how organizations respond to environmental processes (Oliver, 1991). Every organization has a different institutional environment with different collective norms and beliefs.

Institutions are referred to as formal and informal rules that shape the behaviors of individuals and organizations in society (Williamson, 2000). As every organization has a different institutional environment, so does every country (Whitley, 1992). Therefore, the institutional distance framework of Berry, Guillén & Zhou (2010) is discussed.

According to Berry et al. (2010), a framework has been provided that views indicators in institutional theories of cross-national differences. Institutional theory identifies global connectedness as a key dimension of cross-national differences (Berry et al., 2010). Countries differ in terms of tourism and internet use. These differences can affect the decision to enter specific countries as there is more internet use among the population in developed countries compared to developing countries.

Also, countries differ in terms of demographic distance. Countries differ in terms of the size, growth, age structure and health of their populations . Some countries have a large proportion of older people in the population (greying population), while other countries have a larger proportion of younger people (youth bulge). These demographic differences can affect the actions of multinational corporations (MNCs), such as the choice of entry modes in the field of international business (Berry et al., 2010).

This study focuses on how differences in global connectedness and demographic age structure

between the home and a host country of the MNC impact how they manage issues presented through

social media.

Despite the fact that the relation between stakeholder claims and the firm’s response has had a

lot of attention in the IB literature (Greening & Gray, 1994; Beck & Plowman, 2009), little research

has been conducted on how social media is involved in this relationship. Social media introduces

meaningful changes to communication between organizations, communities, stakeholders and

individuals as it provides the potential for interactive two-way communication and it collects real time

information from users who put their information online (Besiou et al., 2013). As a result, interaction

between stakeholders online is more rapid and intense. This can impact the firm’s reputation if a firm

does not respond on time on a social or political issue brought up by stakeholders or decide to ignore

it (Kietzman et al., 2011). Furthermore, global connectedness and demographic distance can influence

whether the differences in internet use and the differences in the demographic age structure of the

population between two countries can amplify the relationship between stakeholders issues arising by

social media and a firm's response.

This study fills this gap in the IB literature by developing a framework that helps both

managers and stakeholders understand how social media networks affect firms’ issue management

processes and how institutional differences influence this relationship.

Based on the research aim described above, the following research question has been

constructed: How does global connectedness and demographic distance influence how MNCs manage

stakeholders issues which arise through social media?

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. First, the theoretical foundations of this

study are discussed. Then, multiple working propositions are established in order to investigate

whether the institutional differences, global connectedness and demographic distance, change how

firms manage stakeholder issues which arise through social media. Thereafter, the methodology of

this study is discussed, which includes a multiple case study design in which qualitative data is

collected through the social media platform Change.org.

On this platform, the amount of stakeholder pressure an issue generates might be related to the number of signatures that an online petition gathers, social media attention, other websites than the initial petition where this issue is specifically mentioned and traditional media attention. The firm’s response can be related to how they respond on these issues and the response time, and the institutional differences can be adapted from the databases ILS, ITU, World Bank and Indexmundi.

The validity of the working propositions is reviewed in the results and discussion section. This research concludes with a summary about the key findings, theoretical implications, managerial implications, limitations of research and recommendations for future research.

2.Literature review

The first section of this literature review discusses the use of social media by stakeholders. The second section starts by analyzing the firm’s issue management process. The last section discusses the concepts global connectedness and demographic distance.

2.1 Social media use by stakeholders

Preliminary literature on media has started to focus on the major differences between traditional

media and social media. These major differences are whether capabilities exist for one way, two-way and interactive exchange of information (Latonero & Shklovski, 2011; Besiou et al., 2013).

Traditional media communicates with people by one-way broadcast radio, television and newspapers,

whereas social media provides the potential for interactive two-way communications. Even though,

traditional media has made attempts to increase the interactivity between the audience and radio

stations, there is still dissatisfaction due to a lack in their capabilities (Latonero & Shklovski, 2011).

Also, social media is based on the interconnected nature of message posts due to the ease of sharing

messages and therefore, the messages are distributed by a higher speed by multiple users (Smith,

2010). In other words, social media collects real time information from eyewitnesses who are on a

specific location and put their information online as social media increases the speed by which users

communicate (Besiou et al., 2013; Whelan, Moon & Grant, 2013; Latonero & Shklovski, 2011). Thus,

social media engages more interactivity and real-time information.

Social media is characterized by this interaction as users freely share their content (e.g. video,

photos, texts etc.) online for use by others, co-create content, and discuss and/or modify content

(Aula, 2010; Kietzmann et al., 2011). This content can include blogs, social networks, podcasts and wikis. It consists of either usefulness and/or enjoyment, which help to enhance people's intention to use social media (Lin & Lu, 2011).

In other words, when social media users perceive social media useful and/or as a system that brings

pleasure, people's intention to use social media are enhanced.

Another important factor that enhances users’ intention to use social media is the theory of

network externalities. Network externalities consist of number of members, number of peers and

perceived complementary products/services (Lin & Lu, 2011).Number of members are defined as the

users of social media in general, whereas the number of peers is related to the usage of social media

by friends or groups based among common interests (Valenzuela, 2013).Perceived complementary

services are social applications on the website where users can interact (Lin & Lu, 2011).The number of peers might have the largest effect on a user’s intention to use social media, because empirical evidence have shown that 70 percent of participants become a social media user as they want to connect with people who have the same interests (Heller Baird & Parasnis, 2011). As a result, the number of ties between peers grow and communication across this network becomes more efficient

(Rowley, 1997).

Previous research shows that organizations recognize the potential of social media to engage where their customers and other stakeholders are paying attention (Jian, Cheng, Nunamaker &

Zimbra, 2014; Besiou et al., 2013). Stakeholders are defined as a group of people who are interested in the organization and therefore “may affect the decision making process of an organization” (Besiou et al., 2013, p. 710). Organizations want to get closer to their stakeholders in order to control the communication between stakeholders to maintain a positive reputation in the public eye (Aula, 2010;

Heller Baird & Parasnis, 2011). Aula (2010) discusses that content on social media cannot be controlled in advance and therefore, it is almost impossible for organizations to control communications among stakeholders about themselves.

Social media allows stakeholders to share their opinion, information and objectives with or

without the firm's permission. Stakeholder claims on organizations may raise the urgency of its

criticism to managers and confront firms with social, strategic and political issues, for example clean

air (Besiou et al., 2013; Deephouse, 2000). The only difference nowadays is that these issues are

channeled through social media (Besiou et al., 2013).

Stakeholders do not only use social media to communicate about crises. They use social media to “create their own influence, to decentralize the dissemination of information and to reduce official control” (Veil, Buehner & Palenchar, 2011, p. 118). Social media provides platforms for spontaneous individual and collective publication of information and opinions and thus opens the arena for stakeholder activists that can more easily interact with each other (Fieseler & Fleck, 2013).

Stakeholder activists are stakeholder groups that claim to represent a social movement, e.g., a preferred state of how the world should be able to solve social problems (Den Hond & De Bakker,

2007). It is shown that stakeholder activists selectively target organizations whose practice raise specific issues of interest to society (Den Hond & De Bakker, 2007). As a result, a lot of stakeholder activists join protests and come together due to their common concerns, whether in a physical place or via a campaign or petition. Petitioning is one way to achieve active participation, because activists have long used petitions to make their feelings known about issues that concern them (de Bakker &

Hellsten, 2013). Social media can be a platform for this collective action (Besiou et al., 2013). The focus of this study is on the use of social media by stakeholder activists, which can be described for example by the number of activists joining a protest on a social media platform by signing an online petition or social media attention in general. In other words, the amount of stakeholder pressure an issue generates might be quantified by the number of signatures that an online petition gathers within a specific period of time. Support can be seen by assessing the number of messages on Twitter or

Facebook, as well as general exposure on websites.

2.2 Firm’s issue management process

In recent years, firms have frequently been confronted by concerned stakeholders, who use social media to exert pressure for improved organizational performance on a wide range of social and political issues (Maitlis, 2005). Such issues can be seen as strategic issues when they can potentially affect the firm's ability to achieve its goals. Strategic issues emerge within (internal environment) or outside (external environment) the organization (Ansof, 1980; Dutton & Ottensmeyer, 1997).

In other words, an internal strategic issue is associated with what happens within the firm’s boundaries, for example the development of a new technology, whereas an external strategic issue is associated with what happens outside the boundaries of the firm, such as political unrest near an established organizational site (Dutton & Ottensmeyer, 1987).

The identification and response to these issues can be referred to as strategic issue management (Ansoff, 1980; Dutton & Ottensmeyer, 1987). In this process, managers make sense of external issues by scanning the environment and by interpreting the issue (Maitlis, 2005).

The first part of this process occurs when organizations face events, issues and actions that are somehow surprising or unexpected (Maitlis, 2005). Issues that are perceived as having bearing on to the expression of an organization’s core values are perceived as important in an organization (Bundy,

Shropshire & Buchholtz, 2013).These issues get the priority of the managers in an organization, because they are afraid if they do not take on the issue, these issues tend to get worse (Dutton, Stump

& Wagner, 1990).

The second part of the sense-making process is “that individuals interpret and explain sets of cues from their environment” (Maitlis, 2005, p.21). According to Beck & Plowman (2009) and Ansoff

(1980), organizations have difficulties learning from unexpected social and/or political concerns confronted by stakeholders, because of their inability to perceive the importance of an issue and thus, the inability to interpret these events in the right way. In other words, the firm’s issue management process encompasses how organizations gather and use information.

According to Isabella (1990), interpretations of issues evolve through four stages, anticipation, confirmation, culmination and aftermath. Anticipation refers to the stage that consists of rumors and disconnected pieces of information and therefore, managers do not possess a final picture, because they struggle with the sense-making process. Confirmation refers to the stage where managers interpret present issues as similar or as different from other issues in the past. This view of managers emerged more frequently when managers had experienced a similar event in another organization and created scenarios of what could happen in the future based upon what has occurred in the past. In other words, managers can be better prepared for future similar events (Jian et al.,

2014).

Culmination refers to the stage where managers determine what behaviors and norms from the past

are still relevant and which of those needs amending or is no longer of any value. In this stage, history

is in a sense being made. Each issues brings with it the need to create new norms, while old views are

not effective anymore. The final stage “aftermath” refers to managers who evaluate an event in terms

of its positive/negative outcomes on the entire organization (Beck & Plowman, 2009).

Some authors have suggested that understanding the stages of interpretation for responding to

change would enhance the effectiveness of organizational responses (Isabella, 1990). Social media

enables organizations to respond to messages in new ways (Whelan et al., 2013). Many corporations

have developed internal procedures and created formal staff functions to make decisions and to

respond to the demands they face (Greening & Grey, 1994). This “organizational responsiveness” can

be referred to as the way organizations respond to changes in the external environment (Wei & Wang,

2011).

Firms must respond to opportunities and threats posed by stakeholders to survive in a competitive marketplace, because the threats can damage the reputation of a firm (Wei & Wang,

2011). These threats can damage the reputation even more when organizations make mistakes online in the way they respond as “the online environment forms a digital panopticon in which the past is

forever present” (Whelan et al., 2013, p. 779). By analyzing the discussions among stakeholders,

managers can make more informed decisions to manage a firm's reputation in case of an issue (Jian et

al., 2014).

In summary, this process of a firm's perception, interpretation and response to social and

political concerns that can affect the strategy of the firm or its performance can be referred to as the firm issues management process (Greening & Gray, 1994). Social media has altered the firm’s issue management process (Perrault et al., 2014). Also, institutional characteristics alter the firm’s issue management process in one nation as compared to another as they want to reduce misunderstandings regarding specific rules, norms and practices that generate conflict over time (Williamson, 2000;

Whitley, 1992). Thus, the next section is about institutional theory and institutional distance.

2.3 Global connectedness, demographic distance and social media issues

2.3.1 Institutional theory and Institutional distance

Institutions have been devised by human beings to create order and reduce uncertainty in an

environment in order to enhance this possibility to survive (North, 1990). They are referred to as the

formal and informal rules that shape the behaviors of individuals and organizations in society. In other

words, organizations and individuals pursue their own interests within an institutional structure,

defined by formal rules, such as laws and regulations, and informal rules, such as norms and beliefs

(Williamson, 2000).

