Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking Completes Another Milestone

Abstract

I am pleased to bring you the 2010 December issue of CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Not only does this issue mark the completion of another successful and informative year, it also marks one full year of publication under the Journal’s new title and expanded scope that lead to the official inclusion of the rapidly growing field of social networking. During this year, the Journal has undergone several changes. It is now ranked 5th out of 54 in the ‘‘Communication’’ category of the JCR Social Sciences Edition and its Impact Factor* has climbed from 1.295 to 1.591. In addition, there have been several changes to the Journal’s Editorial Board. Long time members Giuseppe Riva, Ph.D., and Stephane Bouchard, Ph.D., have become the Journal’s new European Editor and Associate Editor respectively, and for the first time, we have now included an Associate Editor from Asia. I am pleased to welcome Chia-Wen Tsai, Ph.D., from Ming Chuan University, Taiwan. Finally, we have enlarged our board to include several new members with expanded areas of expertise, reflecting the new scope of the Journal, and I bid them a warm welcome. This month’s articles follow five separate themes. The first of these is technology adoption and research. In their paper, researchers Sanford and Oh examine the role of user resistance to change in shaping users’ information technology adoption and usage behaviors. They postulate that resistance not only has a direct negative effect on IT usage, but also biases users when it comes to perceived usefulness and intention to use in a negative manner. This study enhances previous research in the area by demonstrating the importance of previously ignored inhibiting factors, establishing user resistance as an important construct to consider in IT usage research. Later in the issue, Hoerger addresses the problem of participant dropout in Internet-mediated research. Though this type of research allows for the recruitment of large participant samples, it does bring up technical, ethical, and methodological issues for researchers. The results of this study hold ramifications for study design considerations for investigators conducting Internet-mediated studies. Next is texting and cell-phone use. In their article, Jin and Park examine how interpersonal motives (such as affection, loneliness, and inclusion) motivate people to text and make calls on their cell phones. In addition, they explore how faceto-face interaction influences cell-phone use. Along the same lines, Junco, Merson, and Salter study how gender, ethnicity, and income level affect cell-phone ownership and use and instant messaging among college students. Because campus officials are increasingly relying on these technologies to communicate with students, the researchers aim to determine how best to reach the student population. Following in the tradition of the Journal, several papers in this issue address Internet misuse. Seigfried-Spellar and Rogers attempt to identify and understand the personality characteristics of female consumers of Internet Child Pornography (ICP). Traits examined include neuroticism, hedonism, and race as they relate to ICP consumption. Later, Stieger and Burger highlight the role of self-esteem in Internet addiction. As previous research has often found that people suffering from certain clinical disorders possess low explicit self-esteem while at the same time displaying high implicit self-esteem (a phenomenon called damaged self-esteem), the authors investigate whether the same might be true for those suffering from Internet addiction. First in the Rapid Communications section is an article examining the relationships between the online lifestyles of South Korean students and their tendency toward Internet addiction and level of cyber ethics. Lee’s preliminary study reveals that Internet users impose different meanings and values on their Internet experiences and these contribute to their behaviors online. Other articles are centered around online role-playing games. In the first article of this issue, Yeh presents information on design collaboration between consumers and developers in online role-playing games. The study explores how consumers’ prior experience affects their participation in and evaluation of these collaborations. Findings indicate that for the process to be successful, the potential market-segment focus should be on knowledgeable consumers who accept such products readily. Later, Han et al. report changes in brain activity between baseline and after six weeks of Internet video-game play. The researchers hypothesized that subjects with high levels of self-reported craving for Internet videogame play would have increased activity in the prefrontal cortex. The relationship between brain changes observed in this study and those observed in brains in the early stages of addiction are discussed. Next, Jin and Lee explore the possible uses of interactive 3-D virtual environments (like Second Life) for effective e-health marketing and e-brand management. Their study examines the effects of the regulatory fit that consumers experience in interactive e-health marketing on their brand satisfaction and brand trust.