Web_2.0 and five years since: How the combination of technological and organizational initiatives influences an organization's long-term Web_2.0 performance

The arrival of social and collaborative software applications (e.g., Facebook and LinkedIn), known as Web_2.0 applications, has provided an opportunity for consumers to express their opinions and knowledge. While consumers use Web_2.0 applications on a daily basis, organizations are struggling to embrace fully functioning Web_2.0 applications for their businesses. The types of initiatives for Web_2.0 and how they affect an organization's use of various Web_2.0 applications are investigated from a long-term perspective. The organizational supports and the efforts needed to implement Web_2.0 applications do not reveal their consequences immediately, so a term of five years between the measure of initiatives and their consequences is considered, and then the results of those organizational efforts are tracked. The initiatives are measured at the building stage of Web_2.0 (i.e., 2009) and performance is measured at a point when the adoption of Web_2.0 has matured (i.e., 2014). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.