USER SELF-DISCLOSURE ON SNSs: A PRIVACY RISK AND SOCIAL CAPITAL PERSPECTIVE

The growth and popularity of SNSs such as Facebook and Twitter have created a new world for users to conduct activities such as posting, viewing, sharing, replying and playing. One of the most important user participation behaviors is self-disclosure. This study attempts to investigate the relation between privacy risk and self-disclosure behavior in SNSs and to understand how the users selectively reveal personal information in an environment with high privacy risk. By integrating Communication Privacy Management Theory, Disclosure Decision Model and Social Capital Theory, we propose a SNS user self-disclosure model. In particular, we propose that perceived privacy risk (PPR) and perceived information control ability (PICA) are the two key antecedents of user self-disclosure. We further suggest that that the three dimensions of social capital, namely, relational dimension, cognitive dimension, and structural dimension, influence PPR and PICA respectively. A survey was conducted and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for data analysis. Our hypotheses are generally supported. Research implications are discussed.