Institutional theory draws attention on the effects of rules on organizational conformity to

environmental constraints (Oliver, 1991). In other words, organizations must respond to the external

environment, for example stakeholders, in order to survive in a competitive market place (Oliver,

1991).

International business literature focuses on the fact that countries differ from each other in

many dimensions. A major challenge for international business is to navigate these differences. For

example, every country has a different business system, with differing economic, financial and

administrative practices (Whitley, 1992). These country-level differences originate in demographic,

geographical, cultural and political institutions, which make some countries more distant than others

from another country (Whitley, 1992). In order to investigate different institutional environments in

different countries, Berry et al. (2010) have presented an institutional approach to quantify cross-

national distance.

Berry et al.’s. (2010) framework of cross-national differences is grounded in institutional

theory “to capture the rich diversity of ways in which countries differ”, also referred to as cross- national distance (Berry et al., 2010, p. 1461). This rich diversity includes economic, financial, political, administrative, cultural, demographic, knowledge, connectedness and geographic distance.

Berry et al. (2010) suggest indicator variables to calculate these distance dimensions. The next section focuses on one of these types of cross-national distance, namely global connectedness.

2.3.2 Global connectedness

The focus of this study is specifically on global connectedness as this measurement is one of the key institutional dimensions to consider. Global connectedness includes how countries differ in terms of international tourism expenditure, international tourism receipts and internet use (Berry et al., 2010).

The global digital divide is measured by cross-national differences in internet use, which includes the gap between societies that have the resources to participate in the telecommunication era and those that do not (Guillén & Suarez, 2005; Chen & Wellman, 2004). Estimates compiled by the Internet

Live Stats suggest that the number of internet users around the world have increased from

2,712,239,573 internet users with a penetration rate of 37.9% in 2013 to 2,925,249,355 internet users with a penetration rate of 40.4% in 2014 (ILS, 2014). Thus the global internet penetration rate increased by 2.5% (Chen & Wellman, 2004).

Despite this worldwide growth of the internet, the internet has developed unequally throughout the world, meaning that there is a gap between the developed and developing countries

(Guillén & Suarez, 2005). Statistics compiled by the International Telecommunication Union as of the end of 2014 indicate that 79.5% of the population in developed countries use the internet, while only

32.4% of the population in developing countries use the internet (ITU, 2014). According to the ITU

(2014), developed regions include Northern America, Europe and Japan, while developing regions include Africa, South America and Asia excluding Japan.

The global digital divide can be seen as a result of economic, regulatory and sociopolitical characteristics of countries and their evolution over time (Guillén & Suarez, 2005). Scholars have suggested that the internet is more likely to be used the higher the socioeconomic status, such as higher income and higher education. According to Baliamoune-Lutz (2003, p.154), “countries with higher per capita income invest more in research and development, and hence are more able to discover and use advanced information technologies”. Furthermore, investment in tertiary education

(a higher level of education) has a positive influence on internet use in OECD countries (Baliamoune-

Lutz, 2003).

In conclusion, there is greater internet use in developed countries as people are living more often in

urban centers with better education, higher income and have closer connections to other developed

countries (Chen & Wellman, 2004).

Guillén & Suarez (2005) states that developing countries are dependent on more advanced

countries for capital, technology and access to information. The internet is part of an institutional

tightly regulated telecommunication sector and therefore, national systems are affected by the ways

regulation take place. Wallsten (2005) found that some regulatory policies in developing countries

tend to reduce the number of internet users, while other policies lead to higher internet access prices.

The internet has also occurred in a political context, meaning that the political regime in a

society is an exogenous influence on the diffusion of the internet, because different regimes result in

different types of growth. Telecommunication might be more state-regulated in developing countries

with authoritarian regimes, while democratic regimes enable a faster growth of the internet in

developed countries (Guillén & Suarez, 2005).

In this study, the focus is whether a country contains high global connectedness or low global

connectedness. The paper examines the differences in internet usage patterns among the population in developed and developing countries. In other words, global connectedness can be described by the different percentages of internet use among the population between a developed and in a developing country.

2.3.3 Demographic distance

Another key institutional dimension to consider is demographic distance. Demographic distance includes how countries differ in terms of size, growth, age structure, race and educations of their population. Since the early 1950s, the global population has doubled, especially in parts of the world where institutions are least able to create social order (Flynn, Sisco & Ellis, 2012).

Despite a trend toward slower growth rates of the global population, more than 95% of future global

population will occur in countries with weak institutions, thus in developing countries in the region

Middle East and North-Africa. Continued growth rates have created a youth bulge in these developing

countries, while developed countries are ageing as a result of low fertility, low immigration and longer

lives, such as Japan (Christensen, Doblhammer, Rau & Vaupel, 2009).

This study focuses on differences in the age structure of different countries, as each country has a different population pyramid. A population pyramid describes the age distribution of the population in a certain country. There are three main pyramid’s shapes (Korenjak-ˇCerne, Kejžar, &

Batagel, 2008). The three main pyramids’ shape are expansive, constrictive and stationary. An expansive pyramid represents a majority of young individuals as birth rates are high, while a constrictive pyramid represents greying populations as they have lower percentages of young individuals (Korenjak-ˇCerne et al., 2008). The stationary pyramid represents the neutral population where there is a similar apex for young and older people (Sommers, 2011). A youth bulge can be described as the majority share of young individuals, aged 16-25, which is large compared with the adult population of a society (Hart, Atkins, Markey & Youniss, 2004). In contrast to a youth bulge, a

greying population can be described as a result of lower fertility rates and longer life expectancy,

which forecast the proportion of elderly people to increase dramatically (Christensen et al., 2009). The

youth bulge is a common phenomenon in developing countries, while the greying population is more

common in OECD countries (Christensen et al., 2009).

In this study, the focus is whether a country has a youth bulge or a greying population. We focus on the age structure in different countries, as a youth bulge has been theorized to play a relevant role in triggering social movements such as political unrest (Lutz, Cuaresma & Abbasi – Shavazi,

2010). In other words, demographic distance can be described by the differences in age structures among the population in a developed and in a developing country.

2.3.3.1 Youth bulge and social media activism

Today’s youth group is the largest ever recorded in history with 84% of the global youth population living in the developing world. According to Chaaban (2009), the potential of youth has been recognized as either a trigger for or a barrier to economic, social and political development. In other words, a youth bulge can represent an opportunity for sustainable growth and poverty reduction or threatens to introduce high rates of unemployment, economic and social exclusion and political violence, which differs dramatically across countries and regions (Oppenheimer, Spicer, Trejos, Zille,

Benjamin, Cavallo & Leo, 2011). In this study, the focus is on the relationship between youth bulges and a high level of social or political instability as young individuals are more likely to join a protest and thus, the youth can be a force of change (Lynch, 2011).

Prior literature related to the youth bulge highlights the relationship between countries with youth bulges and a high level of social or political instability. Youth bulges have been linked to revolutions, to political activism and to the prevalence of warfare throughout the world (Hart et al.,

2004). Countries that experience youth bulges (developing nations) are more likely to experience political violence than countries that do not (developed nations) as a youth bulge potentially increases both opportunities and motives for political violence (Urdal, 2006; Sommers, 2011).

The opportunity literature focuses on structural conditions that provide opportunities to attract recruits to the political violence (Collier, 2000; Urdal, 2006). This rebellion is feasible when the potential gain from joining is so high and the expected costs of joining so low that rebel recruits will favor joining over alternative income-earning opportunities (Urdal, 2006). In other words, if young individuals face the option of poverty and unemployment, the youth is more likely to join a protest than if they have better opportunities (Collier, 2000). For example, during the Arab Spring 2010 in

Egypt, the proportion of young individuals was significantly larger compared to other age groups and these young individuals were mostly unemployed. At the same time, these young individuals were the majority of the protestors (Lynch, 2011).

The motive-oriented perspective focuses on economic motives, like unemployment and

poverty and focuses on political motives, like lack of democracy, absence of minority representation

and self-governance (Urdal, 2006). An economy that had experienced rapid decline might be more prone to political violence than one that had experienced rapid growth. Also, protests might arise when a government is autocratic and repressive as people want to overthrow this in the pursuit of democracy (Collier, 2000).

The medium of protests is constantly changing as, in the past, street protests rocked developing nations, such as Yemen, Jordan and Algeria, while nowadays social media campaigns rock these nations (Lynch, 2011). The explosion in communication technology over the last years has dramatically increased the population’s ability to organize and communicate via social media instead of street protests (Flynn et al., 2012). Youth activists are using social media to organize demonstrations, to spread messages to large audiences to target institutions whose practice raise specific issues of interest to society and to even overthrow governments (Den Hond & De Bakker,

2007; Flynn et al., 2012). It provides populations a virtual organizing capability in the phase of physical repressions by regimes, which includes information networks not easily controlled by the state (Flynn et al., 2012). For example, according to the Arab Social Media Report, 88% of Egyptians get their news from social media tools, while relying the least on state-sponsored media for their information as these are predominantly state-controlled (Flynn et al., 2012). Also, social media provides “activists coordination tools that are already embedded in trusted networks of family and

friends” (Howard & Hussain, 2011, p. 48).

Recent literature has investigated the effect of a youth bulge on political activism on social media. As youth activists with the same age structure can connect with each other due to their demographic background on social media, so can stakeholder activists (De Bakker & Hellsten, 2013;

Fieseler & Fleck, 2013). According to Lenhart, Purcell, Smith & Zickuh (2010), 72% of young individuals, 18-29, use social network sites, while only 39% of internet users ages 30 and up use these social media sites.

Following the country classifications of ITU (2014) and the WeAreSocial (2015) statistics,

internet users in developing countries spend more time on social media compared to developed

countries2. Furthermore, more internet users in developing countries spend time on social media compared to internet users in developed countries. For example, 88% of the internet users in Egypt spend time on social media,3 while only 71% of the internet users in the USA spend time on social media.4

2 http://wearesocial.net/tag/statistics/ ,accessed on November 17th, 2015. 3http://davidpapp.com/2014/06/19/top-10-developing-countries-that-use-social-media-the-most/, accessed on November 17th, 2015. 4http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/, accessed on November 17th , 2015.

3. Conceptual Framework

The main goal of this chapter is to discuss the conceptual framework of this research. The following research question has been constructed: How does demographic distance and global connectedness influence how MNCs manage stakeholder issues which arise through social media? First, the stakeholder issues which arise through social media can be perceived as important or as not important by the MNC. Second, stakeholder issues which arise through social media can be interpreted evolving through four stages or not evolving through four stages. Third, managers make faster decisions to manage a MNC’s reputation when they perceive an issue as important. Fourth, there is greater internet use in a developed country compared to a developing country. Therefore, global connectedness amplifies the relation of stakeholder issues on social media and the MNC’s issue management process in developed countries. Last, but not least, a country has a youth bulge or greying population. This depends on the age structure of a population in a country. The demographic distance amplifies the relation of stakeholder issues on social media and the MNC’s issue management process as a host- country with a youth bulge raise faster awareness on the issue. The concepts described and the relationships between them are visualized in the conceptual model in figure 1.

Figure 1: Conceptual model

3.1 Stakeholder issues on social media and perception

Firms have been confronted by stakeholder activists which seek to influence organizational practices on issues related to what they believe are the social, political and environment responsibilities of the firm through social media (Den Hond & De Bakker, 2007). Managers make sense of these issues by scanning the environment as these issues can be somehow surprising (Maitlis, 2005). Also, firms do not need to concern themselves with every arising issue as they only are concerned with issues they perceive as important (Bundy et al., 2013). Issues that are perceived by the firm as important are the ones that affect the organization’s core values (Bundy et al., 2013). These issues get the priority of the managers in a firm due to their fear that the issue will be distributed further (Dutton et al., 1990).

Fieseler & Fleck (2013) states that social media is a platform for collective action and thus opens the arena for stakeholder activists. Other studies show that organizations recognize the potential of social media to engage where their customers and stakeholders are paying attentions to issues (Jian et al.,

2014; Besiou et al., 2013). As more stakeholder activists sign a petition on social media and more media attention is paid to the issue, the faster an issue is widely distributed and thus, the faster issues are brought to the firm’s attention as the issue is perceived as important.

