Examining Knowledge Sharing Behavior on SNS from an Impression Management Perspective

Abstract

We examined how knowledge sharing behavior on social network sites is associated with impression management motivations as knowledge sharing can be regarded as a self-representation behavior that people perform to impress others. We collected data through an online survey in which 705 respondents participated. To answer the research questions and test hypotheses, a set of hierarchical regression models were employed. We found that both motivation for impression management and the explanatory variables of self-determination theory played important roles in explaining knowledge sharing behavior on Facebook. However, the explanatory variables of self-determination theory were positively associated with the dependent variable, whereas motivations for impression management were negatively associated. We further found that the exact relationship between the motivation to impress others and knowledge sharing varied according to the topic of the knowledge that people shared on Facebook. That is, impression management motivation played a more negative role for topics that require more expertise, such as “politics,” “economics,” and “health” topics, than for more casual topics. This suggests that people might have greater fear of negative evaluation when they are considering posts related to “politics,” “economics,” and “health” topics.