Sharing Behavior in Social Networking Websites: The Two Dimensions

1. Sharing Behavior in Social Networking Websites: The Two Dimensions Mohammad Salehan Department of ITDS University of North Texas

2. Overview • Introduction • Literature review • Research model and hypotheses • Methodology • Discussion • Conclusion

3. Introduction • Social networking sites (SNS) are communication channels • Recent concern about trust in SNSs • Previous work on the effect of trust on SNSs • TAM-based • Subjects are the outsiders • Concentrated on the intention to use • What’s the effect of trust on the insiders?

4. Sharing Behavior in SNSs • Two dimensions from the perspective of the degree of information sharing • Sharing regularity • The width dimension • The frequency of sharing information • Sharing density • The depth dimension • The degree of private information shared by a SNS user

5. Dimensions of Sharing behavior

6. Objectives • Propose a research model describing two dimensions of sharing behavior in social networking sites • Empirical validation of the proposed research model using data collected from SNS users • Provide insights regarding SNS users’ sharing behavior and its antecedents

7. Literature Review

8. Literature Review

9. Literature Review

10. Literature Review

11. Theory of Reasoned Action

12. Research Model

13. Measurement • Survey • 7-item Likert scale • Social trust: Valenzuela et al. (2009) • Trust in SNS: Fogel & Nehmad (2009) • Attitude toward sharing and subjective norm: Bock et al. (2005) • Sharing density and sharing regularity: Young & and Quan-Haase(2009)

14. Subjects • 126 undergraduate students • Final sample count: 117 • Usable sample rate: 93% • 67% male

15. Reliability Analysis

16. Reliability Analysis

17. Analysis & Results

18. Implications for Theory • Identification two dimensions of users’ sharing behavior in SNS context • Application of a well-known theory (TRA) to determine SNS users’ sharing activity • Use both social trust & trust in website simultaneously to predict SNS users’ sharing behavior

19. Implications for Practice • Finding different trust-making mechanisms to increase SNS users’ trust • Working toward improving attitude toward sharing in SNS users • Increase SNS activity to increase information disclosure

20. Limitations • Undergraduate student sample • Single major students • 67% of respondents were male • Low cultural diversity sample • New constructs with low Cronbach’s alpha

21. Future Research • Using better sample • Different age and education groups • Different cultures and countries • Check the effect of demographic attributes • Factors affecting trust in website • Factors affecting attitude toward sharing • Incorporation of privacy in the model

22. Conclusion • The study of sharing behavior of user in SNS environment • Two dimensions of SNS sharing behavior • The effect of social trust, trust in SNS, and attitude on two dimensions of SNS sharing behavior • The Effect of sharing regularity on sharing density