Self-disclosure Practices Research Articles

Self-Disclosure on Professional Social Networking Sites: A Privacy Calculus Perspective

The prevalence of social networking sites (SNS) raises questions about what information is private and what is not. Some users willingly share information on the site expecting some benefits, but others may be reluctant to do so due to fear of losing control of the shared information. To better understand the delicate relationship between privacy, perceived benefits, and self-disclosure, this study examines the antecedents of self-disclosure behavior on professional SNS (i.e., LinkedIn). A model contextualizing privacy calculus theory combined with the trust factor was developed and evaluated using 661 quantitative data collected through a questionnaire. Then, the data was analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling method. The results show that perceived benefit (e.g., self-presentation, career advancement, professional network development, learning, and information exchange), privacy concerns, and perceived control are the factors that directly influence LinkedIn users to disclose personal information. These factors become significant predictors of self-disclosure behavior. Meanwhile, trust in LinkedIn members, perceived severity, and perceived likelihood indirectly influence self-disclosure through privacy concerns. Finally, perceived control directly influences trust in LinkedIn members and trust in the LinkedIn provider. The findings of this study help to understand SNS users' behavior, particularly self-disclosure behavior. SNS users can become more aware of the benefits and risks of their disclosure behavior, allowing them to make more informed decisions. These findings can also be helpful for SNS providers to improve product experience and strategy by effectively encouraging and facilitating self-disclosure practices.

Relationships in the Digital Age: Self-disclosure and Communication in Social Networking Sites

With the development of new technologies and rise of social media, the desire to communicate and share information is seen as a primary driver of social networking sites, where the aspect of self-disclosure becomes one of the key characteristics for interpersonal attraction. The aim of the research is to examine how people communicate, self-disclose and maintain relationships on social networking sites and to find out how the use of computer-mediated communication relates to relational development and maintenance. MTurk tool and social media posts were utilized to gather information. Statistical data analysis program SPSS was employed: confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and scale analysis and construction were performed. The investigation revealed significant differences between males and females self-disclosure practices on social networking site Facebook with outstanding differences depending upon the country of living, relationship status, perceived positive and negative rewards, benefits and satisfaction. The results of the study open path for future research within the framework of communication privacy management theory in line with the social penetration theory with an aim to analyse how self-disclosure inter-correlates with privacy concerns. Keywords: relationship; computer-mediated communication; social network sites; penetration; self-disclosure.

Personal data confidentiality of consumers of the hospitality industry services in the digital age

The issues of information confidentiality and personal data processing are extremely relevant, especially in the age of digitalization. The current state of hospitality industry services consumers perception of the modern offers using Internet technologies is analyzed in the article and the influence of various factors on the decision to provide personal data to obtain a certain level of service is determined. Bypassing confidentiality destabilizes trust between social actors, reinforces feelings of insecurity and threatens social cohesion, which is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of our societies. Legislation as well as technology can protect personal information, but sometimes they are not user-friendly or are insufficient. In online interactions, users disclose information about themselves or others, while expressing concerns about breaches of confidentiality that may arise from self-disclosure practices rather than restricting or blocking their disclosure behavior. Hospitality industry companies typically collect two types of data: subscription data, which includes consumer personal information obtained during registration for a particular service use, and transactional information obtained when a consumer pays for a product or service. A question of consumers’ choice of hospitality institutions arises according to the volume of information confidentiality collected by the institution from the services consumer. A survey of university-age respondents was conducted in order to study the factors influencing decision-making when choosing a place of accommodation and the desire of young people to maintain privacy by confrontation or the desire to share personal data on the Internet. It is found that the majority of respondents either do not worry about the further confidentiality of personal data or consider it less important compared to the possible benefits of using access to the site or mobile applications. It has been proven that in order to improve mutual understanding with clients, companies in the hospitality industry should pay attention to the ethical aspects of the collection and use of personal data of services consumers.

Preventative Nudges: Introducing Risk Cues for Supporting Online Self-Disclosure Decisions

Like in the real world, perceptions of risk can influence the behavior and decisions that people make in online platforms. Users of Social Network Sites (SNSs) like Facebook make continuous decisions about their privacy since these are spaces designed to share private information with large and diverse audiences. In particular, deciding whether or not to disclose such information will depend largely on each individual’s ability to assess the corresponding privacy risks. However, SNSs often lack awareness instruments that inform users about the consequences of unrestrained self-disclosure practices. Such an absence of risk information can lead to poor assessments and, consequently, undermine users’ privacy behavior. This work elaborates on the use of risk scenarios as a strategy for promoting safer privacy decisions in SNSs. In particular, we investigate, through an online survey, the effects of communicating those risks associated with online self-disclosure. Furthermore, we analyze the users’ perceived severity of privacy threats and its importance for the definition of personalized risk awareness mechanisms. Based on our findings, we introduce the design of preventative nudges as an approach for providing individual privacy support and guidance in SNSs.

