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

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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: 29

th

of January, 2016

Word count: 22,144

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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.

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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.

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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

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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).

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8 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).

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9 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.

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10 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.

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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).

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12 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).

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13 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).

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14 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).

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15 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.

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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.

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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).

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18 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).

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19 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.

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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).

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21 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.

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22 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 17}th_{, 2015.} 3

http://davidpapp.com/2014/06/19/top-10-developing-countries-that-use-social-media-the-most/, accessed on November 17th, 2015.

4_{http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/}_{, accessed on} November 17th , 2015.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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28 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.

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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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

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33 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 host-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 countr y Host-country Youth bulge** Greying population* * High internet use*** Low internet use*** % young individuals (15-24) in home country*** * % young individuals (15-24) in host country*** * A USA Armeni a Armeni a

USA USA Armeni

a

13.7% 15.2%

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, Malawi

India, Malawi

18.1% 20.2%

E USA Canada USA,

Canada

USA, Canada

13.7% 12.7%

F USA UK USA, UK USA,

UK

13.7% 12.6%

G Swede

n

USA - USA Sweden

, USA

12.3% 13.7%

H Swede

n

USA - USA Sweden

, USA

12.3% 13.7%

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34

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)

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35 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

country

The age structure can be adapted from IndexMundi (2014).

% young individuals (15-24) in

host-country

The age structure can be adapted from IndexMundi (2014).

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36

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

5_{https://www.change.org/p/set-armeniangenocidedoodle-on-april-24-googledoodles}_{, accessed December 13,} 2015.

6_{http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/12/07/petition-urges-google-to-set-armenian-genocide-doodle-on-april-24/}_, accessed December 13, 2015.

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37 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.

7_{https://www.facebook.com/events/896252793719359/}_{, accessed December 13, 2015.} 8

https://twitter.com/khloekardashian/status/589356277186211840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw, accessed December 13, 2015.

9_{https://twitter.com/DianaMadison/status/590195725310398464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw}_{, accessed December 13,} 2015.

10

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38 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.

12_{https://www.change.org/p/paypal-bring-paypal-to-nigeria#petition-letter,}_{accessed December 14, 2015.} 13

http://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. 15_{https://twitter.com/search?q=%23paypalnigeria&src=typd}_{, accessed December 14, 2015.} 16

https://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.

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39 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.

19_{http://www.lenovo.com/lenovo/us/en/our_company.html,}_{accessed December 15, 2015.} 20

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