The Instigating, Impelling, and Inhibiting Forces in Cyberbullying Perpetration across Gender

Internet provides youths with a new breeding ground for misbehavior. Cyberbullying is one of the most prevalent online misbehavior that has recently received public attention due to its potentially devastating consequences. Drawing on I theory, we develop a research model to investigate the driving and mitigating forces of cyberbullying perpetration. We further examine the moderating role of gender on the effect of forces on cyberbullying perpetration. An online survey of 211 university students was conducted to empirically validate the research model. Results show that both cyberbullying victimization and perceived online disinhibition can increase individual’s tendency to perpetrate cyberbullying, whereas subjective norm as the inhibiting force represses the propensity to cyberbully others. Furthermore, the power of the factors influencing cyberbullying perpetration is different between male and female students. The effects of instigating and inhibiting forces are stronger for female students than for male students, while the effect of impelling force is stronger for male students than for female students. We expect that this study will not only provide a theoretical explanation of cyberbullying perpetration but also offer valuable insights to related parties in their effort to tackle cyberbullying perpetration among university students.