Thus, I propose the following working proposition:

WP1. Firms prioritize issues which they perceive as important and thus pay faster attention to stakeholder issues as the issue gathers more petition signatures, as the issue contains more social media attention, as the issue is specifically mentioned on related webpages or as the issue contains traditional media attention.

3.2 Stakeholder issues on social media and interpretation

Once an issue has been perceived as important, it is then interpreted according to the feasibility of

successfully addressing the issue (Perrault et al., 2014). This process of interpretation evolves through

four stages; anticipation, confirmation, culmination and aftermath. In the first stage, managers sense

that something will happen. In the second and third stage, managers will compare the present issues

with issues from the past, as a similar experience can result in a forcing change into the firm’s

practices. In the aftermath, the manager of an organization can evaluate whether the issues will

damage the firm’s reputation (Isabella, 1990). Social media has altered the interpretation of issues by

managers as firms need to take action more urgent. Most participants who become a social media user

want to connect with people who have the same interests (Heller Baird & Parasnis, 2011). This results

in growing ties between peers and a more efficient communication across networks, which results in a

faster distribution of issues (Rowley, 1997). As the ties between peers grow, organizations recognize

the potential of social media collective actions to engage where their customers and other stakeholders

are paying more attention (Rowley, 1997).

Thus I propose the following working proposition;

WP2. Firms interpret stakeholder issues which arise through social media to be more important as

more petition signatures are gathered, as the issue contains more social media attention, as the

issue is specifically mentioned on related webpages or as the issue contains traditional media attention.

3.3 Stakeholder issues on social media and response

The faster managers pay attention to issues, the faster managers interpret and respond to a particular

problem to avoid damage on the firm's reputation (Jian et al., 2014). Firms may not want random

external stakeholder-generated content visible at all times due to the concerns of these inaccurate postings and possible spread of unconfirmed rumors (Argyris & Monu, 2015). However, as stakeholder activists can have more peers on social media, it is harder for organizations to control this spread of information (Aula, 2010). Once an issue has been perceived as important and interpreted feasible by an organization, it is even more urgent for that organization to take action and successfully address the issue before the firm’s reputation can be damaged (Smith, 2010). Organizations need to develop internal procedures as fast as possible in order to respond appropriately to the issues they face

(Greening & Gray, 1994), as firms can be unable to allocate resources to filter and to screen the content of a social media post (Kietzman et al., 2011).

Thus, I propose the following working proposition:

WP3. Firms respond faster to stakeholder issues which arise through social media as the

combination of the speed (widely spread social media attention) and the intensity (related

webpages) by which social media users communicate about an issue rises.

3.4 Global connectedness

One of the main relationships that will be investigated in this paper is if global connectedness has an

effect on how the MNC pays attention and responds to the stakeholder issues which arise through

social media. Global connectedness is to be expected to have an effect on how the MNC's headquarter

process the social, political or ethical issues which affect the firm's core values. Research on how

firm's manage stakeholder issues which arise through social media is quite limited, nevertheless there

are some links that could be based upon other studies conducted.

According to Perrault et al. (2014) MNCs pay faster attention and respond faster to issues

which arise through social media, as social media alters the firm's issue management process. Social

media provides platforms for spontaneous publication of information and opinions on the internet,

where stakeholder activists can more easily interact with each other than in real-life (Fieseler & Fleck,

2013). As a result of this interaction between peers and the ease of sharing messages, messages are

distributed by a higher speed by multiple users online (Besiou et al., 2013; Whelan et al., 2013;

Latonero & Shklovski, 2011). Global connectedness is defined as how countries differ in terms of their internet use (Berry et al., 2010). The internet has developed unequally through the world, meaning there is a gap between the developed and developing countries (Guillén & Suarez, 2005).

There is greater internet use in developed countries as more people are living in urban centers with better education and have closer connections to other developed countries (Chen & Wellman, 2004).

As there is greater internet use amongst the population in developed countries, social media acts as a catalyst to facilitate communication amongst individuals online. This allows attuned firms to stay informed of upcoming issues and respond to them. Therefore, the global connectedness will influence how firms manage issues which arise through social media in developed countries where the headquarter of the MNC is established.

Therefore, I propose the following working propositions;

WP4. The amount of corporate attention and the rapidity of the corporate response to stakeholder issues arising on social media differs according to the global connectedness between a developed and developing country.

WP4a. A firm's headquarter established in a developed country is paying more attention to stakeholder issues arising on social media than a firm established in a developing country, as there is greater internet use in developed countries.

WP4b. A firm's headquarter established in a developed country responds faster to stakeholder issues arising on social media than a firm established in a developing country, as there is greater internet use in developed countries.

3.5 Demographic distance, stakeholder issues on social media and firm’s issue

management

The other main relationship that will be investigated in this paper is if demographic distance has an

effect on how the MNC pays attention and responds to the stakeholder issues which arise through

social media. Demographic distance is to be expected to have an effect on how the MNC’s

headquarter manage the stakeholder issues which arise through social media. Some countries have a

large proportion of older people (greying population), while other countries have a large proportion of

younger people (youth bulge). The distance between these two kind of countries can affect the actions

of the headquarters of MNCs (Berry et al., 2010). Research on how firm's manage stakeholder issues

which arise through social media in countries with a youth bulge and countries with a greying

population is quite limited, nevertheless there are some links that could be based upon other studies

conducted.

High fertility growth rates in developing countries, within regions such as the Middle East

and North-Africa result in youth bulges, while low immigration, low fertility and longer life

expectancy result in a greying population within developed countries, such as Japan (Christensen et

al., 2009). A country with a youth bulge has a greater proportion of young individuals aged 16-25

(Hart et al., 2004). As 72% of young individuals ,aged 18-29, use social media websites, more young

adults interact online in a country where there is a youth bulge (Lenhart et al., 2010). These young

adults have a higher number of ties compared to older people and they have stronger ties as they

connect with others with the same interest. Thus, they are more likely to experience collective action

compared to individuals with sparser ties (Rowley, 1997; Lenhart et al., 2010; Dewey, Kaden, Marks,

Matsushima & Zhu, 2012). In other words, if there is a youth bulge in a particular country, there is

greater chance of connection online between young adults and therefore, firms need to be proactive to

benefit from this (Hamdy, 2010). As young individuals in developing countries spend more time on

social media, paying attention and responding to issues raised by social media has increased value for

a MNC affiliate in a region known for its youth bulge compared to a MNC affiliate in a region known for its greying population (Hamdy, 2010).

Therefore, I propose the following propositions:

WP5. The amount of corporate attention and the rapidity of the corporate response to stakeholder issues arising in social media differs according to the demographic distance between the firm’s home and host country.

WP5a. A firm from a home country with a youth bulge demographic structure facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host-country with a youth bulge demographic structure is most likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as more young individuals spend time online.

WP5b. A firm from a home country with a greying demographic structure facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host-country with a youth bulge demographic structure is most likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as more young individuals spend time online.

WP5c. A firm from a home country with a youth bulge demographic structure facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host-country with a greying demographic structure is less likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as less young individuals spend time online.

WP5d. A firm from a home country with a greying demographic structure facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host-country with a greying demographic structure is less likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as less young individuals spend time online.

4. Methodology

The aim of this study is to find an answer to the following research question: How does global

connectedness and demographic distance influence the way firms manage stakeholder issues which

arise through social media? This chapter discusses the methodology of this research.

4.1 Research philosophy and approach

According to Saunders & Lewis (2012), a research philosophy contains important assumptions about

the way a researcher views the world. This way of “viewing the world” results in choosing a research

strategy and data collection methods and thus, influences the research design. The research

philosophy that is adopted within this research is called interpretivism as this interpretive position

assumes the social world is constantly being constructed through the meanings that people assign to

this social world (Flick, 2009).

The research approach adopted in this study is the inductive approach. An inductive approach

is adopted in studies, where the research philosophy is called interpretivism, as interpretive systems

generate theory directly out of the data (Saunders & Lewis, 2012). Also, the inductive approach is

conducted in studies where no prior literature about the topic has addressed a similar research

question (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). Little research has been conducted on how social media is

involved in the relationship between firms issues management and stakeholder issues and how

demographic distance influence this relationship. Therefore, this study requests an inductive, theory

building approach by generating multiple propositions (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007).

The method that fits within interpretivism and an inductive approach is the qualitative research method. Qualitative research is a multi-method research that uses an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter (Rynes & Gephart, 2004). This type of research is great for addressing how questions (Pratt, 2009), and is therefore applied in this study. Qualitative research studies phenomena in the environments in which they naturally occur and uses social actors’ meanings to understand these phenomena (Rynes & Gephart, 2004).

4.2 Research design

A case study can identify the research strategy, since the research question tries to explain present

circumstances and this method involves the investigation of topics within its real-life context (Saunder

& Lewis, 2012; Yin, 2003). The aim of this study is to build theory and is thus, exploratory. The main

advantage of the case study is that it allows research to investigate a complex phenomenon in-depth,

even when the boundaries between the context and the phenomenon are blurred (Yin, 2014).

The research design is a multiple case study as the study of multiple cases increases the

chances to produce credible results (Yin, 2003). A major insight is to consider multiple cases as one

would consider multiple experiments, that is to follow a replication design (Saunder & Lewis, 2012).

Each case must be carefully selected so that it either “predicts similar results (literal replication) or

predicts contrasting results but for predictable reasons (a theoretical replication)” (Yin, 2003, p.47).

The cases are selected based on literal and theoretical replication, meaning that there are different groups of cases, which are chosen on common characteristics within the group, and are chosen on different characteristics to explore differences between these groups (Baxter & Jack, 2008).

Eight individual cases were chosen to find replication across the cases, referred to as within-case analysis. Also, the cases are compared with each other to compare findings across cases, referred to as cross case analysis (Yin, 2014).

4.3 Data Collection

This study focuses on how firms pay attention to, interpret and respond to issues raised by

stakeholders through social media. The firms are chosen through case studies which are retrieved

from Change.org. These case studies are online petitions that are signed by certain stakeholders and

influence the decision making process of the firm to change their issue management process. Also,

this study focuses whether global connectedness and demographic distance influence this relationship.

Therefore, the different groups of cases have different characteristics in this study.

Two cases are about a MNC in a home country with a greying population and the same MNC in a

host-country with a youth bulge. Two other cases are about a MNC in a home country with a greying

population and the same MNC in a host country with a greying population.

One case is about a MNC in a home country with a youth bulge and the same MNC in a host-

country with a greying population. Another case is about a MNC in a home country with a youth

bulge and the same MNC in a host country with a youth bulge. The last two cases are the control variables which are about MNCs in home-countries with a stationary pyramid as demographic age structure and the same MNCs in a host-country with a constrictive pyramid as demographic age

structure. An overview is given in table 1.

Nevertheless, the researcher is aware of potential biases in studying cases. Researchers may

have biased views which probably influence the findings of the study (Yin, 2003). Therefore, the

research should apply another method of data collection besides a case study. Further data regarding

the chosen firms will be gathered online in newspapers, company documentation and other social

media platforms. These documents focuses especially on how firms perceive and interpret the online

petitions, why they have chosen to respond in a certain way to their strategy, and how this might be

affected through the global connectedness and demographic distance in a certain country.

Case Home Host- Youth Greying High Low % young % young * countr country bulge** population* internet internet individuals individuals y * use*** use*** (15-24) in (15-24) in home host country*** country*** * * A USA Armeni Armeni USA USA Armeni 13.7% 15.2% a a a B USA Nigeria Nigeria USA USA Nigeria 13.7% 19.3% C China USA China USA USA China 14.7% 13.7% D India Malawi India, India, 18.1% 20.2% Malawi Malawi E USA Canada USA, USA, 13.7% 12.7% Canada Canada F USA UK USA, UK USA, 13.7% 12.6% UK G Swede USA - USA Sweden 12.3% 13.7% n , USA H Swede USA - USA Sweden 12.3% 13.7% n , USA *adapted from change.org ** adapted from ITU *** adapted from WorldBank (2015)**** adapted from Indexmundi (2014) Table 1: Data collection

4.4 Data analysis

The aim of data analysis is to make sense of the data collected and to highlight the important

messages, features or findings (Neuendorf, 2002). The cases, documents and newspapers are

organized by codes in order for researchers to read data and demarcates segments within it (Welsh,

2002). Each segment is labeled with a code and is usually a word or short phrase that suggests how

the associated data segments inform the working propositions (Shenton, 2004). An overview of the

list of codes derived from the theoretical framework is given in table 2. In order to conduct a specific

and accurate analysis of these codes, a computer aided text analysis (CATA) is used (Kabanoff, 1997).

