Search results

Motivating users to revisit a social networking site (SNS) by developing a long-term relationship with them is critical for SNS operators to enhance market control and competitiveness. By conceptualizing loyalty intention as an indicator of the long-term relationship, the present study, based on uses and gratification (U&G) theory, aims to explore the role played by online intimacy development with respect to loyalty intention when individuals have gained gratifications through using the SNS.

The study used a questionnaire measuring six types of Facebook gratifications as well as measuring self-disclosure breadth, self-disclosure depth, intimacy with Facebook, intimacy with Facebook friends and loyalty intention. Data, collected from the University of Economics in Vietnam, were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach.

The results support several findings: (1) the gratifications including entertainment, network extension, recognition and emotional support provided by Facebook may stimulate the users' intimacy with Facebook and/or Facebook users; (2) intimacy with Facebook and intimacy with Facebook friends facilitate users' loyalty intention; (3) having a sense of emotional support influences users to engage in self-disclosure with breadth and meaningful depth, thus leading them to develop a sense of intimacy with Facebook friends.

The study contributes to U&G research, intimacy theory and the SNS literature by offering an understanding of users' online communication self-disclosure and intimacy development, wherein the self-disclosure and intimacy stem from the users' gratifications via using specific SNS services and, in turn, create their loyalty intention toward that SNS.

The study aimed to investigate the information disclosure behavior of women bloggers who suffer from infertility by examining their self-disclosure as it relates to the anonymity patterns they adopted.

A survey was distributed to approximately 300 authors of infertility blogs, 135 bloggers answered the request to take part in the study. The survey gathered basic demographic and blogging practice data, and measured different elements of the bloggers' discursive and visual anonymity as well as their patters of self-disclosure.

Findings reveal that the majority of respondents identify themselves on their blogs and only a small percentage decided to be totally anonymous, and about half of the bloggers post actual photos of themselves and their lives. The participants reported a high rate of self-disclosure, revealing sensitive information, letting their defenses down, disclosing highly intimate details about their lives, writing openly about their infertility treatments on their blog. No significant correlation was observed between visual and discursive anonymity and the perceived self-disclosure of participants. Results show that the more anonymous the bloggers are, the more afraid they become that their blog may be read by people they know offline. On the other hand, the more identifiable the bloggers are, the more willingness they show to share the content of their journal with people they know offline. The majority of participants expressed concerns that blogging could negatively impact their lives.

This study explores an alternate explanation through the examination of the bloggers' self-disclosure patterns as they relate to the degree of anonymity adopted.

Online self-disclosure and online social support have important effects on well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the indirect effect of online social support through social networking sites (SNSs) in the link between online self-disclosure through SNSs and well-being among Vietnamese adolescents.

Using a convenience sample of 980 Vietnamese adolescents (332 men, 648 women) and three scales (the Subjective Happiness Scale, the Self-Disclosure Scale and the Two-Way Social Support Scale), this study investigated whether online self-disclosure has a direct and indirect effects on well-being when mediated by online social support.

Mediation analysis showed that online social support partially mediated the link between online self-disclosure and well-being among Vietnamese adolescents, β = 0.008, standard error = 0.004, confidence interval = [0.001, 0.017].

This study provides an important practical basis for developing interventions to improve the well-being of adolescents who use SNSs. This finding indicated that adolescents’ well-being can be enhanced through online self-disclosure and online social support.

Past research has examined the extent to which users disclose personal information on social media, but the influence of fear of missing out (FOMO) or other factors on self-disclosure has received little attention. To fill this gap in the social media literature, this paper aims to examine the interrelationships among FOMO, social media addiction and self-disclosure among young users in Kuwait. In addition, the moderating effect of tie strength on the examined relationships is explored.

A conceptual framework is developed and tested by applying two-stage structural equation modeling using AMOS to examine the results of an online survey distributed to 1,347 social media users in Kuwait, 25 years of age and younger.

Path analysis confirmed an indirect effect of FOMO on self-disclosure mediated by social media addiction. Moreover, the path between FOMO and social media addiction and the path between social media addiction and self-disclosure are moderated by users’ tie strength. That is, higher levels of FOMO are more likely to increase social media addiction and, in turn, self-disclosure activities on social media among young users with weaker ties (compared to stronger ties). Overall, the findings provide support for a moderated mediation model.

