Self-disclosure in social networking sites: The role of perceived cost, perceived benefits and social influence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative impacts of perceived cost, perceived benefits, and social influence on self-disclosure behaviors in social networking sites under an integrated theoretical framework. Design/methodology/approach – Building upon social exchange theory and privacy calculus theory, an integrated model was developed. The model was tested empirically using a sample of 405 social networking site’s users. Users were required to complete a survey regarding self-disclosure behaviors in Facebook. Findings – The results indicate that social influence is the factor which exhibits the strongest effect on self-disclosure in social networking sites, followed by perceived benefits. Surprisingly, perceived privacy risk does not have any significant impact on self-disclosure. Research limitations/implications – The results inform researchers about the importance to incorporate social influence factors and cultural factors into future online self-disclosure study. Practical impl...

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