The software that is used to help users analyze the documents and cases is NVivo 10 as NVivo allows

users to classify, sort and arrange information. By arranging the information, researchers can examine

relationships in the data and find patterns which build a body of evidence to support their study

(Welsh, 2002).

Codes Description Description Describe the petition goal as succinctly as possible. End with a link to the petition. Corporation The full legal corporate name of the target firm, and home country (list parent company (if any) and home country in parentheses) Starting Date Date that the petition was first put on line (DD/MM/Year)

Petitioner Name of person or group that started this petition Victory Date: Date that corporation makes change (DD/MM/Year) (If no victory yet enter 00/00/0000). End with link to victory page Supporters Number of supporters as of the date of victory Related websites Name and describe any websites other than the initial petition where this issue/petition is specifically mentioned (e.g., if an NGO is the petitioner, then check if the NGO’s website mentions this petition/issue. Do some google searches and see if other petitions sites also have a petition on this issue, and see what else turns up) Social Media Attention Twitter Hashtags, Tweets & Retweets; Facebook Shares and Posts; etc. (Many business that monitor and analyze social media data have free trial memberships, such as twitonomy, likalyzer.com, or SimplyMeasured)

Corporate Press Releases List date and summarize corporate statements related to petition in order of issue. End each entry with a link to the press release. Traditional Media Attention List a date, and summarize news stories related to petition published in newspapers or magazines, or broadcast on television or radio. Provide a link where available online. (Search Youtube for videos of news stories) Home-country What is the home-country of the firm’s HQ? Host-country What is the host-country of the firm? Internet Use Is the target firm’s HQ established in a country with high internet use or low internet use (can be adapted from WorldBank). Demographic structure Does the target’s firm HQ have a youth bulge or a greying population as a demographic population structure. Does the host-country of the firm (the affiliate of the MNC) have a youth bulge or a greying population as a demographic population structure (can be adapted from ITU). % young individuals (15-24) in home The age structure can be adapted from IndexMundi country (2014). % young individuals (15-24) in host- The age structure can be adapted from IndexMundi country (2014).

Table 2: Coding Guide for Social media petition cases.

5. Findings

This chapter contains the results of the conducted research. A within-case analysis was conducted in

order to find replication across the eight individual cases, followed by a cross-case analysis to predict

contrasting results based on theory (Yin, 2014).

5.1 Within-case analysis

This section considers each of the eight cases individually in order to test whether firms pay faster

attention, interpret and respond faster to issues, which are perceived as important, as the issue gathers

more petition signatures, as the issue contains more social media attention, as the issue is specifically

mentioned on related webpages or as the issue contains traditional media attention.

5.1.1 Case A: Google Inc.

Google Inc. is an American multinational technology company that specializes in internet-related services and products, which include cloud computing, search, software etc. Google was founded in

1998 in California, USA and its parent is Alphabet Inc. The corporation has been estimated to run more than one million services in data centers around the world.

Vanand Mkrtchvan, who is a web developer at E-world Armenia living in Epebah, Armenia,

started the petition “Set the doodle on April 24” 1 year ago on the social media platform Change.org as he wanted to bring awareness to the Armenian Genocide. Therefore, Google should get involved by creating a 100th year commemoration Google doodle to spread awareness around the world to

recognize the Armenian genocide.5 Multiple social media news websites, such as ARMradio, referred to the petition and state that people should sign the petition on change.org.6

5https://www.change.org/p/set-armeniangenocidedoodle-on-april-24-googledoodles, accessed December 13, 2015. 6http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/12/07/petition-urges-google-to-set-armenian-genocide-doodle-on-april-24/, accessed December 13, 2015.

Furthermore, an event was organized on Facebook to ask google to create this doodle and 253,000

people were invited to it.7 Also, multiple celebrities tweeted the link to the petition. For example,

Khloe Kardashian states “Please sign this petition to bring awareness to the Armenian genocide. I

did!!!”8 This tweet was retweeted 1730 times. Another celebrity, Diana Madison, tweeted “I just

signed this petition! Please sign it to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the Armenian

Genocide.”9 This tweet was 93 times retweeted. Thus, the message that Google should create a doodle was widely distributed on social media and on the internet.

The petition and outcry on social media resulted in Google creating a doodle to raise awareness to the Armenian Genocide with 202,319 supporters on April 23th, 2015. Users of the largest search engine, Google, could see a black ribbon on the site in memory of the victims of the

1915 Armenian Genocide. However, Google placed the black ribbon only on the google.am domain as this company has also relationships with Turkey.10

Google Inc.’s HQ is established in California, USA. The USA has a large number of internet

users as 87.4% of the total population uses the internet, while only 46.3% of the total population uses

the internet in Armenia. The USA has a higher proportion of older people (greying population) as

13.7% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15 -24, while at the same time,

Armenia has a larger youth bulge as 15.2% of the total population is distributed within this same age

group (Indexmundi, 2014; Worldbank, 2015).

5.1.2 Case B: PayPal Inc.

PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American company that specializes in online payment transactions worldwide. PayPal was the product of a merger between X.com and Confinity, which allowed tons of users to make payments on purchased goods or exchange money between accounts.

7https://www.facebook.com/events/896252793719359/, accessed December 13, 2015. 8https://twitter.com/khloekardashian/status/589356277186211840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw, accessed December 13, 2015. 9https://twitter.com/DianaMadison/status/590195725310398464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw, accessed December 13, 2015. 10http://www.armenianow.com/genocide/62797/armenia_google_genocide_100, accessed December 13, 2015.

E-bay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in October 2002.11

CreativityKills, a Nigerian website design company, started the petition “Bring PayPal to

Nigeria” 2 years ago on the social media platform Change.org as Nigerians wanted to take part in

online payment transactions and PayPal was the only accepted payment method on some websites.12

This organization was frustrated as they felt that Nigerians had the right to carry out online

transactions as much as any other country in the world, even though Nigeria is known for internet

fraud. CreativityKills wanted to bring PayPal to Nigeria as the talented and creative web users could

at least use PayPal and unlock a potential growth in the Nigerian e-commerce system13.

Blogs and technology websites refer to the petition and state that people should sign the

petition on Change.org.14 Thus, the message that PayPal should come to Nigeria was widely distributed on social media and on the internet. Also, twitter hashtags such as #PaypalNigeria and tweets are widely used. For example, one of the tweets stated “Petitions change things. Years of second class internet citizenship broken.”15 This tweet was retweeted twice. Another tweet stated

“Looks like our campaign has been heard! #Paypal now available to Nigerians! #PaypalNigeria

#DigitalApartheid.”16 This tweet was retweeted twice.

The organization “CreativityKills” brought PayPal to Nigeria with 597 supporters on June

16th, 2014 and PayPal was effective from June 17th. The response of the company took a year, because

“Paypal was going through a period of reinvention, refreshing many of its services to make them easier to use on mobile phones, allowing PayPal to expand into fast-developing markets,” 17 the director of EMEA Paypal Rubert Keeley stated. Paypal wrote in a statement “We would like to thank the people of Nigeria for their enthusiasm.

11 http://www.britannica.com/topic/PayPal, accessed December 14, 2015. 12https://www.change.org/p/paypal-bring-paypal-to-nigeria#petition-letter, accessed December 14, 2015. 13http://www.businessinsider.com/week-in-payments-russia-frees-convicted-hacker-for-national-payments- scheme-2014-6?IR=T, accessed December 14, 2015. 14 http://techcabal.com/2014/05/30/will-sign-petition-bring-paypal-nigeria/, accessed December 14, 2015. 15https://twitter.com/search?q=%23paypalnigeria&src=typd, accessed December 14, 2015. 16https://twitter.com/search?q=%23paypalnigeria&src=typd, accessed December 14, 2015. 17 http://nigerianfinder.com/paypal-in-nigeria-how-to-open-and-verify-a-paypal-account-in-nigeria/, accessed December 14, 2015. 38

PayPal signed up tens of thousands of Nigerians in the first week of operating in Nigeria with

consumers already purchasing items from Britain, China and the United States via its online

platform,” 18 a company official said.

PayPal Holdings, Inc its HQ is established in the USA. The USA has a large number of internet users as 87.4% of the total population uses the internet, while only 42.7% of the total population uses the internet in Nigeria (ITU, 2014). The USA has a higher proportion of older people

(greying population) as 13.7% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15 -24, while at the same time, Nigeria has a larger youth bulge as 19.3% of the total population is distributed within this same age group (Indexmundi, 2014; Worldbank, 2015). Nigeria is nowadays PayPal’s second biggest market in Afrika, while they only can pay for international goods and cannot receive money yet.

5.1.3 Case C: Lenovo Group Ltd.

Lenovo Group Ltd is a Chinese multinational computer technology firm which was founded in 1984 in Beijing. Lenovo grew to become China’s leading PC company, and then acquired IBM’s Personal

Computing Division. Nowadays, Lenovo Group Ltd has headquarters in Beijing (China) and in

Morrisville NC (USA). Lenovo has been the fastest growing major PC company for more than four years, but they also create a full range of smartphones, tablets and smart TVs.19

Evan Carroll, a real estate agent at JN&B Realty LLC living in Houston Texas (USA), started the petition “Release an unencumbered version of the BIOS” 2 years ago on the social media platform

Change.org as a wide audience of technology-enthusiasts wish to install equipment which is now not possible due to the trend of locking down their BIOS. The people who undersign the petition demand an end to the restrictive policy of Lenovo of imposing a whitelist.20

18 Ibid.

19http://www.lenovo.com/lenovo/us/en/our_company.html, accessed December 15, 2015. 20https://www.change.org/p/lenovo-release-an-unencumbered-version-of-the-bios, accessed December 15, 2015.

Computer technology websites referred to the petition and stated that people should sign the

petition on Change.org. In the case of Lenovo, Linux Magazine21 and BIOS-mods22 decided to refer to this case of removing the whitelist on the BIOS. Even other companies than Lenovo paid attention to this issue, thus the message was widely distributed among social media and on the internet. Also, communities on Facebook, such as Digital Marketing Professionals Pattaya, shared this petition on

Facebook and tweets state that adding other cards to the whitelist is not possible.23 For example, one of the tweets state “Lenovo sent mail saying they’ll never add Intel 7260 or any other wificard to

X230’s BIOS whitelist. They suggest: Buy an X240. No thanks.” 24 Other users of Lenovo’s product

state that the reason they do not add these cards to the whitelist is that customers will keep buying

new products.

The petition has nowadays, December 15th 2015, 3153 supporters and still there is no

response (00/00/0000) from the Executive Vice president Liu Jun or the Chairman and Chief

Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing of Lenovo. Some of Lenovo’s administrative workers interpreted

the message of their customers. The response was “FCC certifications (among probably others),

Lenovo has to submit each config to FCC for testing, so to manage costs and time, there are a limited

number of cards qualified for a particular system.”25

Lenovo Group Ltd its HQ is established in China, where only 49.3% of the total population uses the internet, while there is greater internet use in the USA, as 87.4% of the total population uses the internet (ITU, 2014). China has a larger youth bulge as 14.7% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15-24, while at the same time the USA has a higher proportion of older people

(greying population) as only 13.7% of the total population is distributed within this same age group

(Indexmundi, 2014; Worldbank, 2015).

21http://www.linux-magazin.de/NEWS/Gegen-Hardware-Whitelisten-Petition-fuer-freies-Lenovo-BIOS, accessed December 15, 2015. 22https://www.bios-mods.com/welcome/2014/05/wifi-whitelist-removal-petition/, accessed December 15, 2015 23https://www.facebook.com/DigitalMarketingProfessionals/?fref=ts, accessed December 15, 2015. 24https://twitter.com/joshbloch/status/402561219908743168, accessed December 15, 2015. 25https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/General-Discussion/WWAN-and-wireless-card-BIOS-whitelists-Lenovo-COME- ON/td-p/952681/page/7, accessed December 15, 2015.

