Why we disclose differently: How social networking site affordances affect privacy concerns and disclosure practices in cross-cultural contexts

Xinyan Zhao, Purdue University

Abstract

The privacy implications of online social networking sites have been receiving increased attention in recent years. However, many of these studies have overlooked the social networking site context where privacy regulation processes take place, and assume that users are universal in how they engage with such contexts. As a consequence, how the affordances of particular social networking site features affect privacy concern and disclosure practices of users has been relatively understudied. Integrating affordance theory (Gibson, 1986) and Altman's (1979) theorizing of privacy regulation, I theorized that social networking site affordances affect both privacy concerns and disclosure behaviors, and predict variances in the concerns and disclosures of users in different social networking site settings. First, I developed and validated a scale to measure social networking site affordances. Next, I examined privacy concerns, disclosures, and engagement with social networking site affordances, of a combined sample (n = 635) of college students in the U.S. and in China, using two independent social networking site services, Facebook and Renren. These two samples provided both cultural and social networking site level comparisons. The findings show that engagement with particular social networking site affordances significantly predicts privacy concerns and disclosure behavior, and that cultural orientations as well as country of origin significantly predict privacy and disclosures as well. However, privacy concern is not a significant predictor of disclosure behaviors, although there are significant differences in privacy concerns between countries. This study contributes to the literature of affordance and privacy by providing empirical evidence that engagement with social networking site affordances is a significant contributor to the processes of privacy regulation.

Degree

M.A.

Advisors

Kisselburgh, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Social psychology|Communication|Web Studies

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