Social exchange and social capital in blogging: Interactions among mum bloggers, marketers and ...

263 Pages·2017·1.64 MB·English

by  Catherine Archer

Social exchange and social capital in blogging:
Interactions among mum bloggers, marketers and
public relations practitioners in the virtual third place

Catherine Jane Archer
Bachelor of Arts (English); Postgraduate Diploma in Business (Marketing);
Master of Philosophy (Public Relations)

This thesis is presented for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy of
The University of Western Australia
UWA Business School

Marketing
2017

Abstract

The rise of consumers using social media and the resulting changes in the media,
marketing and business landscape have seen governments, corporations, not-for-profit
organisations and individuals dealing with the ramifications of ‘digital disruption’.
Bloggers, as a group of social media ‘influencers’, have become important and of
concern to both marketers and public relations (M&PR) practitioners. One group of
bloggers is the so-called mum, mummy or mommy bloggers (MBs). As mothers are an
important group of consumers, and women drive most purchasing decisions in
Australia, the need for M&PR practitioners to influence these influencers has become
apparent.
This research explores the phenomenon of mum blogging in Australia and the
exchanges between: MBs and each other; MBs and their readers; and MBs and M&PR
practitioners, representing brands and organisations. Social exchange theory and social
capital theory underpin the research, which sought to answer several research questions.
Specially; what are MBs’ motivations to blog? What are the nature and extent of MBs’
exchanges with M&PR practitioners online and offline? What are the major ethical
issues surrounding blogging and do MBs and M&PR practitioners have differing
viewpoints on these issues? This research draws together concepts from separate but
inter-related disciplines, namely marketing and public relations. Within marketing, the
contrasting concepts of co-creation and covert marketing are explored and within public
relations, the normative concepts of relationship management, two-way communication
and dialogue are reviewed and critiqued. For MBs, the divergent views of them as
empowered prosumers or in a period of liminality and vulnerability are explored.
Data were gathered using a netnography approach. Netnography is ethnography applied
to the online environment, and was particularly appropriate for this research which
sought to explore the offline and online experiences of MBs in depth. The netnography
included interviews, a survey and an analysis of blogs in Australia.
Findings illustrate six main motivations for MBs to blog: community and connection,
therapy, helping people, having a voice, developing new skills and making money.
Bloggers ‘market’ to M&PR practitioners and develop networks with their readers and
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each other, giving them significant social capital and power. M&PR practitioners do
recognise the influence MBs have and are eager to capitalise on it. M&PR practitioners
appear to expect professionalism from bloggers, while admitting that bloggers are often
not professionals in an accepted sense of the term. Finally, the key ethical issue
discovered was of whether to disclose ‘cash for comment’, or payment for opinion, on
blogs, and this issue remains an unresolved concern for bloggers and M&PR
practitioners.
Theoretical implications of this research are significant. First, the role of social capital
in blogging relevant to marketing and public relations is clarified. Influencers are using
their social capital to expect a return for their ‘work’ in their social exchanges with
M&PR practitioners. Relevant to social exchange theory, bloggers only wish to work
with M&PR practitioners promoting brands if the M&PR practitioners offer some
benefit, including money, in-kind reward, or prestige. Relevant to the concept of
liminality, mum bloggers often begin blogging in a liminal state but as their blogging
continues they are neither empowered nor vulnerable, but are paradoxically often both
at the same time vulnerable-empowered women.
Managerial implications for M&PR practitioners include acknowledging that the
motivations of bloggers are often personal and may not dovetail with a brand’s
marketing or communications objectives. There should also be a requirement for clearer
codes of conduct for working with bloggers, and more mindful self-awareness on the
part of M&PR practitioners when dealing with potentially vulnerable new prosumers.
For mum bloggers, as one genre of new influencers, their own part in the changing
media landscape also requires an ethical review when dealing with M&PR practitioners.

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Relevant refereed journal articles and conference papers

This thesis contains published work and/or work prepared for publication, some of
which has been co-authored. The bibliographical details of the work and where it
appears in the thesis are outlined below. A signed declaration is contained in the
submission form.
Journal articles

Archer, C. & Harrigan P. (2016). Show me the money: how bloggers as
stakeholders are challenging theories of relationship building in public relations.
Media International Australia, 160(1), 67-77.

Catherine Archer researched and wrote the entire paper with advice (review of
Catherine’s written work) from Paul Harrigan (and anonymous reviewers). The
content of this paper was used within the PhD within the literature review, findings
and discussion chapters.

Pettigrew, S., Archer, C., & Harrigan, P. (2016). A thematic analysis of mothers’
motivations for blogging. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 20(5), 1025-1031.

Simone Pettigrew wrote this paper with review and advice from Catherine Archer and
Paul Harrigan (and anonymous reviewers). The content of this paper has not been
included in the thesis (other than as a reference).

Archer, C. & Pettigrew,S. and Harrigan, P. (2014). A tale of power, passion and
persuasion: Bloggers, public relations and ethics. Asia Pacific Public Relations
Journal, 15(1), 7-24.