5.1.4 Case D: Bharti Airtel Limited.

Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company, headquartered

in New Delhi, India. Airtel operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa and offers 2G, 3G, 4G

wireless services, fixed line service and enterprise services in India. In the African countries, Airtel

offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce.26

Joel Kumwenda, a consultant from JKitconsultant living in Blantyre Malawi, started the petition “We deserve better service” 9 months ago on the social media platform Change.org as Airtel makes their services the most expensive in the world in poor places like Malawi where people cannot even afford the cheapest mobile phones and services cost half the average monthly wage.27 There are no websites which refer to this petition or state that people should sign this petition. Thus, there is not a lot of social media attention, besides a few twitter users expressing the dissatisfaction of network providers in Malawi, as for example the following tweet state that “It’s like network providers

(Airtel), Escom and water-board just teamed up on making our lives miserable man”. This tweet was retweeted once. Another tweet states that “Airtel networks is shit me2u failure 2hrs now”. This tweet was retweeted twice.

The petition has nowadays, December 16th 2015, 117 supporters and still there is no victory

(00/00/0000) from the CEO of Airtel. Indian-owned Airtel has registered 3.5 million subscribers in

Malawi, which is the country’s largest telecommunication company with a market share of 72% as at

August 2015. Edith Tsilizani, Airtel Malawi’s Public Relations and Corporate Affairs managers stated

that Airtel will “substantially increase its investment in corporate social responsibility activities and

subscribers should also expect more people-centered innovative solutions, services and products.’’28

26http://www.airtel.in/about-bharti/investor-relations/company-profile, accessed December 16, 2015. 27https://www.change.org/p/escom-mtl-tnm-airtel-bwb-lwb-nwb-we-deserve-better-service, accessed December 16, 2015. 28http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-airtel-facebook-expand-free-internet-service-across-africa-2146207, accessed December 16, 2015.

BBC’s website relates that: “It might take time, for companies like Airtel, to offer better services and

cheaper prices for the Malawian people as the telecommunication infrastructure is not fully placed

yet.”29 However, Airtel and Facebook together have the plan to expand free basics across Africa in

March 2016.Airtel Africa MD and CEO Christian de Farai state that “we are cognizant of the power of internet in changing lives of communities and this partnership with Facebook will aid in bringing more people online and reduce the digital divide.’’30

Bharti Airtel Limited its HQ is established in India, where only 18% of the total population uses the internet. At the same time, 5.8% of the total population uses the internet in Malawi (ITU,

2014; WorldBank, 2015). India has a large youth cohort as 18.1% of the total population is distributed by the age group 15-24. Also, Malawi has a large youth bulge as 20.2% of the total population is distributed within this same age group (Indexmundi, 2014).

5.1.5 Case E: Walmart.

Walmart is one of the largest American multinational retailers founded in AR, USA. It started with a single small store where they provided more for less money and has nowadays nearly 260 million customers in 28 countries. With more than 6,200 stores internationally, they leverage global resources to meet local needs. Walmart was established in 1994 in Canada and committed themselves to help families in need starting at the local level. They served 300 communities through charitable partnerships.31

Deena Howe, an employee for a non-profit organization living in Oshawa ON, Canada started

the petition “Stop selling dead Dog Prop” for Halloween two years ago on the social media platform

Change.org as Walmart sold dead dog props on a chain and this is not an acceptable product according

to Deena and other parents.

29http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31551226, accessed December 16, 2015. 30http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-airtel-facebook-expand-free-internet-service-across-africa-2146207, accessed December 16, 2015. 31http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-business/international/walmart-canada, accessed December 17, 2015.

According to Deena: “This product only encourages and teaches kids that dragging a dead skinned

dog on a chain is okay. It is so important to teach love and compassion to children”. The people who

undersign this petition want Walmart to stop selling this product.32

Another social media platform for petitions and activism, care2, started also its own petition

to demand Walmart to discontinue and pull of this item from their website.33 The manufacturer of this

“dead dog prop” “Distortions unlimited” posted a message on Facebook stating that “We just want to take a moment … We are sorry and the product has been discontinued immediately.”34 This message contains 1665 likes, 2600 responses and was shared 361 times. Furthermore, activists, as for example

Animal_Watch, used hashtags as #AnimalCruelty, which were retweeted 5 times.

The petition and outcry on social media resulted in Walmart removing the dead dog prop from its shelves with 5000 supporters on September 17th, 2013. The response of Walmart on this particular issue took one week to save their reputation among their customers. The spokesperson of Walmart states the following “We were very unhappy to see that this item got onto our site through one of our

Marketplace retailers. We quickly began the process of removing it from the site and it is no longer available. We are following up with the Marketplace retailer to ensure this doesn't happen again, and we apologize that the item ever appeared.’’35

Walmart’s HQ is established in the USA. The USA has a large number of internet users as

87.4% of the total population uses the internet. At the same time, 87.1% of the total population uses the internet in Canada (ITU, 2014). The USA has a high proportion of older people as 13.7% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15-24. Also, Canada has a high proportion of older people as 12.7% of the total population is distributed within the same age group (Indexmundi, 2014;

Worldbank, 2015).

32https://www.change.org/p/walmart-stop-selling-dead-dog-prop-for-halloween, accessed December 17, 2015. 33http://www.thepetitionsite.com/nl-nl/620/411/054/remove-costumes-for-all-occasion-du2351-dead-dog-prop- for-sale/, accessed December 17, 2015. 34 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=513457942071832&id=118406564910307, accessed December 17, 2015. 35http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2013/09/dead-dog-halloween-prop-pulled-from-sears-walmart.html, accessed December 17, 2015.

5.1.6 Case F: Netflix Inc.

Netflix Inc. is an international provider of on-demand internet streaming media available to viewers in

North-, South- Amerika, UK etc. Netflix has 69 million subscribers in over 60 countries with the

intention of expanding their services to more countries. The firm was established in 1997 and is

located in Los Gatos, California, USA and started its subscription-based service in 1999.

Josh Booth, who is a member of the Chair of Warrington Young Labour and lives in

Warrington, UK, started the petition “Pick up the Avatar franchise and release as a Netflix Original

Series” 12 months ago on the social media platform Change.org to suggest that Netflix should buy the

rights to the Avatar Franchise. The petition signers want Netflix to acquire the right of the episodes of

Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra, so that the episodes will be available on Netflix.

Also, they want the “original creators to return in order to make more episodes in the Avatar

universe.’’36

Social media entertainment companies, for example Buzzfeed, refer to the petition and state that

people should sign the petition on Change.org.37 Other social media platforms, gopetition and

ipetition, for petitions and activism started their own petition to continue the beautiful art of Avatar

and to call on Nickelodeon to return the rights of Avatar: The Last Airbender to Netflix.38 A lot of

fans were not happy with Nickelodeon's decision to remove Avatar from its show list.39 Also, there are multiple tweets on twitter stating that the shows should be on Netflix. For example, one tweet states that “The Last Airbender needs to be on Netflix”. This tweet was retweeted 668 times. Another tweet states “This would be so amazing: a petition for Netflix to revive the Avatar Franchise”. This tweet was retweeted five times. Thus, the message that Netflix should acquire the rights of the Avatar franchise is widely distributed.

36https://www.change.org/p/netflix-pick-up-the-avatar-franchise-and-release-as-a-netflix-original-series, accessed December 18, 2015. 37 http://www.buzzfeed.com/jjboobrams/avatar-on-netflix-180m2, accessed December 18, 2015. 38 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/netflix-spin-off-legend-of-korra-korra-and-asami, accessed December 18, 2015. 39 http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/nickelodeon-put-avatar-the-last-airbender-back-on-netflix.html, accessed December 18, 2015.

The petition has nowadays, December 18th 2015, 46,240 supporters and still there is no victory or response (00/00/0000) from the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings. Avatar: The Last Airbender was streamed on Netflix a few years ago as they acquired the licensing rights from companies that allowed them to show this content. Unfortunately, this contract was not extended and Netflix lost the right to stream this show on Netflix. This year, Netflix did not make any official statement on whether the other show Avatar: The Legend of Korra will be included in its program list or not.40 Voice artist

Zelda William explained “some of the hurdles that Netflix could expect in taking the show, which includes huge budget and finding appropriate characters” and explained there is no hope for a sequel on Netflix of this show any time soon.

Netflix Inc.’s HQ is established in the USA. The USA has a large number of internet users as

87.4% of the total population uses the internet. At the same time, 91.6% of the total population uses

the internet in the UK (ITU, 2014). The population is ageing in the USA as only 13.7% of the total

population is distributed within the age group 15-24. Also, the population of the UK is ageing as only

12.6% of the total population is distributed within the same age group (Indexmundi, 2014; Worldbank,

2015).

5.1.7 Case G: IKEA.

IKEA is a multinational furniture retailer company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture,

appliances and home accessories. IKEA was founded in 1943 in Almhult, Sweden. Currently, IKEA is

established in Europe, North-America and Australia. They own and operate 373 stores in 47 countries.

IKEA wants to make sure that “they are accessible, so that more people can create a better everyday

life at home.’’ 41

40http://www.ibtimes.co.in/legend-korra-fans-continue-urge-netflix-pick-avatar-franchise-623373, accessed December 18, 2015. 41http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/this-is-ikea/about-the-ikea-group/index.html, accessed December 19, 2015.

Toni Donahue, who organizes events and lives in Olathe Kansas, USA, started the petition

“Stop Discriminating Against Disabled Children” 10 months ago on the social media platform

Change.org as IKEA treats disabled children differently by not letting their caregiver to go in with the

children in the IKEA store. Toni states that “IKEA should develop a clear policy for special needs

children that allows for them to be accompanied when needed.” 42 The disabled children are just like

other children and organizations as big as IKEA have the power to change the way society treats the

vulnerable children.

Social promotion sites, such as Linkis, refer to the petition and state that people should sign

the petition on Change.org.43 There is little social media attention as there is only one tweet that refers to this petition and is not retweeted at all.44 Also, there are no other petitions available related to the

discrimination of disabled children. However, there are other stories where disabled children are

discriminated by IKEA. For example, one story states that a girl could not play in the ballroom of

IKEA due to her chromosome disorder.45 Another girl was denied access to the IKEA playroom, because she could not speak fluently English.46

The petition has nowadays, December 19th 2015, 6604 supporters and still there is no victory

for disabled children (00/00/0000) or a real response from the CEO of IKEA. Broadcasting

companies, such as FOX, refer to the story of the mom of the disabled son and states that IKEA did

not let the nine-year-old drake, who suffers from autism, play with his caregiver, because of his

disability. IKEA denies that claim. “It's unbelievable in this day and age when we have so many

freedoms and rights that a company policy actually denies the child a right to play with other

children,” 47 Donahue said.

42https://www.change.org/p/ikea-stop-discriminating-against-disabled-children, accessed December 19, 2015. 43http://linkis.com/change.org/Petition_IKEA_Stop_D_1.html, accessed December 19, 2015. 44https://twitter.com/177688/status/575102116726964224, accessed December 19, 2015. 45 http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/03/19/Ikea-found-innocent-of- discrimination/65541363701299/, accessed December 19, 2015. 46http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/31/ikea-edmonton-discrimination-french_n_4182813.html, accessed December 19, 2015. 47http://fox4kc.com/2015/02/12/mom-feels-ikea-policy-discriminated-against-her-son-who-has-autism/, accessed December 19, 2015.

Annie Crandall, an IKEA media spokesperson, responded by saying: “There are certain pieces that we

need to hold in place for the safety of all the kids that come, which is just that we need to make sure

that they’re potty trained, they’re within those height restrictions, and that no outside adults are

allowed in with them.” 48 In conclusion, IKEA does not have a policy specific to kids with special

needs.

IKEA was founded in Sweden. Sweden has a high internet usage as 92.5% of the total population uses the internet. The host-country of IKEA, the USA, also has a high internet usage as

87.4% of the total population uses the internet (ITU, 2014). Sweden has a similar apex for young and older people. 12.3% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15-24 .At the same time, the USA has a high proportion of older people. 13.7% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15-24 (Indexmundi, 2014; Worldbank, 2015).

