Rong Wang | Vanderbilt University (original) (raw)

Papers by Rong Wang

Increasingly, scholars and practitioners are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of intero... more Increasingly, scholars and practitioners are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of interorganizational networks. We use a configuration approach to study network effectiveness. This research is a mixed-method study of 26 education networks in the United States. We measure network effectiveness by comparing 4th-grade literacy, 8th-grade literacy, and high-school graduation rates. We compare these scores with all school districts in the state using interrupted time series or parametric difference-indifferences approaches. Then, drawing from qualitative data from interviews and archives, we investigate the network governance, environmental characteristics, and theories of change associated with greater student achievement. We find three configurations associated with network effectiveness using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. One configuration combines decentralized governance with a project theory of change in the context of resource munificence. A second configuration associated with network effectiveness is to combine learning and systems alignment theories of change with smaller network size and resource munificence. The final configuration combines decentralized governance, a learning theory of change, less resource munificence, and larger network size and does not use a systems alignment theory of change. The results support the configurational approach, which suggests multiple configurations of factors in combination may result in network effectiveness.

Management communication quarterly, 2024

Guided by the contingency model of capacity effectiveness, we examine the relationship between or... more Guided by the contingency model of capacity effectiveness, we examine the relationship between organizational capacities and performance indicators during COVID-19. We conceptualized operational capacity and board leadership capacity as process oriented to ensure organizations' effective functioning and to demonstrate accountability. Technological capacity and networking capacity were defined as resource oriented to help accomplish organizational goals. We used two effectiveness indicators to capture the input-output success measured by goal attainment and an organization's ability to learn and adapt to improve its performances based on evaluation data (i.e., professional data use). Survey data collected from nonprofits located in a southeastern U.S. state showed that generally nonprofits were not performing well due to operation challenges. Operational capacity and technological capacity were negatively related to goal attainment; however, these two capacities and board leadership capacity were all positively related to

Management Communication Quarterly, 2023

Guided by institutional theory, this study examines how homophily and institutional power influen... more Guided by institutional theory, this study examines how homophily and institutional power influence the tie formation and dissolution of interorganizational collaboration networks. The analysis focuses on longitudinal network data collected from 174 international non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) whose mission and main activities revolved around HIV/AIDS and other related health topics such as substance use, alcohol use, and smoking. This study conceptualizes

Public relations review, 2024

Given the critical role of legitimacy in attracting key resources for organizational survival and... more Given the critical role of legitimacy in attracting key resources for organizational survival and growth, organizational and strategic communication research has long sought to understand the mechanisms essential in improving organizational legitimacy. Guided by stakeholder research and configurational thinking, we examine three interconnected communication mechanisms for relationship management in organizational legitimation: (a) information visibility, (b) organizational listening, and (c) cross-sector partnerships. Based on survey and archival data from 44 U.S. nonprofit organizations, we employed a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify the pathways to high or low organizational legitimacy. Our results reveal the combinations of these factors can complement or substitute for one another to explain legitimacy. Specifically, high pragmatic legitimacy requires effective listening to stakeholders and collaborating with government agencies. By contrast, in low pragmatic legitimacy, organizations are often hindered by limited capacity for information visibility, ineffective
listening to stakeholders, and no collaboration with corporate partners. These results suggest theoretical contributions to stakeholder research in public relations and organizational and strategic communication scholar.

Business and Society, 2022

Refugee concerns may be perceived as controversial or outside the business domain, yet some corpo... more Refugee concerns may be perceived as controversial or outside the business domain, yet some corporations publicly engage these issues in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This article relies on institutional and constitutive approaches to CSR to explore why organizations might declare their engagement in refugee issues, and utilizes decoupling to explore the relationship between reported CSR policy and CSR activity. We utilize a mixed-method, content analysis approach to draw on Fortune Global 500 CSR reports between 2012 and 2019, a period in which refugee activity increased around the world. Our research suggests that few corporations offer refugee programming and fewer still feature programs that are "coupled" with either CSR policies or impacts. We introduce a typology that depicts these corporations as reactionary, recurring, relevant, or revelatory, and offer constitutive implications for CSR programming in response to other emerging social issues.

