Social Media Enabled Public Value Creation for A Saudi Arabian Municipality: A Critical Realism Paradigm Perspective

Globally, government organizations including local government agencies have become progressively interested in using social media applications to open new venues of interactions with citizens. Due to the nature of social media applications in terms of users’ ability to generate content, a higher level of engagement is expected to take place for not only to deliver public services but also to design as well as render innovative public services. Despite the growth in literature on social media, there is still a limited understanding on what mechanisms should be employed to create public value by using social media applications. This study therefore aims to identify the causal mechanisms and other enabling other conditions that jointly explain public value creation using social media applications. To address this concern, we report on the development of a model to investigate public value creation using social media applications. The model has been empirically evaluated using a qualitative case study in a large Saudi Arabian Municipality from a critical realism perspective. The model and empirical evidence together contribute towards establishing a theoretical foundation for research into the impact of social media applications for public value creation. In addition, municipality managers can learn useful lessons drawing on our findings. The study also presents a methodological contribution to social media research by providing insights into the application of critical realism ontology and methodology for assessing public value creation through the use of social media applications.