“Losers” and “Winners”: Framing of online self-disclosure in online news media

ABSTRACTThe intensification of online disclosure of personal information, coupled with the ability to link personal information to those who disclose it, poses important questions regarding the benefits and risks associated with sharing of personal data. This article examines the manifestation of these concerns in news media. Guided by framing theory, it seeks to ascertain the prevailing frames for personal information sharing and to determine whether such framing facilitates debate on issues related to self-disclosure. Articles published in top Israeli online newspapers were analyzed (n = 609). Findings show that the individual user, the state, and corporations are framed as key actors that shape online self-disclosure practices and their outcomes. Furthermore, the individual user, while portrayed as chief actor, is seen as the weakest player.

Self-disclosure in initial interactions amongst speakers of American and Australian English

AbstractGetting acquainted with others is one of the most basic interpersonal communication events. Yet there has only been a limited number of studies that have examined variation in the interactional practices through which unacquainted persons become acquainted and establish relationships across speakers of the same language. The current study focuses on self-disclosure practices in initial interactions between first language speakers of English from Australia and the United States. It was found that while both American and Australian participants volunteered self-disclosures in the context of presentation-eliciting questions, there was a noticeable tendency for the American participants to self-disclose without being prompted by questions from the other participant. We also found that there was a tendency for the Australians to use positive assessments in response to self-disclosures less often and with a lesser degree of intensity than the American participants. These tendencies in self-disclosure practices are argued to reflect the ways in which underlying cultural premises are used by participants. However, given that a significant degree of inter-speaker and same-speaker variability was also observed, it is concluded that the study of pragmatic variation be situated on the level of interactional routines, relational dyads, and upwards that are engaged in particular social activities.

Authentic Leadership, Traditionality, and Interactional Justice in the Chinese Context

AbstractWe examine the effects of authentic leadership on subordinates in the Chinese context. Drawing on attribution processes of self-disclosure, we propose that authentic leaders engaging in self-disclosure practices cultivate subordinates’ positive feelings that their leaders like and trust them. We further explain how and why authentic leadership particularly influences highly traditional Chinese subordinates. We propose that Chinese traditionality strengthens the positive effects of authentic leadership on subordinates’ perceptions that their leader practices interactional justice, which in turn positively relates to their in-role performance, creativity, and organizational citizenship behaviour. In Study 1, we surveyed 199 employees in 47 work units from nine high-technology organizations in China. The results support the hypothesized relationships. In Study 2, we surveyed 170 employees in 46 work units from various organizations in China. The results show that authentic leadership effects remain unchanged after controlling for the effects of transformational leadership. We discuss the implications for leadership effectiveness in the Chinese context.

Authentic Leadership, Traditionality, and Interactional Justice in the Chinese Context. 真实型领导力、传统性与交互公平感在中国环境中的关系

We examine the effects of authentic leadership on subordinates in the Chinese context. Drawing on attribution processes of self-disclosure, we propose that authentic leaders engaging in self-disclosure practices cultivate subordinates' positive feelings that their leaders like and trust them. We further explain how and why authentic leadership particularly influences highly traditional Chinese subordinates. We propose that Chinese traditionality strengthens the positive effects of authentic leadership on subordinates' perceptions that their leader practices interactional justice, which in turn positively relates to their in-role performance, creativity, and organizational citizenship behaviour. In Study 1, we surveyed 199 employees in 47 work units from nine high-technology organizations in China. The results support the hypothesized relationships. In Study 2, we surveyed 170 employees in 46 work units from various organizations in China. The results show that authentic leadership effects remain unchanged after controlling for the effects of transformational leadership. We discuss the implications for leadership effectiveness in the Chinese context. 我们探讨在中国环境中真实型领导力对下属的影响。 基于自我表露的归因理论，我们认为真实型领导的自我表露行为会促使下属觉得领导信任和喜欢自己。我们解释了真实型领导力如何影响传统性高的下属，以及为何真实型领导力对较传统的下属尤其有影响力。我们认为传统性会增强真实型领导力对下属感知到的领导交互公平感的正面影响，进而促进员工的本职绩效、创造力和组织公民行为。在研究一中，我们调查了九个中国高科技企业中的47个团队里的199个员工。研究结果支持我们所假设的关系。在研究二中，我们调查了在多个中国企业中的46个团队里的170个员工。结果显示，即使控制了变革型领导力的影响，真实型领导力的效应依然存在。我们讨论了这些结果对研究中国领导力的指导意义。