Increasingly, nonprofits and corporations publicly communicate about their partnerships. Guided b... more Increasingly, nonprofits and corporations publicly
communicate about their partnerships. Guided by
Information Integration Theory, this paper examines
how information about a nonprofit's relationship with
a corporation relates to individuals' intention to donate
and volunteer. This research used a two-study experimental
design. Study 1 (N = 966) examined how partnership
explanations and evaluation were related to
the two outcomes. Study 2 (N = 970) further examined
whether specific information about partnerships,
including type, duration, and communication source,
was integrated with existing knowledge to relate to the
outcomes. Partnership evaluation consistently related
to stakeholders' intention to support nonprofits, and it
mediated the effect of partnership explanations on the
intention to volunteer. Furthermore, partnership type
was significantly related to the two outcomes, while
duration and source of communication were not.

International Journal of Communication, 2016

This study examines how various ways of organizing online collaboration affect the structure of t... more This study examines how various ways of organizing online collaboration affect the structure of the engagement network in commons-based peer production. The main interest is in testing whether loosely structured collaborative practice, without defined roles and leaders, leads to less centralized engagement. We use network analysis to uncover and compare three endogenous network attributes in two online music production communities, where participants produce public goods mainly through two strategies: ad-hoc collaboration and team-based collaboration. The analysis reveals that the introduction of formal structure in collaboration does not necessarily lead to greater centralization. In fact, more loosely structured collaboration can result in higher centralization, whereby a small number of participants emerge as focal points for the productive output of the community.

International Journal of Communication, 2020

The challenge in evaluating China’s foreign aid has always been the unavailability of reliable da... more The challenge in evaluating China’s foreign aid has always been the unavailability of reliable data sets. This study constitutes the first analysis of the AidData data set from a communication network perspective. It examines China’s development aid to Africa in the ICT sector from 2000 to 2014. Combining data mapping, network modeling, and regression, it uncovers general trends of aid allocation, central players, and collaboration patterns among aid agencies. The results demonstrate the variability in the distribution of China’s foreign assistance to 44 African countries. In particular, African countries with less population, worse economic development, but higher oil rents are more likely to receive ICT aid from China. This study also finds that aid implementation is less likely to occur through collaboration within the same sector or between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies. This research reveals nuanced geometries of aid with “Chinese characteristics” that mo...

Internet Use and the Building of Social Capital for Development: A Network Perspective

Information Technologies and International Development, 2015

Guided by the Capability Approach, this study highlights the importance of assessing development ... more Guided by the Capability Approach, this study highlights the importance of assessing development in terms of people’s engagement in activities they want to do. It moves beyond the emphasis on economic growth and access to new technologies. Situated in the context of Internet use, this study examines how civil society associations and existing bonding and bridging social ties are related to an individual’s capability to use the Internet for information seeking, economic transactions, political participation, learning, and entertainment. Drawing from the network perspective of social capital, this study proves the importance of social networks in affecting an individual’s capability of using the Internet for specific purposes. The article contributes to the growing literature on the links between ICTs and development. It also highlights the social factors of technology use, providing implications on how to promote Internet use in developing communities.

In recent years crowdfunding has diversified and grown beyond most experts' projections. Orig... more In recent years crowdfunding has diversified and grown beyond most experts' projections. Originally aiming to serve venture ideas and entrepreneurs outside the focus of traditional capital markets, the crowdfunding marketplace has developed a complicated relationship with novel ideas. Yet, there is little to no research on the relationship between project novelty and success in crowdfunding. This paper measures the novelty of crowdfunding campaigns using the content and language of their pitches, capturing their tendency to combine different venture sectors and topics in distinctive ways. Using a unique data set that covers four years of activity on a leading equity crowdfunding platform, we investigate the link between novelty and success, as well as how novelty appeals to different kinds of investors. We find that novelty derived from campaign pitches is negatively related with fundraising success even when controlling for quality and style of writing. We also find that novel ...

Understanding online equity funding ecology: a comparison of the greater Los Angeles area and Silicon Valley

Quality & Quantity, 2020

Guided by the community ecology perspective and resource dependence theory, this study examines h... more Guided by the community ecology perspective and resource dependence theory, this study examines how organizational forms and resources co-influence the financial flow among three types of players: angel investors, venture capital firms and startups. Data from two comparable areas were collected from an online equity funding platform AngelList.com: the greater Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley. This study applies network analysis to demonstrate that the online investment networks in both markets were driven by both commensalism and symbiosis, and they both favored larger ventures. However, distinct patterns were revealed. The Los Angeles market had a higher tendency of the financial flow from angel investors to VC firms, and between angel investors; while the financial flow in the Silicon Valley market was more likely to occur from angel investors and VC firms to startups. Furthermore, the resource signals had different effects on both markets with the investors in Silicon Valley viewing online resources as negative predictors of funding flow. Implications on what value funders bring to ventures and whether online platform offers an alternative for venture investment are provided.