Catherine Archer researched and wrote the entire paper with reviews of her written
work by Simone Pettigrew and Paul Harrigan (and anonymous reviewers). The
content of this paper was used within the PhD within the literature review, findings
and discussion chapters.

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Conference papers and presentations

Archer, C (2016). Learning from the ‘nobodies’: How PR practitioners need to
innovate in their exchange with influencers. Abstract presented at the Barcelona PR
Conference, June 2016, Barcelona, Spain.

Archer, C. (2016). Prosumers with passion: The six motivations of mum bloggers.
Abstract presented at the Eighth International Forum on Public Relations and
Advertising (PRAD) January 2016 Wellington New Zealand.

Archer, C. (2014). Sleeping with the ‘frenemy’? Bloggers’ attitudes towards public
relations practitioners across the digital divide. Abstract presented at the Public
Relations Institute of Australia Conference, November 2014 Brisbane, Australia.

Archer, C. (2013). A tale of power, passion and persuasion: Public relations,
bloggers and ethics. Abstract presented at the Academic Colloquium, Public
Relations Institute of Australia, November, 2013. Adelaide, Australia.

Archer, C. (2012). The borderless world according to bloggers: Prosumers tell their
side of the communications story. In Proceedings of the World Public Relations
Forum, 2012, Melbourne, Australia.

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Acknowledgements
They say it takes a village to raise a child. While writing a PhD could be seen as a
solitary activity, it has also taken a village of family, friends and fellow academics to
support me as I have ‘raised’ my PhD.
I would like to thank my principal supervisor, Dr Paul Harrigan, for his professionalism
and encouragement throughout the process. I would also like to thank my associate
supervisor, Professor Simone Pettigrew (initially my principal supervisor), who,
through her academic rigour, encouraged me to question my questions and constantly
improve my writing.
To my colleagues and friends at Murdoch University, the University of WA and Curtin
University – past and present – you have been a source of support and strength
throughout the process. Having people who understand the turbulent emotions involved
in trying to complete a PhD while working as an academic has been invaluable. To my
friends from my other life beyond academia, and some of you cross between the two,
thank you for all your practical and emotional support while I have been in the trenches.
I am extremely lucky to have such great friends. I owe a special thank you to my proof
readers, Stina and Julia. Any remaining errors are my own.
To the memory of my Mum and Dad, who both were inspirations in their own ways,
mostly because they gave me unconditional love, support and hope and had amazing
strength and purpose.
I wish to thank my immediate family but where do I begin? How can words sum up my
gratitude for the three most important people in my life? To my children, Alice and
Nicholas, you bring me great joy every day and I thank you for being there. Through the
highs and lows of living, working, parenting and PhD writing, one constant has been my
partner in life, Robin. Robin, thank you doesn’t seem enough to express my
appreciation of all you have done for me – from the small things to the large, and
everything in between.

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Finally, to the bloggers themselves – thank you! It was a true privilege to hear your
stories (many funny, some very sad) and be a witness to some of your journeys along
the five years of research and writing. I continue to ‘follow’ your wonderful writing,
joys, frustrations and some sorrows online (and occasionally in real life) and share the
ups and downs of life as a mum and citizen in the 21st century through this strange thing
we call social media. What has been amazing for me is that most of you have kept on
sharing. It has been fantastic to see some of you go on to achieve big and small ‘wins’
in this world.
I would like to dedicate this thesis to my family but also to Shakespeare’s Sisters, the
bloggers of the 21st century.

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For Shakespeare’s Sister
“I told you in the course of this paper that Shakespeare had a sister; but do not look for
her in Sir Sidney Lee’s life of the poet. She died young—alas, she never wrote a word.
She lies buried where the omnibuses now stop, opposite the Elephant and Castle. Now
my belief is that this poet who never wrote a word and was buried at the cross–roads
still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here to–
night, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed. But she lives;
for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; they need only the opportunity
to walk among us in the flesh. This opportunity, as I think, it is now coming within your
power to give her. For my belief is that if we live another century or so—I am talking of
the common life which is the real life and not of the little separate lives which we live as
individuals—and have five hundred a year each of us and rooms of our own; if we have
the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think; if we escape a little
from the common sitting–room and see human beings not always in their relation to
each other but in relation to reality; and the sky, too, and the trees or whatever it may be
in themselves; if we look past Milton’s bogey, for no human being should shut out the
view; if we face the fact, for it is a fact, that there is no arm to cling to, but that we go
alone and that our relation is to the world of reality and not only to the world of men
and women, then the opportunity will come and the dead poet who was Shakespeare’s
sister will put on the body which she has so often laid down. Drawing her life from the
lives of the unknown who were her forerunners, as her brother did before her, she will
be born. As for her coming without that preparation, without that effort on our part,
without that determination that when she is born again she shall find it possible to live
and write her poetry, that we cannot expect, for that would be impossible. But I
maintain that she would come if we worked for her, and that so to work, even in poverty
and obscurity, is worthwhile.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, 1929, p. 148-149 (1992 edition).

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