5.1.8 Case H: H&M.

H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) is a Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, known for its fast-

fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children. Their vision is selling fashion and quality at

the best price in a sustainable way. H&M was founded in 1947 in Västerås, Sweden. Their first store

was opened there and sold only women’s clothing.49

Patricia Capitan, a student from Florida International University who lives in Miami, FL,

USA, started the petition “Offer Plus Sizes in All of Your Stores!” 6 months ago on the social media

platform Change.org as not every H&M store carry plus sizes in the USA. Patricia started this petition

because she wants all the H&M stores in the USA to offer plus size clothing. “This is an opportunity

for H&M to be a leader in their industry and show other retailers how many plus size women

desperately want to shop at their stores!”,50 Patricia states. There are no websites which refer to this petition or state that people should sign this petition.

48Ibid. 49http://about.hm.com/en/About/facts-about-hm/people-and-history/history.html#cm-menu, accessed December 20, 2015. 50https://www.change.org/p/offer-plus-sizes-in-all-of-your-stores#petition-letter, accessed December 20, 2015.

However, there are a few twitter users expressing their dissatisfaction with H&M, as for example the

following tweet states “plus size?? SUCK! H&M.”51 This tweet was not retweeted. Another tweet states “I was surprised because towards the end of 2014 I walked into this same H&M and did not see the plus-size section.”52 This tweet was not retweeted either. On Facebook, there are a lot of questions about which store offers plus size clothes.53Also, there are some similar stories related to the stores in the USA, for example in Sydney there were no plus size clothes in the new H&M either.54

The petition has nowadays, December 20th 2015, 1,951 supporters and still there is no victory

(00/00/0000) as not every H&M store in the USA includes plus sizes. Even stores in general often do

not meet the demand of women’s plus size clothing, while the average American woman is heavier

than she was 50 years ago.55

H&M was founded in Sweden. Sweden has a high internet usage as 92.5% of the total

population uses the internet. The host-country of H&M, the USA, also has a high internet usage as

87.4% of the total population uses the internet (ITU, 2014). Sweden has a similar apex for young and

older people. 12.3% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15-24 .At the same

time, the USA has a high proportion of older people. 13.7% of the total population is distributed

within the age group 15-24 (Indexmundi, 2014; Worldbank, 2015).

51https://twitter.com/flipzon/status/400942895110557696, accessed December 20, 2015. 52https://twitter.com/xmisstanisa/status/590379622514044928, accessed December 20, 2015. 53https://www.facebook.com/HMPlusSize/, accessed December 20, 2015. 54http://www.mamamia.com.au/hm-sydney-launch/, accessed December 20, 2015. 55http://www.denverpost.com/lifestyles/ci_24363248/more-women-wear-plus-sizes-fashion-retailers-not- meeting-demand, accessed December 20, 2015.

5.2 Cross-case analysis

This section elaborates on the findings by comparing the cases with each other. The aim of the cross-

case analysis is to identify patterns of consistency and differences at the MNCs on the use of social

media by stakeholder activists, the firm’s issue management process, global connectedness and

demographic distance.

5.2.1 Perception

This section discusses the organization’s perception identified in the examined cases. Chapter 2.2

discussed the theory about the organization’s perception. The theory of Maitlis (2005) states that

organizations face events and/or issues that might be somehow surprising. Organizations perceive

issues as important, once they have bearing on the expression of an organization’s core values. These

issues get priority as they contain more social media attention, as the issue receives more attention on

related webpages and as more petitions are gathered (Bundy et al., 2013).

All the cases described in the within-case analysis affect the organization’s core values. An overview is giving in table 3. The most important findings are described here. The petition to Google in Case A was started to involve Google to raise awareness to the Armenian Genocide. The petition to

PayPal in Case B was started to bring Paypal to Nigeria as the petitioner signers felt the need to obtain a PayPal account. The petition to Walmart in Case E was started to let Walmart remove dead dog prop from their shelves.

In table 4, an overview is given with the number of supporters for each petition of a case. The petition of Case A gathered the most petition signatures. Case A received a lot of social media attention as there was a Facebook event where 253,000 people were invited to create a doodle for the

Armenian genocide and Khloe Kardashian and Diana tweeted to ask the public to sign the petition.

Case B received less social media attention than case A, but still a lot of attention as there were twitter hashtags and tweets as #BringPayPaltoNigeria. Case C received very little social media attention as their tweets about Lenovo’s BIOS were not retweeted at all.

Case D received little social media attention as only a few twitters users expressed their dissatisfaction

about the service costs of telecommunication provider Bharti Airtel and this dissatisfaction was not

retweeted. Case E received a lot of social media attention as the manufacturer of the dead dog prop

posted a message on Facebook and this message contained 1665 likes. Also, activists used hashtags in

order to let Walmart remove the dead dog props from their shelves. These hashtags were retweeted

five times. Case F and G received very little social media attention as the twitter messages were not

retweeted and social media was barely used. In conclusion, Case A, B and E received the most social

media attention as they received a lot of attention on Twitter and/or Facebook. Tweets were often

retweeted and events were organized or messages were sent via Facebook.

In table 5, an overview is given with the related websites for each case. Case A, B, C, E, F, G

have related webpages which refer to this petition and/or other social media platforms which started

similar petitions. Traditional media attention was given to all the cases, except for Case C. Traditional

media attention refers to news stories related to petition published in newspapers or magazines, or

broadcast on television or radio. This overview is given in table 6.

Case: Core values (description) A: Google The petition to Google in Case A was started to involve Google to raise awareness to the Armenian Genocide. B: PayPal The petition to PayPal in Case B was started to bring Paypal to Nigeria as the petitioner signers felt the need to obtain a PayPal account C: Lenovo The people who undersign the petition demand an end to the restrictive policy of Lenovo of imposing a whitelist D: Bharti Airtel Airtel makes their services the most expensive in the world in poor places like Malawi where people cannot even afford the cheapest mobile phones and services cost half the average monthly wage. E: Walmart The petition to Walmart in Case E was started to let Walmart remove dead dog prop from their shelves. F: Netflix The petition signers want Netflix to acquire the right of the episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra, so that the episodes will be available on Netflix. Also, they want the original creators to return in order to make more episodes in the Avatar universe.

G: IKEA IKEA treats disabled children differently by not letting their caregiver to go in with them. H: H&M all the H&M stores in the USA to offer plus size clothing Table 3: Description of the petition goal

Case: Number of supporters A: Google 202,319 B: PayPal 597 C: Lenovo 3,153 D: Bharti Airtel 117 E: Walmart 5000 F: Netflix 46,240 G: IKEA 6,604 H: H&M 1,951 Table 4: Number of supporters as of the date of victory

Case: Related webpages A: Google Multiple social media news websites, such as ARMradio, referred to the petition and state that people should sign the petition on change.org. B: PayPal Blogs and technology websites refer to the petition and state that people should sign the petition on Change.org. C: Lenovo Computer technology websites referred to the petition and stated that people should sign the petition on Change.org. In the case of Lenovo, Linux Magazine and BIOS-mods decided to refer to this case of removing the whitelist on the BIOS. D: Bharti Airtel There are no websites which refer to this petition or state that people should sign this petition E: Walmart Another social media platform for petitions and activism, care2, started also its own petition to demand Walmart to discontinue and pull of this item from their website. F: Netflix Social media entertainment companies, for example Buzzfeed, refer to the petition and state that people should sign the petition on Change.org. Other social media platforms, gopetition and ipetition, for petitions and activism started their own petition to continue the beautiful art of Avatar and to call on Nickelodeon to return the rights of Avatar: The Last Airbender to Netflix.

G: IKEA Social promotion sites, such as Linkis, refer to the petition and state that people should sign the petition on Change.org. H: H&M There are no websites which refer to this petition or state that people should sign this petition. Table 5: Related webpages

Case: Traditional media attention A: Google Armenianow relates that: Google places a black ribbon in the memory of the Genocide victims. Although they refrained from using the G-word, but still this is an unprecedented thing by Google. B: PayPal Business insiders relates that: a group of Nigerians have issued a plea to PayPal, and it doesn't involve dubious schemes for moving massive sums of money abroad on behalf of a deposed ruler. C: Lenovo No news story D: Bharti Airtel BBC’s website relates that: “It might take time, for companies like Airtel, to offer better services and cheaper prices for the Malawian people as the telecommunication infrastructure is not fully placed yet.” E: Walmart CBC Ca relates that the dead dog prop is skinned from nose to tail. F: Netflix Ibttimes relates that: “The Legend of Korra”, a sequel to “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, is still loved by its fans who are eagerly waiting for a nod from Netflix to air the animation series. G: IKEA Huffingtonpost states that: the girl was refused to go in to småland. H: H&M Denverpost states that : more women wear plus sizes but fashion retailers aren’t meeting demand Table 6: News stories

5.2.2 Interpretation

Once the managers of the MNC have perceived the importance of an issue, they can interpret the issue

in the right way. According to Isabella (1990), interpretations of issue evolve through multiple stages.

The focus in this section is on the final stage, the aftermath as we could evaluate organizational

consequences. The definition of Beck & Plowman (2009) has been used here and states that the

aftermath refers to managers who evaluate an event in terms of its positive/negative outcomes on the

entire organization. All the cases described in the within-case analysis affect the organization’s evaluation of the issue on its negative/positive outcomes on the entire organization.

5.2.3 Response

Once the managers of the MNC understand the stages of interpretation, the MNC can respond to the opportunities and threats they face. A MNC responds faster (victory date – start date) to a particular issue to save their reputation as there are more related webpages or as more social media attention is given to the issue. The most prominent findings are discussed here.

Case A responds to the issue by creating a black ribbon on the google.am domain in memory

of the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Case B responds to the issue by explaining why their

response took some time. The director of EMEA PayPal Rubert Keeley states that: “Paypal was going

through a period of reinvention, refreshing many of its services to make them easier to use on mobile

phones, allowing PayPal to expand into fast-developing markets.” Case E responds to the issue by apologizing for their behavior. The spokesperson of Walmart states: “We were very unhappy to see that this item got onto our site through one of our Marketplace retailers. We quickly began the process of removing it from the site and it is no longer available. We are following up with the Marketplace retailer to ensure this doesn't happen again, and we apologize that the item ever appeared.’’

Case A: Google responds to the issue within one year as the start date of this petition was 1

year ago and the victory date was April 23th, 2015. Case B: PayPal responds to the issue within one

year as the start date of this petition was 1 year ago and the victory date was June 16th, 2014.

Case E: Walmart responds to the issue within one week as the start date of this petition was 2 years

ago and the victory date was September 17th , 2013. There was no victory for the petitioners of Case

C, D, F, G and H and thus, no response time.

5.2.4 Global connectedness

This section covers the examination of the variable global connectedness which the examined cases possess. Chapter 2.3.2 discusses the definition of global connectedness (Berry et al., 2010) and the antecedents of the global digital divide (Guillén & Suarez, 2005). According to Berry et al. (2010), global connectedness is defined as how a home-country differs from a host-country in terms of their internet use. According to Guillén & Suarez (2005), the antecedents of the global digital divide includes economic, regulatory and sociopolitical factors. These categorizations are applied to the cases and described here. An overview is given in table 7.

Google’s (Case A) HQ is established in the USA, the home-country. The petitioner, Vanand

Mkrtchvan, who wrote the letter to Google lives in Armenia, the host-country. In developed countries, more than 50% of the population uses the internet, while in developing countries less than 50% of the

population uses the internet. There is a high internet usage in the USA as 87.4% of the total

population uses the internet. The internet is more likely to be used the higher the socio-economic status, democratic regimes enable a faster growth of the internet in developed countries and regulatory policies tend to increase the number of internet users (Guillén & Suarez, 2005). This is the case in the

USA. In Armenia there is a low internet usage as 46.3% of the total population uses the internet. The

internet is less likely to be used the lower the socio-economic status, authoritarian regimes might decrease the growth rate of the internet use in developing countries and regulatory policies tend to reduce the number of internet users (Guillén & Suarez, 2005; Worldbank, 2015). This is the case in

Armenia.

Paypal’s (Case B) HQ is established in the USA, the home-country. The petitioner, Creative

Kills, who wrote the letter to PayPal lives in Nigeria, the host-country. There is a high internet usage

in the USA as 87.4% of the total population uses the internet.