Mental health nursing and the problematic of supervision as a confessional act

Mental health nurses frequently draw on self-disclosure practices within their working relationships. These 'confessional' acts can in turn be predicated on traditional assumptions of moral authority exercised by more senior colleagues. More broadly, attention has been drawn to the increasing significance of 'technologies of the self' inside neo-liberal regimes of governance. Through various forms of self-disclosure people are obliged 'to speak the truth about themselves'. By publically declaring themselves as 'fit for purpose' nurses are required to be reflexive, self-monitoring individuals, capable of constructing their own identities and biographies, and guided by expert knowledges. In this way, risk becomes a form of governance, as the individuals continually find themselves balancing risks and opportunities. Foucault's insights into the importance of 'care of the self' and 'surveillance of the self' to systems of social order and governance, such as mental health services, are significant in identifying nursing as a potential form of confessional practice. 'Reflective practice' and 'clinical supervision' are therefore 'technologies', functioning as 'modes of surveillance', and as 'confessional practices'. So 'clinical supervision' may be understood as part of a process of 'governance' that does not necessarily empower nurses, but can act to guide, correct and modify ways in which they conduct themselves.

Does Showing Off Help to Make Friends? Experimenting a Sociological Game on Self-Exhibition and Social Networks

The purpose of this study is to give an empirical glance on different forms of self-exposure on Social Network Sites (SNS). Based on a sociological on-line game, it explores the different tendencies in the self-exhibition shift and tries to find out how it is linked to different strategies in order to choose friends. In the first game, people have to select, among four ranked pictures, the one they would accept to publish on their personal webpage. In the second game, they had to choose friends by discovering, step by step, five informational attributes to their internet profile. Analysis of a sample of 12,354 French respondents shows a middle-range level of exhibition and isolates five different ways to expose oneself: Modest, Traditional Exhibition, Bodily Immodesty, Show-off and Provocative. Those different self-exhibition patterns lead to specific relational behaviors on the Internet. The study underlines socio-demographic differences (age, gender, diploma, and occupation) in self-disclosure practices and shows that exhibition on the Internet must be considered as a strategic performance.

Depressive symptomatology, youth Internet use, and online interactions: A national survey

Purpose To investigate the online communications and self-disclosure practices of youth reporting depressive symptomatology. Method The Youth Internet Safety Survey was a nationally representative telephone survey of 1501 Internet-using youth between the ages of 10 and 17 years, and one caregiver in their household. Fifty-three percent of youth participants were male and 73% were white race. The purpose of the survey was to obtain prevalence rates for unwanted sexual solicitation, harassment, and unwanted exposure to sexual material among young people online. Questions about current depressive symptomatology were also queried; this variable was defined based upon the DSM-IV definition of a major depressive episode: major depressive-like symptomatology (5+ symptoms of depression and functional impairment in at least one area); minor depressive-like symptomatology (3+ symptoms of depression); mild or no depressive symptomatology (<3 symptoms of depression). Data were cross-sectional and collected between the fall of 1999 and spring 2000. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the conditional odds of reporting DSM-IV-like major or minor depressive symptomatology vs. mild/no symptomatology given the indication of self-disclosure practices and interactions with others online. Males and females were assessed separately. Results Talking with strangers online, using the Internet most frequently for e-mailing others, and intensity of Internet use differentiated youth reporting depressive symptoms from asymptomatic peers. Report of depressive symptomatology was not related to most measures of general Internet use nor gender differences. Personal disclosure was significantly more likely to be reported by both young men and young women who reported major depressive symptomatology vs. mild or no symptomatology. Differences were observed for how adolescents choose to self-disclose; females posted pictures of themselves, whereas males were more likely to provide personally identifiable information. Finally, most gender-related variation reflected differences in the magnitude of Internet associations with depressive symptoms rather than the types of Internet use, access, or online communications. Conclusions Youth-reported depressive symptomatology is associated with differences in online interactions and self-disclosure practices.