Huawei Knowledge Transfer in Africa

Corporate Communication and Users’ Responses on Social Networks

Journal article (2023)

Authors

S. Calzati Urban Data Science - Architecture and the Built Environment
Research Group
Urban Data Science (Architecture and the Built Environment) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2023 S. Calzati
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17427665231156691
Kenya China Social networks Knowledge transfer Sub-Saharan Africa Corporate communication Huawei ICTs
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Published Date

2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Department

Urbanism

Research Group

Urban Data Science

Abstract

This article focuses on the launch by the Chinese company Huawei of ICT academies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and Kenya especially. Existing literature shows contrasting findings concerning the impact of such formation and recruitment centres. Through high-level thematic and sentiment analyses, this article examines various Huawei accounts on social networking sites (SNSs) – that is, Facebook and Twitter – in order to better assess: (1) the kind of online corporate communication unfolded by the company with particular regard to these centres; and (2) how the advertising of such centres is perceived by users. The results suggest that Huawei’s online corporate requires better fine-tuning with local SNSs’ users.