Online social networks (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and the like) have become truly significant new phenomena in human communication and interaction patterns and may have a profound impact in the way ...people communicate and connect with each other. In this study, the decision to use an online social network is conceptualized as intentional social action and the relative impact of the three modes of social influence processes (compliance, internalization, and identification) on intentional social action to use (collective intention) is examined. An empirical study of Facebook users (
n
=
389) found that collective intention to use a social networking site is determined by both subjective norm and social identity. Further, social identity is found to be a second-order latent construct comprised of cognitive, evaluative, and affective (first-order) components. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
While much of the current literature tends to focus on the direct effect of social influence on consumer online shopping behavior, our study drew heavily on social influence theory and argued for an ...alternative theory focusing on the moderating role of social influence. In particular, we explored how positive messages in online discussion forums may affect consumers’ decisions to shop online. We used a laboratory experiment in which the treatment group was required to read positive messages about online shopping experience in an online discussion forum. Positive social influence was found to reinforce the relationship between beliefs about and attitude toward online shopping, as well as the relationship between attitude and intention to shop. We believe our alternative theory provides new insight into the complex processes through which social influence is brought to bear on consumers’ online shopping decisions. Implications of our work are discussed.
Social media harassment, a cyberbullying behavior, poses a serious threat to users and platform owners of social media. In this paper, we contextualize the bystander intervention framework and ...reporting literature to social media in order to understand why bystanders report social media harassment. Our contextualized intervention framework focuses on three sociotechnical aspects—the online social environment, characteristics of the technology platform, and their interplay—that explain bystander reporting on social media platforms. We tested the model using data gathered from active Facebook users. Our findings direct practitioners’ attention to the role of the platform in encouraging bystanders to help stop social media harassment. For policy makers, our findings direct attention to supporting programs that encourage social media users to feel responsible for reporting harassment and making transparent the outcomes of reporting social media harassment using anonymous reporting tools. For platform owners, our findings direct attention to investing in tools that enable anonymous reporting, to fostering a climate that encourages reporting, and to ensuring that all users understand that reporting social media harassment results in swift, effective responses from platform owners. Taken together, we believe our research offer insight into how to build safer and secure social media platforms.
Social media harassment, a cyberbullying behavior, poses a serious threat to users and platform owners of social media. A growing body of research suggests involving bystanders in interventions to combat deviant behaviors. In this paper, we contextualize the bystander intervention framework and reporting literature to social media in order to understand why bystanders report social media harassment. Our contextualized intervention framework focuses on three sociotechnical aspects—the online social environment, characteristics of the technology platform, and their interplay—that explain bystander reporting on social media platforms. We tested the model using data gathered from 291 active Facebook users. We found that four contextualized factors, (1) perceived emergency of the social media harassment incident, (2) perceived responsibility to report, (3) perceived self-efficacy in using built-in reporting functions, and (4) perceived outcome effectiveness of built-in reporting functions for tackling social media harassment, shaped bystanders’ willingness to intervene against social media harassment. In addition, we showed that perceived anonymity of the reporting system counterbalances the negative influence of the presence of others on bystanders’ willingness to intervene. For research, we contribute to the cyberbullying literature by offering a novel sociotechnical explanation of mechanisms that shape bystanders’ willingness to report social media harassment. For practice, we offer insight into how to build safer and secure social media platforms for all users.
Employees’ nonwork use of information technology (IT), or cyberslacking, is of growing concern due to its erosion of job performance and other negative organizational consequences. Research on ...cyberslacking antecedents has drawn on diverse theoretical perspectives, resulting in the lack of a cohesive explanation of cyberslacking. Further, prior studies have generally overlooked IT-specific variables. To address cyberslacking problems in organizations, as well as research gaps in the literature, we used a combination of a literature-based approach and a qualitative inquiry to develop a model of cyberslacking that includes a 2×2 typology of antecedents. The proposed model was tested and supported in a three-wave field study of 395 employees in a U.S. Fortune-100 organization. This study organizes antecedents from diverse research streams and validates their relative impact on cyberslacking, thus providing a cohesive theoretical explanation of cyberslacking. This study also incorporates contextualization (i.e., IT-specific factors) into theory development and enriches the IS literature by examining the nonwork aspects of IT use and their negative consequences to organizations. In addition, the results provide practitioners with insights into the nonwork use of IT in organizations, particularly regarding how they can take organizational action to mitigate cyberslacking and maintain employee productivity.
Past research in the area of information systems acceptance has primarily focused on initial adoption under the implicit assumption that IS usage is mainly determined by intention. While plausible in ...the case of initial IS adoption, this assumption may not be as readily applicable to continued IS usage behavior since it ignores that frequently performed behaviors tend to become habitual and thus automatic over time. This paper is a step forward in defining and incorporating the "habit" construct into IS research. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to explore the role of habit and its antecedents in the context of continued IS usage. Building on previous work in other disciplines, we define habit in the context of IS usage as the extent to which people tend to perform behaviors (use IS) automatically because of learning. Using recent work on the continued usage of IS (IS continuance), we have developed a model suggesting that continued IS usage is not only a consequence of intention, but also of habit. In particular, in our research model, we propose IS habit to moderate the influence of intention such that its importance in determining behavior decreases as the behavior in question takes on a more habitual nature. Integrating past research on habit and IS continuance further, we suggest how antecedents of behavior/behavioral intention as identified by IS continuance research relate to drivers of habitualization. We empirically tested the model in the context of voluntary continued WWW usage. Our results support the argument that habit acts as a moderating variable of the relationship between intentions and IS continuance behavior, which may put a boundary condition on the explanatory power of intentions in the context of continued IS usage. The data also support that satisfaction, frequency of past behavior, and comprehensiveness of usage are key to habit formation and thus relevant in the context of IS continuance behavior. Implications of these findings are discussed and managerial guidelines presented.
