Playing with masks: Fragmentation and continuity in the presentation of self in an occupational online forum

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the presentation of self of participants in occupational online forums.

Design/methodology/approach

Interpretation of more than 300 profiles of participants to a banking‐related occupational online forum based on Goffman's seminal analysis of presentation of self and on the literature on mystification and fragmentation in virtual environments.

Findings

Contributors to the occupational online forum adopted one of several main categories of profiles. These categories differed in the degree of detail with which profiles were filled and showed that forum users chose a certain degree of mystification or de‐mystification for their profile. The presentation of self in the online occupational forum was related to the presentation in offline environments, such as in the workplace as well as to other online contexts, such as in electronic chats. The categories of profiles were also associated with strikingly different registration dates and number of posts per year and per contributor.

Research limitations/implications

The research analyzed only the profiles of contributors to the online forum, but not their motivations or posts.

Practical implications

Employees and employers should hone their ability to present online information about themselves and to interpret the virtual image(s) others present.

Originality/value

This paper covers: grounded categorization of adopted fronts in occupational online forums; conceptualization of the presentation of self in online environments as related to the participation of multiple online and offline social contexts; identification of simultaneous processes of fragmentation and continuity at play in online forums through their participants' presentation of self.

Citation

Vaast, E. (2007), "Playing with masks: Fragmentation and continuity in the presentation of self in an occupational online forum", Information Technology & People, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 334-351. https://doi.org/10.1108/09593840710839789