A theoretical model of intentional social action in online social networks

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: We-intention Social influence Social identity Subjective norm Group norm Online social networks IS adoption IS continuance Online social networks (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and the like) have become truly significant new phenomena in human communication and interaction patterns and may have a profound impact in the way people communicate and connect with each other. In this study, the decision to use an online social network is conceptualized as intentional social action and the relative impact of the three modes of social influence processes (compliance, internalization, and identification) on intentional social action to use (collective intention) is examined. An empirical study of Facebook users (n = 389) found that collective intention to use a social networking site is determined by both subjective norm and social identity. Further, social identity is found to be a second-order latent construct comprised of cognitive, evaluative, and affective (first-order) components. Implications for research and practice are discussed. The growth and public popularity of Web 2.0 applications have created a new world of collaboration and communication. More than a billion individuals around the world are connected. They support themselves through wikis, podcasts, discussion posts, comments, and instant messaging. New generation online social networks (a Web 2.0 application), as enabled by the widespread diffusion of high-speed Internet, have even emerged as a mainstream communication and interaction modality with ever-increasing significance in the information society in which we live today. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other similar online social networking sites provide online spaces where individuals can create a profile and connect that profile to others to create a personal network. In online social networking sites, social interaction and connection is the objective. These online social networking sites give everyone a place to share their personal stories, in words, pictures, and videos with their friends. They also connect people with friends and others who work, study, and live around them. They help people learn more about events, parties, and other social functions. Participation and continuance in online social networks represents a new social phenomenon that depends largely on the interactions with other users in a personal network. While recent information systems (IS) studies have started to address the issue of online social networks [15,20,21], these studies basically adopted the classical individual-based models to investigate the use of this new or complex communication and interaction phenomena. The classical individual-based models …