The internet is more likely to be used the higher the socio-economic status, democratic regimes enable

a faster growth of the internet in developed countries and regulatory policies tend to increase the

number of internet users (Guillén & Suarez, 2005). In Nigeria there is a low internet usage as 42.7%

of the total population uses the internet. The internet is less likely to be used the lower the socio-

economic status, authoritarian regimes might decrease the growth rate of the internet use in

developing countries and regulatory policies tend to reduce the number of internet users (Guillén &

Suarez, 2005; Worldbank, 2015).

Lenovo’s (Case C) HQ is established in China, the home-country. The petitioner Evan Carroll, who wrote the letter to Lenovo lives in the USA, the host-country. China has a lower socio-economic status, a more authoritarian regime and regulatory policies tend to reduce the number of internet users.

This results in a low internet usage (49.3%). The USA has a higher socio-economic status, a democratic regime and regulatory policies tend to increase the number of internet users. This results in a high internet usage (87.4%) (Worldbank, 2015).

Bharti Airtel’s (Case D) HQ is established in India, the home-country. The petitioner Joel

Kumwenda, who wrote the letter to Airtel lives in Malawi, the host-country. India has a lower socio- economic status, a more authoritarian regime and regulatory policies tend to reduce the number of internet users. This results in a low internet usage (18%). Also, Malawi has a lower socio-economic status, a more authoritarian regime and regulatory policies tend to reduce the number of internet users.

This results in a low internet usage as well (5.8%) (Worldbank, 2015).

Walmart’s (Case E) HQ is established in the USA, the home-country. The petitioner Deena

Howe, who wrote the letter to Walmart, lives in Canada, the host-country. There is a high internet usage in the USA as 87.4% of the total population uses the internet. The internet is more likely to be used the higher the socio-economic status, democratic regimes enable a faster growth of the internet in developed countries and regulatory policies tend to increase the number of internet users (Guillén

& Suarez, 2005). Also, there is a high internet usage (87.1%) in Canada for the same reasons

(Worldbank, 2015).

Netflix’s (Case F) HQ is established in the USA, the home-country. The petitioner Josh

Booth, who wrote the letter to Netflix, lives in the UK (the host-country). There is a high internet

usage in the USA as 87.4% of the total population uses the internet. The internet is more likely to be

used the higher the socio-economic status, democratic regimes enable a faster growth of the internet

in developed countries and regulatory policies tend to increase the number of internet users (Guillén

& Suarez, 2005). Also, there is a high internet usage (91.6%) in the UK for the same reasons

(Worldbank, 2015).

IKEA’s (Case G) HQ is established in Sweden, the home-country. The petitioner Toni

Donahue, who wrote the letter to IKEA, lives in the USA (host-country). There is a high internet

usage of 92.5% in Sweden as there are a higher socio-economic status, a democratic regime and

regulatory policies tend to increase the number of internet users. In the USA, there is a high internet

usage of 87.4% for the same reasons (Worldbank, 2015).

H&M’s (Case H) HQ is established in Sweden, the home-country. The petitioner Patricia

Capitan, who wrote the letter to H&M, lives in the USA (host-country). There is a high internet usage

of 92.5% in Sweden as there are a higher socio-economic status, a democratic regime and regulatory

policies tend to increase the number of internet users. In the USA, there is a high internet usage of

87.4% for the same reasons (Worldbank, 2015).

Case Home-country Host-country % Internet usage % Internet usage in home-country in host-country A: Google USA Armenia 87.4% 46.3% B: PayPal USA Nigeria 87.4% 42.7% C: Lenovo China USA 49.3% 87.4% D: Bharti Airtel India Malawi 18% 5.8% E: Walmart USA Canada 87.4% 87.1% F: Netflix USA UK 87.4% 91.6% G: IKEA Sweden USA 92.5% 87.4% H: H&M Sweden USA 92.5% 87.4% Table 7: Global connectedness

5.2.5 Demographic distance

This part covers the examination of the variable demographic distance which the examined cases

possess. Chapter 2.3.3 discussed the definition of demographic distance (Berry et al., 2010), the

opportunity literature (Collier, 2000), the motive-oriented perspective (Urdal, 2006) and the medium

of protests (Lynch, 2011).

According to Berry et al. (2010), demographic distance is defined as how a home-country

differs from a host-country in terms of their age structure. A population's age structure can be described by a population pyramid. There are three main population pyramid's shape; expansive, constrictive and stationary (Korenjak-ˇCerne et al., 2008). According to Collier (2000), certain

individual conditions attract the youth to political violence. According to Urdal (2006), a decline in

the economy can attract the youth to political violence. The medium of these protests has changed

from street protests to social media campaigns (Lynch, 2011). Youth stakeholder activists use social

media to organize protests, to deliver local information to a large audience and to pass on petitions to

be sent to private organizations to target firms to change their policy (Den Hond & De Bakker, 2007).

These categorizations are applied to the cases and described here. An overview is given in table 8.

Google's (Case A) HQ is established in the USA (home-country) and the petitioner lives in

Armenia (host-country). The constrictive pyramid represents the USA as this pyramid is typical for a

population with low fertility and low mortality rates, referred to as the greying population. In

developed countries, less than 14.5% of the population is distributed within the age group 15-24,

while in developing countries more than 14.5% of the population is distributed within this same age

group. 13.7% of the total population is distributed with the age group 15-24 in the USA, while 15.2%

of the total population is distributed within this same age group in Armenia (Indexmundi, 2014). The

petitioner spends more time online on social media as he/she lives in a developing country and thus,

raises more awareness on the issue. Thus, it is more important for the MNC's HQ of Google to

perceive and respond fast to the issue in host-country Armenia as the issue is easily distributed there.

Paypal's (Case B) HQ is established in the USA (home-country). The petitioner lives in

Nigeria (host-country). The USA is represented by the constrictive population pyramid as this pyramid is typical for a population with low fertility and low mortality rates, referred to as the greying population. In comparison to the USA, Nigeria is represented by the expansive pyramid as this pyramid is typical for a population with a high fertility and high mortality rate, referred to as the youth bulge. As was mentioned earlier, in the USA, people who are between 15-24 years old are 13.7% of the total population, while in Nigeria this segment is 19.3% (Indexmundi, 2014). The petitioner spends more time online on social media as he/she lives in a developing country and thus, raises more awareness on the issue. Thus, it is more important for the MNC's HQ of PayPal to perceive and respond fast to the issue in host-country Nigeria as the issue is easily distributed there.

Lenovo's (Case C) HQ is established in China (home-country). The petitioner lives in the

USA (host-country). The expansive pyramid represents China's population as this pyramid is typical for a population with a high fertility and high mortality rate, referred to as the youth bulge. In comparison to China, the USA is represented by the constrictive pyramid as this pyramid is typical for a population with low fertility and low mortality rates, referred to as the greying population. As was mentioned earlier, in the USA, people who are between 15-24 years old are 13.7% of the total population, while in China this segment is 14.7% (Indexmundi, 2014). The petitioner spends more time online on social media as he/she lives in a developing country and thus, raises more awareness on the issue. Thus, it would be less important for Lenovo to perceive and respond fast to the issue as the host-country is the USA and it contains a greying population.

Bharti Airtel's (Case D) HQ is established in India (home-country). The petitioner lives in the

Malawi (host-country). The expansive pyramid represents India's population as this pyramid is typical for a population with a high fertility and high mortality rate, referred to as the youth bulge. Also,

Malawi is represented by the expansive pyramid for the same reasons. As was mentioned earlier, in

India 18.1% of the total population is distributed by the age group 15-24. At the same time, in

Malawi, 20.2% of the total population is distributed by this same age group (Indexmundi, 2014).

The petitioner spends more time online on social media as he/she lives in a developing country and thus, raises more awareness on the issue. However, the MNC's HQ is not in a developed country and thus, would not respond fast to the issues, as there is lower internet usage there.

Walmart's (Case E) HQ is established in the USA (home-country). The petitioner lives in

Canada (host-country). The USA is represented by the constrictive population pyramid as this pyramid is typical for a population with low fertility and low mortality rates, referred to as the greying population. Also, Canada is represented by the constrictive pyramid for the same reason. As was mentioned earlier, in the USA, 13.7% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15-24.

At the same time, in Canada, 12.7% of the total population is distributed within the same age group

(Indexmundi, 2014). The petitioner spends more time online on social media as he/she lives in a developing country and thus, raises more awareness on the issue. Thus, it would be less important for

Walmart to perceive and respond fast to the issue as the host-country is Canada and it contains a greying population. In this case, the number of petitioners decided why Walmart responded in the first place.

Netflix's (Case F) HQ is established in the USA (home-country). The petitioner lives in the

UK (host-country). The USA is represented by the constrictive population pyramid as this pyramid is typical for a population with low fertility and low mortality rates, referred to as the greying population. Also, the UK is represented by the constrictive pyramid for the same reason. As was mentioned earlier, in the USA, 13.7% of the total population is distributed within the age group 15-24.

At the same time, in the UK, 12.6% of the total population is distributed within this age group

(Indexmundi, 2014). The petitioner spends more time online on social media as he/she lives in a developing country and thus, raises more awareness on the issue. Thus, it would be less important for

Netflix to perceive and respond fast to the issue as the host-country is the UK and it contains a greying population.

IKEA (Case G) and H&M (Case H)'s headquarters are established in Sweden (home-country).

The petitioner lives in the USA (host-country). Sweden is represented by a stationary population

pyramid as this pyramid represents the population as stable. The USA is represented by the

constrictive pyramid as discussed above. As was mentioned earlier, in Sweden, 12.3% of the total

population is distributed within the age group 15-24. At the same time, in the USA, 13.7% of the total

population is distributed within this age group (Indexmundi, 2014). The petitioner spends more time

online on social media as he/she lives in a developing country and thus, raises more awareness on the

issue. Thus, it would be less important for IKEA to perceive and respond fast to the issue as the host-

country is the USA and it contains a greying population.

Case Home-country Host-country % young % young individuals (15- individuals (15- 24) in home 24) in host- country country A: Google USA Armenia 13.7% 15.2% B: PayPal USA Nigeria 13.7% 19.3% C: Lenovo China USA 14.7% 13.7% D: Bharti Airtel India Malawi 18.1% 20.2% E: Walmart USA Canada 13.7% 12.7% F: Netflix USA UK 13.7% 12.6% G: IKEA Sweden USA 12.3% 13.7% H: H&M Sweden USA 12.3% 13.7% Table 8: Demographic distance

5.2.6 Process

The use of social media by stakeholder activists have an effect on how MNCs manage their issues.

MNCs manage their issues, by first perceiving the issue, then interpreting the issue and at last responding at the issue. The findings imply that all the companies in the cases perceived and interpreted the issue. Only the companies in Case A, B and E responded to the issue raised by stakeholders on social media due to a lot of social media attention and a lot of attention on related webpages.

Global connectedness has a certain degree of interest in how MNCs perceive and respond to

issues online. Internet use is higher in developed countries, as there are a higher socio-economic

status, a democratic regime and regulatory policies which tend to increase the number of internet

users. The findings imply that not only MNCs headquartered in a developed country perceive issues

raised by stakeholders on social media as MNCs headquartered in developing countries perceive the

issues as well. However, the findings do imply that MNCs headquartered in a developed country are more likely to respond to issues online as the MNCs which respond to the issue (Case A, B and E) all are headquartered in a developed country. Thus, global connectedness amplifies whether firms respond to the issue raised by stakeholder on social media.

Besides global connectedness, demographic distance influences how the MNC perceives and responds to issues. The findings imply that petitioners raise more awareness in a host-country with a youth bulge as they spend more time on social media and political activism (Case A and B). Thus, they spend more time on petitions online. Therefore, raising awareness by stakeholders on social media has increased value for the MNC affiliate in a region known for its youth bulge (host-country) than in a region known for its greying population. However, this is only the case as the MNC’s HQ is established in a developed country as there is greater internet use in developed countries. Thus, the

MNC’s HQ would pay faster attention and respond faster to issues.

6. Discussion, implications and limitations

The findings above are evaluated and interpreted in this chapter by considering the working

propositions and the theoretical framework. Moreover, the theoretical implications, the managerial

implications, the limitations of this research and the recommendations for future research are

discussed.

