"What is, Becomes What is Right": A Conceptual Framework of Newcomer Legitimacy for Online Discussion Communities

Online community newcomers can face challenges in community participation, acceptance and fostering member relationships. Consequently, a crucial behavioral strategy for community acceptance identified by previous research is legitimacy. However, current conceptions lack classification and structure, and have a narrow focus. A broader scope for investigating legitimacy is needed for improved theoretical and practical application. This research expands on newcomer legitimacy by classifying newcomer behavior in 4 parenting and cycling discussion communities using directed content analysis. The analysis developed a newcomer legitimacy conceptual framework with categories including geographical, contextual, cultural, testimonial, lurking and external legitimacy. This research offers a valuable contribution by classifying existing theory, developing new theory, and providing a conceptual framework to guide future studies of newcomer behavior.

[1]  Niki Panteli,et al.  Making an Entrance 2.0: The Linguistics of Introductory Success in Virtual Communities , 2011, 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[2]  Matthew Rowe,et al.  Modelling and Analysis of User Behaviour in Online Communities , 2011, SEMWEB.

[3]  John T. Jost,et al.  The Psychology of Legitimacy: Emerging Perspectives on Ideology, Justice, and Intergroup Relations , 2001 .

[4]  Helvi Kyngäs,et al.  The qualitative content analysis process. , 2008, Journal of advanced nursing.

[5]  Yosef Jabareen,et al.  Building a Conceptual Framework: Philosophy, Definitions, and Procedure , 2009 .

[6]  L. Terveen,et al.  Becoming Wikipedian : Transformation of Participation in a Collaborative Online Encyclopedia , 2009 .

[7]  Morris Zelditch,et al.  Theories of legitimacy. , 2001 .

[8]  Scott A. Golder,et al.  SOCIAL ROLES IN ELECTRONIC COMMUNITIES , 2004 .

[9]  Nicola Brown,et al.  Friend or foe? An exploratory study of Australian parents' use of asynchronous discussion boards in childhood obesity. , 2014, Collegian.

[10]  Natasha Whiteman.  The De/Stabilization of Identity in Online Fan Communities , 2009 .

[11]  Ma. de la Natividad Jiménez Salas,et al.  The Conduct of Inquiry , 1967 .

[12]  Andreas C. Sonnenbichler,et al.  A Community Membership Life Cycle Model , 2010, ArXiv.

[13]  Kathleen M Griffiths,et al.  Explicit and implicit information needs of people with depression: a qualitative investigation of problems reported on an online depression support forum , 2011, BMC psychiatry.

[14]  James S. Ettema,et al.  Ways of worldmaking in Wikipedia: reality, legitimacy and collaborative knowledge making , 2014 .

[15]  Vandana Singh,et al.  Newcomer integration and learning in OSS technical support communities , 2012, CSCW.

[16]  L. Festinger.  Social pressures in informal groups : a study of human factors in housing / by Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter and Kurt Back , 1950 .

[17]  Aniket Kittur,et al.  Effectiveness of shared leadership in online communities , 2012, CSCW.

[18]  MARY K. WALSTROM,et al.  "You Know, Who's the Thinnest?": Combating Surveillance and Creating Safety in Coping with Eating Disorders Online , 2000, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[19]  Gareth R. Jones.  Socialization Tactics, Self-Efficacy, and Newcomers' Adjustments to Organizations , 1986 .

[20]  Gerardine DeSanctis,et al.  Enacting language games: the development of a sense of ‘we‐ness’ in online forums , 2009, Inf. Syst. J..

[21]  H. Blumer.  What Is Wrong with Social Theory , 1954 .

[22]  F. Huber,et al.  Segmenting cyberspace: a customer typology for the internet , 2007 .

[23]  N. Baym.  Interpreting Soap Operas and Creating Community: Inside a Computer-Mediated Fan Culture , 1993 .

[24]  Lora Arduser.  Warp and Weft: Weaving the Discussion Threads of an Online Community , 2011 .

[25]  Sanna Salanterä,et al.  Internet-based peer support for parents: a systematic integrative review. , 2014, International Journal of Nursing Studies.

[26]  Carolyn Penstein Rosé,et al.  Talk to me: foundations for successful individual-group interactions in online communities , 2006, CHI.

[27]  R. Kraut,et al.  Introductions and Questions: Rhetorical Strategies That Elicit Response in Online Communities , 2007 .

[28]  Khai N. Truong,et al.  "Welcome!": social and psychological predictors of volunteer socializers in online communities , 2013, CSCW.

