The Elon Musk effect: How community initiative spending impacts earned social media valuation

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Abstract

This research study measures Uber’s community support initiatives’ return on investment (ROI). The company examined is Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), which donates time and resources to support communities in need after natural disasters or lack social support. This study will take a quantitative approach by measuring the value of Uber’s community support initiatives’ earned media. The research will use a case study analysis to investigate how companies like Uber generate and assess the ROI of their social enterprise investments. This research is timely as it speaks to the current discourse on practical ways for businesses to create social impact and how to measure that impact. In addition, the research will use a combination of primary and secondary sources. This study will collect primary data through social media, and the secondary data will come from media valuation indices and sentiment analysis. The findings of this study will have implications for both Uber and other companies that engage in community support initiatives. For Uber, this study will provide insights into how the company can optimize its community support initiatives to generate the most significant ROI. For other companies, this study will serve as a case study for effectively measuring the ROI of community support initiatives.

Keywords: Instagram, Social Media, Managerial Accounting, Earned Media, Strategy, Uber

Authors’ individual contribution: The Author is responsible for all the contributions to the paper according to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) standards.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements: This research would not have been possible without the exceptional support of the dissertation Research Chair Dr. Tiffany Schuster at Indiana Wesleyan University. Her knowledge, enthusiasm, and diligence have inspired this work. The Author appreciates colleagues at Methodist University for their encouragement. Additionally, the Author would like to express gratitude to Mr. Dan Williams and LifeRaft Navigator. This research would not have been possible without their willingness to share their experiences and knowledge. Finally, the Author would like to thank Vivian for her support and encouragement during the completion of this project.

JEL Classification: M40, M41, Z33, G32, O32

Received: 06.06.2022
Accepted: 28.09.2022
Published online: 30.09.2022

How to cite this paper: Akpan, M. (2022). The Elon Musk effect: How community initiative spending impacts earned social media valuation. Risk Governance and Control: Financial Markets & Institutions, 12(3), 34–48. https://doi.org/10.22495/rgcv12i3p3