6.1 Discussion

As stated by the working propositions in table 9, firms manage issues raised by stakeholders on social media by perceiving the issue as important or not important, by interpreting and responding to the issue as the issue contains more social media attention, more related webpages or more petition signatures. Furthermore, global connectedness and demographic distance influence how firms manage these issues.

This study analyses the use of social media by stakeholders, the firm issue management process (Ansof, 1980), global connectedness (Berry et al., 2010) and demographic distance (Berry et al., 2010). The eight cases are related to cross-national differences and similarities. The firms in these cases are established in a developed or developing country and the petitioners in these cases live in a developed or developing country. Internet use is highest in developed countries where the greying population is more common, while internet use is lowest in developing countries where the youth bulge is a common phenomenon (Christensen et al., 2009). Young individuals spend more time on social media and there is a majority of young individuals in developing countries. Therefore, more young adults interact online in a country known for its youth bulge. Thus, MNCs would pay faster attention and respond faster to issues in these particular countries. Case A (Google), Case B (PayPal) and Case D (Bharti Airtel) contain a developing country as host-country . Case C (Lenovo), Case E

(Walmart), Case F (Netflix) contain a developed country as host-country. Case G (IKEA) and Case H

(H&M) contain a developed country as host-country and a country with a stationary pyramid as home-country.

The firm’s perception (WP1) refers to as making sense of external issues by scanning the

environment (Maitlis, 2005). Once the issue is perceived as important (affect the core values of an

organization), it gets the priority of the managers in an organization (Dutton et al., 1990). All the

discussed cases affect the organization’s core values. Also, the number of petitioners, social media

attention, general exposure on websites and traditional media attention affect how fast a firm pays

attention to the issue. For example, the petition to Google in Case A was started to involve Google to

raise awareness to the Armenian Genocide, gathered 202,319 supporters and contained a lot of related

webpages and a lot of social media attention. Therefore, WP1 seems to be supported.

The firm’s interpretation (WP2) refers to individuals explaining the meaning of a set of cues

from the environment (Maitlist, 2005). The last stage of Isabella’s (1990) is the aftermath stage, which

evaluate the issue in terms of organizational consequences (Beck & Plowman, 2009). All the cases

discussed are evaluated in terms of organizational consequences. For example, if Walmart (Case E)

would remain silent, more people would attack Walmart for their behavior. As a result, Walmart’s

reputation could be damaged. Therefore, WP2 seems to be supported.

The firm’s response (WP3) refers to as the way organizations respond to changes in the

external environment (Wei & Wang, 2011). In the studied cases, it refers to organizations which

respond to issues raised by online stakeholder activists on the Change.org platform. According to

Heller Baird & Parasnis (2011), stakeholder activists online connect as they have the same interests

and want to target firms to change their policy. As a result of this connecting hub, the number of ties

between peers grow and communication across this network becomes more efficient (Rowley, 1997).

Managers can make more informed decisions to manage a firm’s reputation by analyzing the

conversations among stakeholders (Jian et al., 2014). Firms need to respond fast as there is a possible

spread of “unconfirmed rumors” and it is harder for firms to control this spread (Aula, 2010). For

example in Case E, Walmart responds within one week to the particular issue as this issue contains a lot of social media attention and a lot of general exposure on related webpages. Walmart responded to the issue by apologizing for their behavior and by removing the dead dog prop to save their reputation. Therefore, WP3 seems to be supported.

As predicted by the theoretical framework, there is greater internet usage amongst the

population in developed countries (WP4a) and social media platforms have a wider reach among

individuals online worldwide. This results in firms staying informed of upcoming issues. However,

the findings imply that not only MNCs headquartered in a developed country pay attention to the

issue raised by stakeholders on social media. MNCs headquartered in developing countries also pay attention to issues. Therefore, WP4a seems to be not supported by the analyzed data.

Furthermore, the greater internet usage amongst the population in developed countries result in allowing attuned firms to respond to upcoming issues (WP4b). Also, the findings imply that MNCs headquartered in a developed country are more likely to respond to issues online. The cases (A, B and

E) show that that these MNCs respond as there are higher rates of internet use and thus, these MNCs are faster informed on upcoming issues. Thus, global connectedness amplifies whether firms respond to the issue raised by stakeholder on social media. Therefore, WP4b seems to be supported.

There is greater chance of connection online between young adults in a country with a youth bulge as demographic structure as young individuals spend more time online on social media (Hamdy,

2010). As young individuals in developing countries spend more time on social media, MNCs pay faster attention and respond faster to issues on social media raised by stakeholder as this have increased value in a region known for its youth bulge (WP5a). However, the findings imply that this is not the case. For example, the petitioner in Case D does not raise a lot of awareness to the issue as the petition only contains 117 supporters and therefore, Bharti Airtel does not pay faster attention and does not respond to the issue. Petitioners raise more awareness on issues in a host-country with a youth bulge for the firm when this firm’s HQ is established in a developed country, where there are higher rates of internet use. Therefore, WP5a seems not to be supported.

Furthermore, the findings imply that petitioners raise more awareness in a host-country with a youth bulge as they spend more time on social media and political activism when the MNC is headquartered in a developed country with greater internet use (WP5b). Thus, the MNC’s HQ would pay faster attention and respond faster to issues. For example, there are 202, 319 petitioner signers in

Case A and Google responds by creating a Google Doodle.

Therefore, WP5b seems to be supported.

As shown in Case C, Lenovo does not respond to the issue arising in the USA, as this country

contains a greying population. Younger individuals spend more time online and therefore, Lenovo

does not feel the need to respond to the issue as the USA has a lower proportion of young people.

Therefore WP5c seems to be supported. Also, Netflix (Case F) does not feel the need to respond to the

raised issue, as both the host- and home-country contain a greying population as demographic

structure and thus, less younger individuals would spend time online on social media. However,

Walmart (Case E) pays faster attention and feels the need to respond fast to the issue, even though the

host- and home country contains a greying population. Though Walmart has paid attention and has

responded to the issue, it does not mean that other firms will act the same way because other factors

may have influenced Walmart’s decision. Therefore, WP5d seems to be partially supported.

6.2 Theoretical and managerial implications

This exploratory study contributes to the existing theory by developing a framework that helps both

managers and stakeholders understand how social media networks affect firm’s issue management

processes and how global connectedness and demographic distance influence this relationship. The

difference in internet usage and demographic age structures between two countries can amplify how firms manage stakeholder issues which arise through social media when the MNC is headquartered in a developed country and when the petitioner lives in a developing country (host-country).

Potential managerial implications of this research refer to the use of social media by stakeholders, change in the firm’s issue management process, the influence of global connectedness and demographic distance. MNCs should realize that social media provides the potential for two-way communication compared to traditional media, meaning that messages among stakeholders are distributed by a higher speed (Smith, 2010). Therefore, social media put pressure on businesses to respond to issues as fast as they evolve. Thus, the perception of an issue and the response must happen with near simultaneity to avoid damage on the reputation of the firm (Perrault et al., 2014).

The MNC headquartered in developed countries should realize that they are able to respond faster to

the arising issue as there is greater internet use. Also the MNC’s HQ should respond faster when the

petitioner lives in a developing country (host-country) as the message is easily distributed due to the

fact that young individuals spend more time online.

6.3 Limitations and future research

This research is conducted with the utmost accuracy, but as in every research, there are a series of

limitations. First, the framework of Isabella (1990) cannot be fully tested as the managers do not show

their thoughts on how they interpret issues according to the four stages. Second, the countries that are

covered by the concept “developing countries” are all the countries which are not covered by the concept developed countries and are classified by the ITU (2014). Third, this study was limited in finding available data in accordance with the case selection criteria as there was only one case which possess a host- and home-country with a youth bulge and one case which possess a home-country with a youth bulge and a host-country with a greying population. Last, but not least, using secondary data could also be considered a limitation as social media news websites could be biased.

For future research, it is recommended to extend the data with interviews with managers and with CEOs from the MNC’s HQ in the home-country and the MNC affiliate in the host-country as

these interviews may provide more in-depth insights in how firms as a whole interpret stakeholder

issues through the four stages described by Isabella (1990). There should be a more clear

distinguishing within the concept developing countries, as some of the countries are nowadays

conceptualized as emerging countries. Also, this case study might stimulate future quantitative

examinations as the vast amounts of data that exists today on Twitter, Facebook and other social

media platforms make quantitative approaches possible and potentially highly insightful as well

(Perrault et al., 2014). Furthermore, a quantitative study on the moderating role of global

connectedness and demographic distance enable this study to improve the generalizability and to

refine the theory.

Working propositions Results WP1. Firms prioritize issues which they perceive as important and thus Supported pay faster attention to stakeholder issues as the issue gathers more petition signatures, as the issue contains more social media attention, as the issue is specifically mentioned on related webpages and as the issue contains traditional media attention. WP2. Firms interpret stakeholder issues which arise through social Supported media to be more important as more petition signatures are gathered, as the issue contains more social media attention, as the issue is specifically mentioned on related webpages or as the issue contains traditional media attention. WP3. Firms respond faster to stakeholder issues which arise through Supported social media as the combination of the speed (widely spread social media attention) and the intensity (related webpages) by which social media users communicate about an issue rises. WP4a. A firm's headquarter established in a developed country is paying Not supported more attention to stakeholder issues arising on social media than a firm established in a developing country, as there is greater internet use in developed countries WP4b. A firm's headquarter established in a developed country responds Supported faster to stakeholder issues arising on social media than a firm established in a developing country, as there is greater internet use in developed countries WP5a. A firm from a home country with a youth bulge demographic Not Supported structure facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host- country with a youth bulge demographic structure is most likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as more young individuals spend time online

WP5b. A firm from a home country with a greying demographic structure Supported facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host-country with a youth bulge demographic structure is most likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as more young individuals spend time online WP5c. A firm from a home country with a youth bulge demographic Supported structure facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host- country with a greying demographic structure is less likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as less young individuals spend time online WP5d. A firm from a home country with a greying demographic structure Partially supported facing a social media stakeholder issue arising in a host-country with a greying demographic structure is less likely to pay attention and respond to the issue as less young individuals spend time online

Table 9: Working propositions assessment

7. Conclusion

By studying eight cases conducted by petitioners and multinationals in developed and developing

countries, this study’s purpose is to understand how global connectedness and demographic distance

influence how MNCs manage stakeholder issues which arise through social media.

Social media is characterized by the interaction between users online as they can co-create content and/or modify content (Aula, 2010). Social media collects real time information and put their information online. This platform increases the speed by which users communicate and thus, the messages are distributed by a higher speed by multiple users (Smith, 2010). Social media allow stakeholder activists to share their opinion and to publicize information collectively or individually

(Fieseler & Fleck, 2013). These stakeholder activists selectively target organizations whose practice raise specific issues of interest to society (Den Hond & De Bakker, 2007).

Organizations recognize the potential of social media to engage where the stakeholders are paying attention as stakeholders use social media to exert pressure for improved organizational performance (Jiang et al., 2014; Maitlis, 2005). Stakeholder claims confront firms with social, strategic and political issues. The main effect of social media on the firm’s issue management is how social media changes this process as social media makes it easier to build networks around an issue

(Perrault et al., 2014). The findings of this study suggest that once the issue is perceived as having bearing on to the expression of an organization’s core values, the firm needs to perceive, interpret and respond faster to the issue.

Global connectedness includes how countries differ in terms of internet use (Berry et al.,

2010). There is greater internet use in developed countries compared to developing countries as more people are living in urban centers and have a higher education (Chen & Wellman, 2014). Social media acts as a catalyst to facilitate communications amongst individuals online. The findings of this study suggest that the global connectedness between developed and developing countries allow MNCs headquartered in developed countries to respond faster to issues online as there is greater internet usage.

Demographic distance includes how countries differ in terms of age structure. Developed

countries have a large proportion of older people (greying population), while developing countries

have a large proportion of younger people (youth bulge) (Berry et al., 2010). The findings of this

study suggest that the demographic distance between these two kind of countries affect the actions of

the MNCs headquartered in a developed country. As there is a larger proportion of younger people in developing countries, there are more people spending time on social media. This results in MNCs headquartered in a developed country responding faster to arising issues in developing countries as there is greater internet use to tackle the problem faster.

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