[29]  Wyke Stommel,et al.  The use of conversation analysis to study social accessibility of an online support group on eating disorders , 2011, Global health promotion.

[30]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Socializing volunteers in an online community: a field experiment , 2012, CSCW.

[31]  Richard Hawkins,et al.  A Transaction Structure Approach to Assessing the Dynamics and Impacts of 'Business-to-Business' Electronic Commerce , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[32]  Fernanda B. Viégas,et al.  Newsgroup Crowds and AuthorLines: visualizing the activity of individuals in conversational cyberspaces , 2004, 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2004. Proceedings of the.

[33]  Francis M. Sim,et al.  Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors. , 1982 .

[34]  Barbara H. Kwasnik,et al.  The Role of Classification Structures in Reflecting and Building Theory , 1992 .

[35]  R. Kraut,et al.  Membership Claims and Requests: Conversation-Level Newcomer Socialization Strategies in Online Groups , 2010 .

[36]  Rosta Farzan,et al.  Guiding Newcomers’ Information Seeking in Wikipedia , 2013 .

[37]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Social roles as mechanisms for psychological need satisfaction within social groups. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[38]  Gilad Ravid,et al.  De-lurking in virtual communities: a social communication network approach to measuring the effects of social and cultural capital , 2004, 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2004. Proceedings of the.

[39]  E. Morrison,et al.  NEWCOMERS' RELATIONSHIPS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORK TIES DURING SOCIALIZATION , 2002 .

[40]  Vandana Singh,et al.  Types of newcomers in an online developer community , 2011, CSCW.

[41]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Socialization tactics in wikipedia and their effects , 2010, CSCW '10.

[42]  Djamel A. Zighed,et al.  Roles in social networks: Methodologies and research issues , 2012, Web Intell. Agent Syst..

[43]  Philip L. Isenhour,et al.  The Efficacy of Knowledge Sharing in Centralized and Self-Organizing Online Communities: Weblog Networks vs. Discussion Forums , 2009 .

[44]  S. Kiesler,et al.  Legitimacy, Authority, and Community in Electronic Support Groups , 1998 .

[45]  J. Powell,et al.  ‘Oh dear, should I really be saying that on here?’: Issues of identity and authority in an online diabetes community , 2010, Health.

[46]  Jürgen Lerner,et al.  Role Assignments , 2004, Network Analysis.

[47]  Timothy J. Dowd,et al.  Legitimacy as a Social Process , 2006 .

[48]  Ray B. Jones,et al.  Membership and Boundary Maintenance on an Online Self-Harm Forum , 2011, Qualitative health research.

[49]  Abby McCormack.  Individuals With Eating Disorders and the Use of Online Support Groups as a Form of Social Support , 2010, Computers, informatics, nursing : CIN.

[50]  Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva,et al.  A typology of online communities and community supporting platforms , 2001, Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[51]  David Gefen,et al.  Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[52]  Amy Jo Kim,et al.  Community Building on the Web: Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities , 2000 .

[53]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[54]  Liu Lihua.  Support Newcomer's Learning in Community of Practice: In Terms of Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 2010, 2010 International Conference on E-Business and E-Government.

[55]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[56]  T. Koole,et al.  The online support group as a community: A micro-analysis of the interaction with a new member , 2010 .

[57]  Yaneer Bar-Yam,et al.  An exploration of social identity: The geography and politics of news-sharing communities in twitter , 2012, Complex..

[58]  Anindya Ghose,et al.  Examining the Relationship Between Reviews and Sales: The Role of Reviewer Identity Disclosure in Electronic Markets , 2008, Inf. Syst. Res..

[59]  Doing ‘Race’ on the Internet: A Study of Online Parenting Communities , 2011 .

[60]  Dorit Maor,et al.  The cognitive and social processes of university students' online learning , 2007 .

[61]  J. Walther,et al.  Health Information, Credibility, Homophily, and Influence via the Internet: Web Sites Versus Discussion Groups , 2008, Health communication.

[62]  Hsiu-Fang Hsieh,et al.  Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis , 2005, Qualitative health research.

[63]  Marc A. Smith,et al.  A Conceptual and Operational Definition of 'Social Role' in Online Community , 2009, 2009 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[64]  Manju K. Ahuja,et al.  Socialization in Virtual Groups , 2003 .

[65]  Alton Yeow-Kuan Chua,et al.  Beyond knowledge sharing: interactions in online discussion communities , 2013, Int. J. Web Based Communities.