Abstract
This study aims to understand how the valence of self-disclosure (operationalized as the dominantly positive vs. balanced vs. dominantly negative social media posts of a future collaborator) influences first impression formation on social media. We also focus on trustworthiness as a mediator and perceived homophily as a moderator to specify the underlying mechanisms through which self-disclosure valence affects first impression formation. The results from an online experiment (N = 204) suggest that self-disclosure valence has a significant effect on perceived trustworthiness and likability when individuals evaluate an unknown future collaborator using the social media profile. Trustworthiness mediates the effect of self-disclosure valence on likability when the individuals feel that they are dissimilar or even slightly similar to strangers. At that time, individuals tend to seek cues from both self-disclosure valence and perceived homophily to form the trustworthiness perception, and the influence of self-disclosure depends on the level of perceived homophily.
Highlights
Impression formation is “a process by which an organized overall impression emerges in which single traits receive specific meanings” (Bierhoff and Klein, 1989, p. 2)
The findings show a positive relationship between trustworthiness and likability, which might have occurred because trustworthiness has a halo effect on first impressions, where limited information is given and there is a lack of previous interactions
This study builds on the findings of previous studies on self-disclosure and contributes to this area of research by integrating trustworthiness as a mediator and perceived homophily as a moderator during first impression formation that is based on self-disclosure valence in social media profiles
Summary
Impression formation is “a process by which an organized overall impression emerges in which single traits receive specific meanings” (Bierhoff and Klein, 1989, p. 2). Social media actively reconfigures the ways in which individuals socialize with other individuals (Orben and Dunbar, 2017) because users can passively consume information provided by other social media users, which is quite different from directed and reciprocated offline interaction. A common example of passive consumption in our daily life is viewing the posts of other social media users without interacting with them (Orben and Dunbar, 2017). Individuals frequently encounter strangers, and they make inferences based on the profiles of these strangers without any prior interaction (Bacev-Giles and Haji, 2017). It is crucial to understand how individuals make initial impression judgments, especially considering that it is becoming more widespread and convenient to get acquainted with a stranger based on their self-disclosure information on their social media profiles
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