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Reputation Management in a Digital World: the Role of Online Information in the Building, Management, and Evaluation of Personal Reputations

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Reputation Management in a Digital World: the Role of Online Information in the Building, Management, and Evaluation of Personal Reputations Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations Frances Virginia Cook Ryan A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Edinburgh Napier University, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy May 2019 Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations Declaration Declaration I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification, and that it is the result of my own independent work. Frances Virginia Cook Ryan (Candidate) Date Frances VC Ryan PhD 2019 Page i Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations Abstract Abstract This work is concerned with the role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations. The main contributions of the research relate to: (1) the means by which people evaluate the personal reputations of others from the online evidence available to them, and (2) strategies for the building and management of personal reputations through the use of online information. The findings extend knowledge within the domain of Information Science, notably with respect to the established body of research on human information behaviour and use. They are set against a theoretical framework that is anchored to research in bibliometrics (for example on citation practice and citation analysis), and takes into account the multidisciplinary nature of the field of Information Science. A multi-step data collection process was implemented following the practice of extant studies in Information Science and human information behaviour and use. This focused on a sample of forty-five UK-based social media users. A qualitative analysis of data collected from participant diaries and interviews was undertaken using NVivo10. The main contribution of this work with respect to the evaluation of personal reputations on the basis on online evidence is that the information available is largely consumed and evaluated in a passive manner: social media users are more interested in the content of the information that is shared on social media platforms than they are in the signals that this information might convey about the sharer(s). Closer attention is paid in cases where the information shared is in stark contrast to the opinions and practices of those who consume it. In terms of the management of personal reputations through the use of online information, this work introduces and develops new concepts related to managing the “blur” that occurs at the intersection between private and professional lives, and online and offline environments. Frances VC Ryan PhD 2019 Page ii Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations Publications associated with this research Publications associated with this research Ryan, F., Cruickshank, P., Hall, H., Lawson, A. (2018). Blurred reputations: Managing professional and private information online. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. Ryan, F., Cruickshank, P., Hall, H., Lawson, A. (2017). Building identity in online environments: An Information Science perspective. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) 2017, Washington DC, US, 27 October – 1 November 2017. Ryan, F., Cruickshank, P., Hall, H., Lawson, A. (2016). Personal online reputation: The development of an approach to investigate how personal reputation is evaluated and managed in online environments. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Data and Information Management Conference (IDIMC). (Awarded best paper.) Ryan, F., Cruickshank, P., Hall, H., Lawson, A. (2016). Managing and evaluating personal reputations on the basis of information shared on social media: A Generation X perspective. Information Research. Frances VC Ryan PhD 2019 Page iii Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I would like to thank my PhD supervisors, Professor Hazel Hall, Alistair Lawson, and Peter Cruickshank, for their guidance. There is not enough space on this page to convey how grateful I am for their wisdom, advice, and encouragement. I would also like to say thank you to my panel chair, Professor David Benyon, and to Professor Elisabeth Davenport for their invaluable input which helped me to develop my research. I would also like to thank my fellow PhD students and colleagues in the Centre for Social Informatics for their support, with special mention to my friend and colleague, Dr Bruce Ryan (no relation), for his encouragement, writing chats, and proof-reading. My studies were made possible through a studentship funded by the Edinburgh Napier University School of Computing. Additional funding from the John Campbell Trust and the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) supported my attendance at international conferences during my studies. Of course, this work would not have been possible without my participants. I am grateful to all of them for giving their time so willingly and with so much enthusiasm. Whilst this PhD thesis is about the information, it is these people who brought it to life. There are also many people to thank outside of the formal academic environment. To that, I would like to thank all of my cheerleaders in the Homeland, the Heartland, and Facebookland, with special thanks to the following: To Adrian Lea, for his generosity and friendship throughout my studies; to David and Valerie Laughlin, for the real ale and pub lunches; and to Caroline Johnstone, for helping me to keep my sanity with adventures, coffees, and notes of encouragement. Also, to my youngest sister, Royann Mercado Perez, for proof-reading my methods chapter, and for her sisterly love and support; to my parents, Roy and Barbara Cook, for far more than I could ever say, but especially for the care packages from the Homeland, Skype chats, and their unconditional love; and to my late-husband, Paul Ryan, whose support and encouragement of my PhD Dreams kept me going, even in his absence. And finally, to a special group of friends who made it possible for me to attend isolated writing retreats: Minnie, Lucy, Rigby, Cooper, Islay, Dana, Jura, Murphy, and Phoebe. Frances VC Ryan PhD 2019 Page iv Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations Table of contents Table of contents Declaration ................................................................................................................ i Abstract .................................................................................................................... ii Publications associated with this research ............................................................... iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. iv Table of contents ...................................................................................................... v List of figures ........................................................................................................... xi List of tables ........................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background and aims ......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Theory and research methods ........................................................................... 1 1.3 Key concepts and definitions ............................................................................. 2 1.3.1 Information ................................................................................................. 2 1.3.2 Reputation ................................................................................................... 3 1.3.3 Identity ........................................................................................................ 4 1.3.4 The “real world” .......................................................................................... 6 1.4 Thesis structure ................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2: Literature review ................................................................................... 11 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Literature related to building and managing academic reputations ............... 12 2.2.1 The impact of citations on identity and reputation .................................. 13 2.2.2 The impact of citations on the citing author’s identity and reputation ... 15 2.2.3 The impact of citations on the identity and reputation of the cited author 17 2.2.4 The impact of a citation on the reputations of institutions and publications ............................................................................................................. 18 Frances VC Ryan PhD 2019 Page v Reputation management
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