Business Ethics: A European Review, 2020

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (2017), there are over 40 million refugees worldwi... more According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (2017), there are over 40 million refugees worldwide. Although the refugee crisis in Europe captivated international attention in 2015, the crisis has evolved to become a global problem. Refugees currently living in Europe only account for 17% of the global refugee population, and the situation is much direr in regions such as Africa (30%), Middle East, and North Africa (26%). For millions of refugees, their forced displacement journeys may be fatal. Between 2015 and 2017, the annual refugee fatality rate kept reaching records (Missing Migrant Project, 2018). In 2016 alone, over 8,000 refugees died from drowning and vehicle accidents during migration. Even when refugees reach resettlement camps, many still struggle with access to basic living resources and face challenges such as language barriers, poverty, and cross-cultural adaptation (Douglas, Levitan, & Kiama, 2017). The scope and magnitude of the global refugee crisis are unprecedented. This crisis has posed severe challenges to social stability and sustainable development around the world. Yet, most governments are ill-prepared for this global humanitarian crisis, or their actions are mired by polarized domestic public opinions and nationalist movements. Cross-sector alliance is an effective way for societies to address wicked problems such as the global refugee crisis that spills over sectoral and national boundaries (Jamali, Yianni, & Abdallah, 2011; Selsky & Parker, 2005). These types of interorganizational relationships are also known as multi-stakeholder collaboratives, social alliances, cause-based partnerships, social service partnerships, and business-community partnerships (for an extensive review, see Koschmann, Kuhn, & Pfarrer, 2012). While many NGOs and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) advocate on behalf of refugees, our initial assessment reveals considerable disparity when it comes to corporate participation in refugee relief efforts and their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Snuggling Together or Exploring Options? A Multilevel Analysis of Nonprofit Partnership Formation and Evolution in an Unstable Institutional Context

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2020

What predicts the formation and evolution of partnerships in unstable institutional contexts? We ... more What predicts the formation and evolution of partnerships in unstable institutional contexts? We answer this question by examining the partnership field of environmental nonprofit organizations based in Lebanon. Employing descriptive and inferential network methods, we find organizational attributes such as scope, operations, and age to be significant predictors of partnership formation. In particular, organizations working in the same issue areas are more likely to partner with each other; age and scope complementarity also drives the partnership formation over time. Furthermore, the results reveal that organizations are more likely to form partnerships with their partners’ partners, and consequently stable clusters or subgroups emerge over time. These findings are suggestive but are the first to provide a multilevel analysis of nonprofit partnership formation and evolution.

Marginality and team building in collaborative crowdsourcing

Online Information Review, 2020

PurposeExisting studies on crowdsourcing have focused on analyzing isolated contributions by indi... more PurposeExisting studies on crowdsourcing have focused on analyzing isolated contributions by individual participants and thus collaboration dynamics among them are under-investigated. The value of implementing crowdsourcing in problem solving lies in the aggregation of wisdom from a crowd. This study examines how marginality affects collaboration in crowdsourcing.Design/methodology/approachWith population level data collected from a global crowdsourcing community (openideo.com), this study applied social network analysis and in particular bipartite exponential random graph modeling (ERGM) to examine how individual level marginality variables (measured as the degree of being located at the margin) affect the team formation in collaboration crowdsourcing.FindingsSignificant effects of marginality are attributed to collaboration skills, number of projects won, community tenure and geolocation. Marginality effects remain significant after controlling for individual level and team level ...

Global Media and China, 2016

Anthropogenic Climate Change (climate change or global warming that is caused by human activity) ... more Anthropogenic Climate Change (climate change or global warming that is caused by human activity) is considered to be one of the key global concerns moving forward this century. The ongoing flow of communication around an issue can be seen as a co-production of strategic messaging that encompasses the voice of multiple stakeholders who have differing narratives that evolve over time. Individuals, governments, businesses, international agencies, and other organizations see themselves as key stakeholders in these evolving stories, and all are trying to develop their own visions and hopes for the future. This article suggests that many of these voices are engaged in a version of "ecological modernization," a narrative that attempts to develop a win-win discourse of economic growth in conjunction with environmental sustainability under the premise of "doing well by doing good." Data are from social media platforms in the Chinese language that are analyzed through topic and narrative analysis.