Ethicists and consumer protection agencies should increase public awareness of the danger to young users with weaker ties of over disclosing personal data on social media and developing FOMO and social media addiction. Mitigation programs are needed to assist these addicted users in gaining control over their social media behaviors, leveraging social media as a powerful social change tool and preventing further damage to their psychological well-being.

Although previous research has demonstrated that FOMO, in general, is positively correlated with self-disclosure and social media addiction, the current research provides empirical evidence that these relationships are dependent on users’ tie strength. Additionally, this paper is the first to show a paradoxical effect of tie strength on self-disclosure: tie strength enforces the positive relationship between FOMO and self-disclosure in the absence of social media addiction but weakens this relationship when social media addiction is introduced as a mediator.

Due to the growth of Facebook use, the question arises regarding which factors may influence individuals’ self-disclosure while using the site. The purpose of this paper is to examine: first, to what extent does attachment theory explain users’ self-disclosure on Facebook; second, to what extent does the social capital paradigm explain users’ self-disclosure on Facebook; third, to what extent do personality characteristics explain users’ self-disclosure on Facebook; and fourth, to what extent do demographic details explain users’ self-disclosure on Facebook.

Research was conducted in Israel and included 183 library and information science students. Participants were asked to complete the following questionnaires: personal details, Facebook use, importance of Facebook use, demographic disclosure, picture disclosure, disclosure, social capital, attachment, and personality.

The current study extends research about Facebook self-disclosure and confirms that attachment theory, as well as social capital, personality traits, and age significantly predict Facebook self-disclosure.

We should bear in mind that there are certain people who may benefit from disclosing information on Facebook, while there are others who may be at risk, because they reveal more personal information than they intended and the line between the two is fuzzy. Individuals should bear in mind that if they disclose too much information, they might become easy targets for abuse, internet predators, sexual solicitation, sexting, cyberbullying, and online harassment.

Given the growing prominence of voice-activated artificial intelligent devices (VAIs) as the strategic market-facing technology for grocery purchases, this article aims to bring together theories on anthropomorphism, trust, emotional attachment, self-connection and self-disclosure in one conceptual framework establishing that consumer–VAI relationship has significant implications for grocery purchase satisfaction and intention to repurchase using VAIs.

The study tested seven hypotheses through a survey-based approach comprising of two studies.

The study empirically supports VAI anthropomorphism and trust in VAIs as predictors of consumer–VAI emotional attachment and establishes the moderating role of consumer self-disclosure. Consumer–VAI self-connection resulting from emotional attachment results in grocery purchase satisfaction and intention to repurchase using VAIs.

The article offers a novel perspective on consumer–VAI relationships and the use of VAIs for grocery purchases. It establishes an agentic role of consumers when ordering groceries using VAIs, creating a deeper understanding of how consumer–VAI emotional attachment results in extensions of consumers’ self-identity, resulting in purchase satisfaction and repurchase intention using VAIs.

Establishing a consumer–VAI relationship, the article brings out the strategic importance of VAIs for marketers in grocery purchases and repurchases, which can be extended to other purchases.

The article offers a new perspective on establishing VAIs as strategically important market-facing devices by examining consumer relationships with VAIs and offering valuable insights on how consumer emotional attachment with VAIs results in satisfaction and intention to repurchase using VAIs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate university students’ WeChat usage during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in relation to the mediating role of online self-disclosure on their quality of friendship and well-being. A model is proposed to explain how students’ interactions occur during the lockdown and the mediatory role which self-disclosure plays in influencing their socio-psychological markup.

The research model was tested empirically through a survey conducted online with 600 research participants, comprising of university students in China.

Results in structural equation modeling show that WeChat interaction significantly correlates with the quality of friendship, online self-disclosure but not significantly correlates with well-being, but an indirect relationship was found out in the mediation analysis. There is also a significant relationship between online self-disclosure, quality of friendship and well-being. Mediation analysis shows that online self-disclosure mediates the relationship between interactions on WeChat and quality of friendship; it also mediates the relationship between WeChat interaction and well-being. In all, the results achieved in this study will significantly help provide more insights in comprehending the nuances attached to some socio-psychological aspects of WeChat and how its usage affects people during the period of crisis.

