A prideful posting a day keeps admiring readers awake: voluntary bloggers in a self-construal framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study develops a self-construal framework containing both individual- and social-level variables to explain bloggers’ inner motivations to create contents voluntarily. With the aim of bridging the gaps in previous blogger-related studies, this research explores intrinsic and psychological benefits behind voluntary bloggers’ sharing behaviour via social network sites or weblogs. The proposed structural equation model is tested with survey data from 414 bloggers, and all hypotheses are statistically supported. The findings indicate that voluntary bloggers’ involvement results from self-reassurance, which is induced by a self-construction process comprising both independent and interdependent selves. This study enriches extant literature on bloggers’ behaviour by incorporating self-construal theory into the sphere of creating contents. In essence, the self-construal model paves the way for future comprehensive psychological frameworks, which can help researchers and practitioners deepen their understanding of blogger enthusiasm in self-building.