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 2017

This study applied collective action theories and network theories to examine the information sha... more This study applied collective action theories and network theories to examine the information sharing patterns among Twitter users to obtain sociopolitical legitimacy of their collective goal. The role of Twitter in facilitating private–public boundary crossing was defined in relation to main challenges of collective action. The hypotheses and research question were examined using Twitter data collected from an online campaign, which was created to bring about the release of a detained Syrian activist. Network analysis results showed significant geographic homophily effect, that is, participants located in the same region tended to share information with each other. In addition, the results indicated that more influential Twitter users tended to connect with less influential users to help spread information on the movement. Further content analysis showed that to better mobilize potential collective action participants, Twitter users utilized strategies to draw attention from citize...

Green public diplomacy and global governance: The evolution of the U.S–China climate collaboration network, 2008–2014

Public Relations Review, 2017

Abstract In this study, we examined U.S and China’s participation in the global climate governanc... more Abstract In this study, we examined U.S and China’s participation in the global climate governance networks and the structure and evolution of these networks evolved around the two nations between 2008 and 2014. The study yielded a number of significant findings. First, the U.S-China climate governance network has a centralized structure. Second, the Chinese and U.S governments were able to build public diplomatic relationships with a diverse group of organizations. Tightly connected communities have emerged in this network. Third, the driving force behind the U.S-China climate governance network gradually shifted from a government-driven network to a business/NGO-driven network. Theoretical and practical implications for public diplomacy were also discussed.

Online Information Review, 2016

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the use of Twitter hashtag as a strategy to... more Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the use of Twitter hashtag as a strategy to enhance the visibility and symbolic power of social movement-related information. It examined how characteristics of hashtag drove information virality during a networked social movement. Design/methodology/approach-Twitter data from two days during the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011 were collected. With network analysis, the authors identified popular hashtag types and examined hashtag co-occurrence patterns during the two contrasting movement days. It also provides a comparative analysis of how major types of viral hashtag may play different roles depending on different movement cycles. Findings-The authors found that the role of hashtag influencing information virality may vary based on the context of the tweets. For example, movement participants applied more strategic hashtag combinations during the unexpected event day to reach different social circles. Consistent patterns were identified in mobilizing influential actors such as public figures. Different use patterns of media outlet hashtag were found across the two days. Originality/value-Implications on how hashtag type and event dynamics may shape hashtag co-occurrence patterns were discussed.

Journal of Community Psychology, 2016

This study applies an ecological perspective to the context of community-based participatory rese... more This study applies an ecological perspective to the context of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Specifically, it examines how endogenous and exogenous factors influence the dynamics of CBPR partnerships, including the tendency toward reciprocity and transitivity, the organizational type, the level of resource sufficiency, the level of organizational influence, and the perceived CBPR effect on organizations. The results demonstrate that network structure is related to the selection and retention of interorganizational networks over time, and organizations of the same type are more likely to form partnerships with each other. It shows that the dynamics of the CBPR initiative presented in this article were driven by the structure of the interorganizational networks rather than their individual organizational attributes. Implications for sustaining CBPR partnerships are drawn from the findings. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is defined as "a collaborative approach to research that democratically involves community participants and researchers in one or more phases of the research process" (Nation, Bess, Voight, Perkins & Juarez, 2011, p. 90). In public health, there is a growing recognition that CBPR is a promising approach to bridge the enduring divide between scientific research and community effect, thus facilitating the translation of research findings into changes in practice and policy (

The Value of Freedom of Expression and Information on Countries’ Human Rights Performance: A Cross-National Longitudinal Study

Mass Communication and Society, 2016

The current study explores the influence of communication variables on human rights protection. T... more The current study explores the influence of communication variables on human rights protection. The effects of international and domestic mass communication and digital media were assessed among global social, economic, and political factors. The statistical analyses on a sample of 101 nation states over the most recent decade reveal several important findings: (a) top-down, internationally initiated human rights discourse and monitoring were not as effective as bottom-up, domestically initiated human rights dialogues; (b) access to the Internet and access to a mobile phone have different effects on human rights performance, and Internet availability played an especially important role; (c) economic development, political system, and population size are powerful predictors of nations’ human rights performance, but a large population size diminishes the effect of economic development; and (d) economic development can moderate the effect of political context on human rights performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.