Title: Utilising social media to improve relationship quality: the case of the university library

Authors: Melissa N. Clark; Scott D. Bacon

Addresses: Coastal Carolina University, P.O. Box 261954, Conway, SC 29528-6054, USA ' Coastal Carolina University, P.O. Box 261954, Conway, SC 29528-6054, USA

Abstract: As the centre of academic life at a university, the university library plays an important role in how students perceive their relationship with the university. This study analyses the effect that participation in library social media has on student perception of relationship quality with the university. The hypotheses proposed in this study were found to be substantiated: following the library on social media is positively related to a student's perception of their relationship quality with the university; students interested in multiple library services are likely to report the perception of a higher quality relationship with the university.

Keywords: university; social media; marketing; library; higher education; Facebook; Twitter; Instagram; Pinterest; Google+; Yik Yak; Tumblr; Snapchat; YouTube.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2018.096247

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2018 Vol.11 No.4, pp.384 - 410

Received: 22 Aug 2017
Accepted: 23 Aug 2018
Published online: 19 Nov 2018 *

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