Elsevier

Information & Management

Volume 56, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 109-121
Information & Management

Impact of anonymity on roles of personal and group identities in online communities

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2018.07.005Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We examine multiple self-concepts that control behavior under anonymity.

  • Group identity and private/public self-awareness operate simultaneously.

  • Anonymity in online communities actually weakens group identification.

  • Online anonymity decreases both public and private self-awareness.

  • Conformity to group norms appears to be a significant mediator.

Abstract

Extant research on the control of anonymous human behavior is inconclusive because of its focus on partial aspects of the self-concept. Multiple self-concepts are usually effective in any given situation. Hence, a holistic approach is preferred over a fragmented picture of the self. We investigate anonymous online communities to determine whether multiple self-concepts concurrently control human behavior.

Data were collected from 1453 users through a web-based survey. The results showed that multiple self-concepts concurrently influenced argument quality through group norm conformity, whereas private-self directly influenced argument quality. Furthermore, online anonymity decreased the influence of group identity, contrary to existing assertions.

Introduction

As information technology (IT) becomes increasingly fused with the real world, IT artifacts such as online communities and social networking services enable human behaviors that have not been feasible previously. In particular, in online communities, collective knowledge is generated, updated, and distributed through the online contributions of many people across time and space [87]. In this process, anonymity—“the inability of others to identify an individual or for others to identify one’s self” ([15], pp. 3039–3040)—is a key aspect of user engagement because it encourages active participation, particularly from members under various constraints. Even though anonymity is necessary to ensure information privacy, it also creates an environment that allows negative behaviors such as hate speech and juvenile levels of responsibility [52,57]. As the consequences of such behaviors enabled by online anonymity gain significance, questions related to these behaviors, e.g., which “self” controls human behavior in highly anonymous online communities, have recently attracted much attention from various disciplines including information systems (IS), communication, healthcare, and psychology (e.g., [22,35,56,57,105,106]).

The self-concept refers to the totality of a particular person’s thoughts and feelings toward oneself as an object of reflection [85]. Thus, the self-concept is a broader construct that is inclusive of identity, which “reflects the roles that a person occupies in the social structure” ([94], p. 226). The self-concept is important because it helps people make sense of themselves, others, and the world. In addition, people may have multiple self-concepts (e.g., the private self vs. the public self, or personal identity vs. social identity) that are available in memory for use in any given situation [64]. These self-concepts are sometimes related and can reinforce each other; at other times, they may work independently [55]. Hence, a holistic approach to self-concepts is preferred over a fragmented, disjointed picture of the self [79].

However, existing research on the control of human behavior in anonymous online environments is inconclusive, mainly because of its emphasis on partial aspects of an individual’s self-concepts. For instance, an early attempt to explain dysfunctional anonymous behaviors, the classical deindividuation theory, asserted that the lack of accountability cues causes people to be less aware of their public selves and induces a state of depersonalization [108]. However, the deindividuation theory has been criticized for overemphasizing environmental conditions and public selves as the main causes of this depersonalized state. The social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) was developed to critique the deindividuation theory, thus attempting to explain why anonymity within a social group does not always induce uncontrolled behaviors. SIDE asserts that “in becoming part of a group, individuals do not lose all sense of self, rather they shift from the personal to the social level of identification” ([83], p. 177). It further explains that behavioral control under anonymity depends on the relative salience of personal identity versus group (social) identity in an online community [15]; group identity refers to a shared understanding among group members regarding what belonging to the group means [101], whereas personal identity refers to “a unique individual with self-descriptions drawn from one’s own biography and singular constellation of experiences” ([67], p. 479). Meanwhile, SIDE does not delineate what would happen when personal identity is relatively salient or when it conflicts with group identity. For example, Postmes et al. [78] researched social influence in computer-mediated communication (CMC) environments and predicted that anonymity can increase social influence if group identity is salient. Reflecting their research objective of seeking support for SIDE, experimental participants were divided into two groups: anonymous and identifiable. Both groups were manipulated to develop a salient group identity, ignoring cases of salient personal identity.

By contrast, the identity theory asserts that personal identity is the lowest level of self-categorization [36] and thus a fundamental driving force for human behavior [92]. Indeed, personal identity might even play a primary role in enforcing the influence of group identity. In an attempt to link personal identity to group identity, Deaux [17] suggested that some features of an individual’s group identity are based on personal feelings and values. In addition, Stets [91] argued that these two identities might be related through a common system of meaning. This approach undermines the treatment of personal and group identities as alternative drivers of human behavior under conditions of online anonymity. Thus, the first objective of this paper is to apply a holistic approach to self-concepts and investigate whether they can concurrently control human behavior in anonymous online communities. Our results showed that multiple self-concepts such as the public self and group identities concurrently influence argument quality through group norm conformity, whereas the private self directly influences argument quality.

Another important aspect of group identity is that identity’s activation, i.e., group identification. Whereas group identity manifests among what is consensually held by group members to be a group [76], group identification is an individual-level activity that embodies the group identity within a particular individual member. In other words, group identification is an important individual activity in which meanings and expectations associated with group membership are incorporated into the self [95]. Stets and Burke [92] noted, “despite the focus on the activation of a group identity, the source of such activation is left to individual and situational variability and apparently does not depend on social structural characteristics” (p. 230, italics original). In particular, Oakes [63] asserted that the activation of group identity is determined by the congruence between an individual’s stored category specifications and their perceptions of the situation.