The rise of social media has facilitated consumer social interactions. Many product-focused online social platforms have included design features that can convey more information about product ...quality as well as the credibility of the members of the social community. Drawing on information signaling theory, we empirically examine how the two social information cues frequently found on online social communities, action-based social information (i.e., peer consumer purchase) and opinion-based social information (i.e., peer consumer review), influence consumer purchase decisions. We also explore the moderating role of consumer characteristics, consumer engagement and consumer expertise. Analyzing panel data (n=39,897) collected from a popular online beauty community, we found that consumer purchase decisions are indeed influenced by the two social information cues and that action-based social information is more influential than opinion-based social information. Furthermore, our results show that both consumer engagement and consumer expertise play an important moderating role in consumer purchase decisions, albeit in opposite direction: Whereas consumer engagement exerts a positive moderating effect, consumer expertise is found to have a negative moderating effect. This study contributes to existing literature by providing an evaluation on the signaling role of online social community features in consumer purchase decisions. The results offer important and interesting insights to IS research and practice.
Cyberdeviance, intentional use of information technology (IT) in the workplace that is contrary to the explicit and implicit norms of the organization and that threatens the well-being of the ...organization and/or its members, is an important research stream that has gained attention in academia and industry. Prior studies have treated different forms of cyberdeviance as different phenomena, resulting in a lack of a collective underlying conceptualization of cyberdeviance. This work inductively and empirically derives a typology of cyberdeviance with 439 respondents across three phases. Our results suggest that cyberdeviance varies along 3 dimensions: cyberdeviant behaviors that are minor versus serious; cyberdeviant behaviors that target individuals versus organizations; and cyberdeviant behaviors that require low versus high technical skill. We thus provide a comprehensive framework that fosters a logical linkage of various research programs related to cyberdeviance to guide future research investigation. The typology will help managers to distinguish different cyberdeviant behaviors and implement suitable interventions depending on the behavior.
Recent developments in information and communication technology have blurred the line between the workplace and the home. This can have a negative influence on employees' well‐being and thus has ...gained increasing attention from academics and practitioners. In this study, we developed a research model based on the transactional perspective of stress and the challenge–hindrance stressor framework. We defined the two dimensions of work–family conflict as the perceptual stress resulting from a chronic challenge and hindrance technostressors, which ultimately affect employees' satisfaction in both the work and family domains. We tested our model using a three‐wave time‐lagged survey study with data collected from 268 employees. Challenge and hindrance technostressors had different effects on these two main forms of work–family conflict (time‐based and strain‐based) but further induced negative effects on both job and family satisfaction. Overall, we make both scientific and practical contributions to the fields of work‐related technology use and work–family conflict.
The growth and popularity of online social networks has created a new world of collaboration and communication. More than a billion individuals around the world are connected and networked together ...to create, collaborate, and contribute their knowledge and wisdom. Despite the importance of online social networks, there is relatively little theory-driven empirical research available to address this new type of communication and interaction phenomena. In this paper, we explored the factors that drive students to use online social networks (e.g., Facebook). Specifically, we conceptualized the use of online social networks as intentional social action and we examined the relative impact of social influence, social presence, and the five key values from the uses and gratification paradigm on We-Intention to use online social networks. An empirical study of Facebook users (
n
=
182) revealed that We-Intention to use online social networks is strongly determined by social presence. Among the five values, social related factors had the most significant impact on the intention to use. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
•This study examines the role of inconsistent reviews in online shopping decision.•We examine its moderating effect and gender differences in a trust-based model.•Cognitive trust affects emotional ...trust, which further leads to purchase intention.•Emotional trust affects purchase intention more in the inconsistent review context.•The moderating effect of inconsistent reviews is stronger for female consumers.
The prevalence of social media has provided consumers with many opportunities to post online reviews on a wide range of products on the Internet. In this study, we attempt to investigate the moderating effect of inconsistent reviews (i.e., a mix of positive and negative reviews) on consumers’ purchase decision. We further examine whether the effect will differ from female to male consumers.
We explain the moderating effect and its gender differences based on the theory of reasoned action, trust literature, and information processing literature. The research hypotheses are empirically tested in a laboratory experiment using structural equation modeling approach. Our findings show that consumers’ cognitive trust to online retailers affects emotional trust, which further leads to purchase intention. When consumers are exposed to inconsistent reviews, the influence of emotional trust on purchase intention is significantly stronger. Moreover, the moderating effect of inconsistent reviews is stronger for female consumers than for male consumers. We expect that this study can enrich the understanding of how inconsistent reviews play a role in consumers’ online shopping decision. Online retailers may apply our findings and leverage the influence of online consumer reviews in social media. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.
PDF
