The impact of social media on the brand reputation of Urban Local Authorities in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe.

Abstract

Maintaining a brand reputation is pivotal for the survival and growth of any organization. Still, for Local Authorities the extent is extreme since these nonprofit-making firms thrive on the trust of ratepayers to continue getting revenue for survival. The rapid growth and widespread adoption of social media have revolutionized communication channels, presenting both opportunities and challenges for Urban Local Authorities. Due to the management problem and research gaps, mixed research (concurrent and embedded) examining the specific impact of social media on the brand reputation of Urban Local Authorities in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe was carried out. The literature and theoretical framework (Uses and Gratification Theory, and the Social Network Theory) guided the research into concurrent and embedded quantitative and qualitative paradigms. The independent variable was social media with sub-constructs of platforms, usage, and content while the dependent variable was brand reputation. Four research objectives and questions were drawn from the thesis and literature that led to three hypotheses and research questions. Hypotheses were that there is a significant relationship between social media (platforms, usage, and content) and brand reputation. It employed 145 questionnaires and 30 semi-structured interviews to a population sample of 175 that was obtained through stratified sampling (Council Employees, Councilors, Residents, Ministry Officials, And Patrons) followed by convenient sampling for demographics, structured data, and purposive sampling for unstructured data. The percentage response was 100%, where demographics (such as gender, location, and age) had no significant relationship with social media elements. In contrast, education level and strata had some relationship e.g., participants in a certain level of education preferred a certain category of social media like LinkedIn. Structured data (quantitative) was analyzed on SPSS using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Chi-Square test for relationships. The research tested 3 hypotheses (platforms, usage, and content versus brand reputation) where a general outcome was a positive significant relationship between social media (platforms used, usage frequency, content type, and relevancy) and brand reputation. And then from unstructured data (qualitative/interviews) challenges of social media were noted (like cybercrimes, connectivity issues, etc), legal frameworks of social media (like Cyber and Data Protection Act CH 12:07), and recommendations to embrace social media like “active social media presence and usage, platforms and transparent communication, and being mindful of the social media content and pieces of training”. Recommendations for future research were to try longitudinal time horizons for this research and to measure the productivity factor of social media and brand reputation.