However, existing research has raised conflicting arguments regarding the effect of online anonymity on group identification. SIDE asserts that when group identity is strong, online anonymity can promote group identification by obscuring within-group interpersonal differences [49]. Conversely, the theory of self-defense mechanisms proposes an alternative behavior pattern. Facing a strong group identity, one can choose to dissociate from—rather than associate with—the group if one disagrees with the group’s identity [5]. Therefore, the second objective of this paper is to investigate whether online anonymity leads to group identification with or dissociation from online communities with strong group identities. Our results showed that online anonymity actually decreased the influence of group identity rather than increasing it, thus contradicting the prediction of SIDE.

This study focuses particularly on online discussion communities, which are defined as “groups of people with shared interests who communicate over the Internet through a common platform” ([8], p. 700), because it provides a suitable research context for examining self-control in a highly anonymous online environment. The next section compares the self-concept with identity and reviews the existing literature on these constructs. Section 3 develops our research framework and hypotheses. Subsequently, we describe the research methodology used in this study and present the results. We conclude the paper by discussing the contributions of this research.

Section snippets

Self-concept and identity

Even though identity and self-concept are sometimes used interchangeably, most psychology literature converges on a hierarchy wherein identity is nested within the more inclusive construct of self-concept [67]. Oyserman et al. [69] defined self-concept as “cognitive structures that can include content, attitudes, or evaluative judgments and are used to make sense of the world, focus attention on one’s goals, and protect one’s sense of a basic worth” (p. 72). In particular, Rosenberg [85]

Research model and hypothesis development

In this research, the model includes argument quality as the dependent variable because it represents an important consequence of behavior control in anonymous online discussion communities. Some researchers (e.g., [53]) argue that the nature of content flows determines the value of an online community. In an online discussion community context, network content is the digital content contributed by users, which may provide information, influence, or social support [7]. Hollingshead [40] further

Data collection and sample

The data used in this study were collected through a web-based survey conducted in a well-known, fast-growing online discussion community in South Korea: ILBE_Storage (www.ilbe.com), which averages more than 300,000 unique daily visitors and has hundreds of thousands of members [45]. Many online discussion communities allow high levels of anonymity to encourage active participation, particularly from members with less power or other social-norm constraints. In particular, this community allows

Data analysis and results

The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) supported by partial least squares (PLS), SmartPLS version 3.2.3., which has been widely used in prior research and supports a simultaneous test of the measurement and structural models [13]. Many researchers suggest a two-stage model-building process using SEM [54]. The first step is to test the measurement model; the second step is to test structural relationships among constructs.

Discussion and conclusions

This study pursued two research objectives regarding online anonymity: (1) investigating whether various aspects of the self-concept concurrently control human behavior in anonymous online communities and (2) investigating whether online anonymity leads to group identification with or dissociation from online communities with a strong group identity.

For the first research objective, this study incorporated three “self” variables on the basis of self-theories. The results showed that embodied

Kyung Kyu Kim is a professor of Business Management at The State University of New York, Korea. He was a professor of Information Systems at Graduate School of Information, Yonsei University, Korea. His current research interests are in the areas of virtual worlds, knowledge management, IT-enabled supply chain management, and behavioral issues in e-business. He has published his research works in Accounting Review, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Journal of the Association for Information

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    Kyung Kyu Kim is a professor of Business Management at The State University of New York, Korea. He was a professor of Information Systems at Graduate School of Information, Yonsei University, Korea. His current research interests are in the areas of virtual worlds, knowledge management, IT-enabled supply chain management, and behavioral issues in e-business. He has published his research works in Accounting Review, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Information & Management, Decision Sciences, Computers in Human Behavior, Omega, Database, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Journal of Business Research, Electronic Commerce Applications and Research, Journal of Information Science, International Journal of Information Management, and Journal of Information Systems.

    Ae Ri Lee is an assistant professor at Department of Business Administration, Sangmyung University, Korea. She was a research professor of Barun ICT Research Center at Yonsei University and worked at Korea Telecom as a senior manager of business planning and R&D division. She received her Ph.D. in Information Systems from Yonsei University and her MBA in Technology Management from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). Her special research interests include the areas of virtual community, social media, information security and privacy, knowledge management, and value co-creation. She has published papers in Computers in Human Behavior, Behaviour & Information Technology, Journal of Global Information Management, and other journals.

    Un-Kon Lee is an assistant professor at the college of Economics and Business Administration in The University of Suwon, Korea. He holds a B.A., an M.S. and a Ph.D in Business Administration from the School of Business at Yonsei University. He had been a post-doctoral researcher at the graduate school of information in Yonsei University and a senior researcher at KISDI (Korea Information Society Development Institute). His research interests include the areas of mechanism design for electronic commerce, augmented reality, social media and IT convergence services. His work has been published in various journals including Information & Management, International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, and other journals.

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