| Author: | Zeng, Fan |
| Title: | Stakeholder engagement in sustainable operations management : evidence from social media analytics |
| Advisors: | Lo, Kwan Yu Chris (SFT) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Production management Sustainable development Management information systems Online social networks in business Business communication Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Fashion and Textiles |
| Pages: | 222 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Since operations management is closely related to the efficiency of energy and materials as well as social benefits, it is necessary for firms to shift towards sustainable operations management (SOM) to achieve common sustainable development goals. Information systems (IS) play a critical role in SOM. We first investigated the role of IS on firms’ sustainable development through a Systematic Literature Network Analysis (Chapter 2). This study discovered three main research domains (sustainable competitive advantage, environmental sustainability, and sustainable online social communities) and two emerging research domains (the role of IS in developing countries and sustainable information infrastructures). Based on our findings, we develop the framework for the role of IS in SOM. Furthermore, we found that few studies mentioned the role of IS in promoting stakeholder engagement. The inclusive engagement of multiple stakeholders can promote the implementation of sustainable development goals. Stakeholder engagement implies that firms engage in dialogue with stakeholders to determine their social, environmental, and economic concerns. Firms’ OM will become more sustainable in the process of meeting the needs of stakeholders. The improvement of stakeholder engagement needs effective communication strategies. Social media, an advanced IS, is an efficient channel for firms to improve stakeholder engagement. However, it is an issue for most firms to communicate their SOM on social media since not all social media posts generate high stakeholder engagement. Therefore, this study aims to help firms understand how to engage stakeholders through exploring stakeholder engagement in firms’ SOM using social media. In chapter 3, we collected 25,106 social media posts from 19 fashion brands and classified them into three operations closely related to sustainable practices (i.e., product design, manufacturing, and recycling). We train a Natural Language Processing technique machine to mimic how the stakeholders interpret brands' communications about SOM. We found that sustainable product design and recycling initiatives generated stronger stakeholder engagement. However, sustainable manufacturing had insignificantly positive effects on stakeholder engagement. Then we extended our research to the Chinese context since China is a significant market for many firms. China is transforming from single economic development to sustainable development. Chinese stakeholders have started engaging in firms’ SOM, but few studies have focused on this. Therefore, we collected 37,007 social media posts from 22 brands on Sina Weibo to investigate the extent of stakeholder engagement with firms’ SOM in China (Chapter 4). We found that sustainable product designs generated stronger stakeholder engagement. However, sustainable manufacturing and recycling practices had insignificantly positive effects on stakeholder engagement. Our findings can help firms engage Chinese stakeholders more efficiently. We also compare the findings in chapter 3 and those in Chapter 4 to better understand the differences between stakeholders in different countries. However, it is hard for firms to guarantee the successful launch of new product designs sometimes since they cannot keep the balance among multiple stakeholders. We analyzed 32,006 tweets from 33 global automobile manufacturers and found adverse stakeholder engagement with vehicle electrification and automation (Chapter 5). Since employees are major stakeholders, we analyzed international job creation records from 33 global automobile manufacturers and found that job creation can improve stakeholders’ adverse social media engagement. We are the first to investigate how stakeholder engagement improves firms’ SOM. Our studies provide a more comprehensive understanding of stakeholder engagement in SOM from different perspectives. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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