Identity construction in social media: a study on blogging continuance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Trusted online identities in social media are viable sources of information in the digital world. Among different types of social media, blog continues to play important roles in promoting social commerce and social interactions through the development and maintenance of trusted online identities. This study examines factors that influence bloggers’ intentions to continue blogging. From the social identity perspective, we suggest that identity confirmation, reflecting the congruence between identity expectation and perceived identity performance in blogging, is a primary driver of blogging continuance intention. Integrating the social identity theory, the expectation-confirmation theory, and the literature on habit, we develop a model to show that identity confirmation influences satisfaction with blogging and habit of blogging, and the latter two factors influence continuance intention. An empirical test of 165 Taiwanese bloggers confirmed the expectations. A post hoc analysis further shows that the effect of identity confirmation on blogging continuance intention is mediated by satisfaction and habit, highlighting the critical role of bloggers’ ex-post experience in the linkage between their ex-ante motivation of identity construction and blogging continuance intention.