Theoretically based investigation of WeChat usage among university students and its relationship with online self-disclosure, quality of friendship and well-being is still quite scarce, thereby underscoring the needs and significance of a theoretically based study in this regard. This study tested the credibility and validity of the proposed model in the context of the recent COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in China, which is one of the first in recent times.

In this manuscript, the authors argue that those suffering from depressive symptoms are prone to experiencing bouts of unproductivity. The authors argue further that such conditions promote instances of self-disclosure regarding related symptoms in the interest of procuring workplace support, i.e. the effect of depressive symptomology on workplace support is mediated by both unproductivity and self-disclosure, in turn.

Two different online investigations were implemented to assess the accuracy of this prediction. Moreover, two different samples of organizational employees from numerous organizations were procured, such that one sample contained diagnosed individuals, whereas the other contained undiagnosed individuals (total N = 756). In general, the main analyses consisted of confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis.

Substantial statistical support was obtained for the authors' four-variable path model. Specifically, across two different investigations, a model was found in which those with depressive symptoms were unproductive, which prompted self-disclosure and thus subsequent manifestations of workplace support. Moreover, this was generally true for both diagnosed and undiagnosed individuals. Correlation coefficients and model fit indices are reported in the manuscript.

This work contributes substantially to the understanding of how depressive symptomology, self-disclosure and workplace support are interrelated within organizations. In addition, having examined these relationships using a sample of undiagnosed individuals, new insights were gained regarding a subset of the population that remains vastly understudied.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework, which identifies intrinsic, social and extrinsic gratification factors as essential individual factors influencing users’ disclosure of personal information via mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications (apps). In addition, the author has examined whether gender affects those different factors of gratification.

Data are collected via paper-based survey from university students who use MIM in the United Arab Emirates. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses that are presented in the model.

The findings show that intrinsic gratifications (entertainment and escapism) and social gratifications (social interaction) have positive effects on the depth and breadth of self-disclosure via MIM apps. Additionally, women’s self-disclosure of personal information is positively affected by social influence, while men are not influenced by this type of gratification.

The study aims to enhance the current understanding of the limited research on the uses and gratifications approach within the context of MIM apps to identify the gratifications that motivate MIM apps users to disclose personal information.

The purpose of this is to explore recipients’ reactions to co-workers’ political self-disclosure on social media and their willingness to share tacit knowledge with the disclosers. The paper aims to understand whether political self-disclosure with dissimilar value and negative valence hampers tacit knowledge sharing among co-workers in a workplace setting.

This study applies an online survey combined with the experimental vignette methodology approach to collect respondent data. Further, the study uses the partial least squares-structural equation modelling method to analyse the 144 collected responses.

This study suggests that perceived content negativity towards co-workers’ political self-disclosure has a weak and significant indirect effect on recipients’ willingness to share tacit knowledge, and that perceived value dissimilarity has an insignificant indirect effect on recipients’ willingness to share tacit knowledge.

This study is a cross-sectional research that was conducted at a public organisation, with a limited number of samples and non-probabilistic sampling method. Thus, the results of this study may be subject to bias, and the generalizability of the findings should be taken into consideration.

Although this study shows that political self-disclosure does not likely affect tacit knowledge sharing, senior management of an organisation is encouraged to educate their employees about the potential consequences of self-political disclosure embedded in information employees post in social media. The posted information may attract positive or negative perceptions from the recipient to the discloser. Therefore employees are expected to use social media properly and minimise the possibility of posting something that might trigger a negative perception or emotion from their co-workers.

Sharing topics related to political self-disclosure on social media potentially hampers tacit knowledge sharing in organisations and is relatively rare in the knowledge management literature. In particular, the existing literature bases its studies on private sector organisations. Furthermore, the empirical evidence of this study is based on an Indonesian public sector organisation, which is also relatively rare in the literature.