Research team

Expertise

Wannes Heirman (Ph.D) is a postdoctoral researcher and professor affiliated with the University of Antwerp and the Artesis-Plantijn Hogeschool Antwerp. His research interests include various areas (for example, online privacy and cyberbullying). He has already published extensively on these topics in internationally peer-reviewed journals. An overview of his research profile and publications can be found on the website of the University of Antwerp. Wannes Heirman is also involved in various international research projects, including the World Internet Project (WIP). He was also involved in the two most recent publications of the Belgian Observatory for the Rights on the Internet ("Cyberbullying of minors" and "E-marketing and minors"). He recently broadened his research interest by joining as a senior researcher in the GIDZ ("Guest Orientation In De Zorg") project at the AP University of Applied Sciences and by focusing on user research on 360 ° video and VR for the multidisciplinary Show & Tell project.

Capital Market Effects of Information Dissemination on Social Media. 01/10/2016 - 30/09/2020

Abstract

This project will investigate the capital market consequences of firms disseminating information through social media channels. The use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter is proliferating at an incredible pace. Many firms nowadays make use of social media as an additional channel to communicate with customers and (potential) investors. Despite the explosion of firm and investor use of social media, academic interest in the potential capital market consequences of firms' social media usage has been very limited. This research project is motivated by the relative paucity of academic research on this topic, and by the shortcomings of the few prior studies that have been conducted in this area. Therefore, the first objective of the proposed research project is to focus on a sample of firm-generated (rather than user-generated) social media messages from a broad sample of firms. As a second objective this research project will examine the capital market effects of the tone and readability of such firm-generated social media messages (as opposed to merely focusing on the number of such messages). The third objective of the research project is to account for the interactive nature of social media (i.e. users can redistribute firm-generated social media messages) when considering capital market consequences. In order to achieve these aims, the proposed research project will employ cross-sectional regressions and event studies to analyze the "tweets" (i.e. messages on Twitter) of all S&P 1500 firms.

Researcher(s)

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

  • Research Project

Examining the parent-child communication regarding online contact risks 01/09/2015 - 30/03/2017

Abstract

The project collects data about the parent-child communication regarding internet use and online contact risks, such as for instance sexting (i.e., the sharing of sexual pictures by means of mobile phone or other online devices and applications) and cyberbullying (bullying via the internet or mobile phone). Also the possible preventative and/or curative measures taken by parents in the context of these risks are considered. The research project is a collaboration between Odisee and University of Antwerp. The following researchers are involved: Dr. Wannes Heirman, Prof. dr. Michel Walrave, Prof. dr. Koen Ponnet, dr. Katrien Symons, drs. Kathleen Emmery and drs. Griet Frère.

Researcher(s)

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

  • Research Project