Skip to main content

The Behavior Chain for Online Participation: How Successful Web Services Structure Persuasion

  • Conference paper
Book cover Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE 2007)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 4744))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The success of many online services today depends on the company’s ability to persuade users to take specific actions, such as registering or inviting friends. We examined over 50 popular Web services of this kind to understand the influence processes and strategies used. We found that successful online services share a pattern of target behaviors that can be viewed as part of an overall framework. We call this framework the “Behavior Chain for Online Participation.” This paper briefly presents the general idea of a behavior chain and applies it to understanding persuasion patterns found online. We then illustrate the Behavior Chain for Online Participation by applying it to the Web service LinkedIn and other popular services. Future research may identify behavior chains in other domains and develop new research methods for validating behavior chains.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Bagozzi, R.P., Dholakia, U.M., Mookerjee, A.: Individual and group bases of social influence in online environments. Media Psychology 8, 95–126 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Birnbaum, M.H.: Human research and data collection via the Internet. Annual Review of Psychology 55, 803–832 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Buller, D.B., Burgoon, J.K.: Interpersonal Deception Theory. Communication Theory 6(3), 203–242 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Captology.tv. http://captology.tv

  5. Cialdini, R.B., Goldstein, N.J.: Social Influence: Compliance and Conformity. Annual Review of Psychology 55(1), 591 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Danaher, B.G., McKay, H.G., Seeley, J.R.: The information architecture of behavior change websites. Journal of Medical Internet Research 7(2) (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Dholakia, U.M., Bagozzi, R.P., Pearo, L.K.: A social influence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities. International Journal of Research in Marketing 21(3), 241–263 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Dillard, J.: The current status of research on sequential-request compliance techniques. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 17, 282–288 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Fogg, B.J.: Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Fogg, B.J., Nass, C.: How users reciprocate to computers: an experiment that demonstrates behavior change. In: CHI 1997 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Looking To the Future, Atlanta, Georgia, March 22 - 27, 1997, pp. 331–332. ACM Press, New York, NY (1997), http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1120212.1120419

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Guadagno, R.E., Asher, T., Demaine, L., Cialdini, R.B.: When saying yes leads to saying no: Preference for consistency and the reverse foot-in-the-door effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27, 859–867 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Guadagno, R., Cialdini, R.: Online persuasion and compliance: Social influence on the Internet and beyond. In: Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (ed.) The social net: Human behavior in cyberspace, pp. 91–113. Oxford University Press, New York (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Guéguen, N.: Foot-in-the-door technique and computer-mediated communication. Computers in Human Behavior 18(1), 11–15 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gueguen, N., Jacob, C.: Fund-Raising on the Web: The Effect of an Electronic Foot-in-the-Door on Donation. CyberPsychology & Behavior 4(6), 705 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hars, A., Ou, S.: Working for free? - Motivations for participating in open source projects. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 6(2), 25–39 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kapoor, N., Konstan, J.A., Terveen, L.G.: How peer photos influence member participation in online communities. In: CHI 2005 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Portland, OR, USA, April 02 - 07, 2005, pp. 1525–1528. ACM Press, New York (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Kelman, H.C.: Compliance, Identification, and Internalization: Three Processes of Attitude Change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, Studies on Attitudes and Communication 2(1), 51–60 (1958)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. Khaled, R., Barr, P., Noble, J., Biddle, R.: Investigating Social Software as Persuasive Technology. In: IJsselsteijn, W., de Kort, Y., Midden, C., Eggen, B., van den Hoven, E. (eds.) PERSUASIVE 2006. LNCS, vol. 3962, pp. 104–107. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com

  20. Schafer, J.B., Konstan, J.A., Riedl, J.: E-commerce recommendation applications. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery 5(1/2), 115–153 (2001)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Skitka, L.J., Sargis, E.G.: The Internet as Psychological Laboratory. Annual Review of Psychology 57(1), 529 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Spears, R., Postmes, T., Lea, M., Wolbert, A.: When are net effects gross products? The power of influence and influence of power in computer-mediated communication. Journal of Social Issues 58, 91–107 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Spector, B.I.: Negotiation as a Psychological Process. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Negotiation 21(4), 607–618 (1977)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Thompson, L.F., Meriac, J.P., Cope, J.G.: Motivating online performance: The influences of goal setting and Internet self-efficacy. Social Science Computer Review 20, 149–160 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. YouTube. http://youtube.com

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Yvonne de Kort Wijnand IJsselsteijn Cees Midden Berry Eggen B. J. Fogg

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Fogg, B.J., Eckles, D. (2007). The Behavior Chain for Online Participation: How Successful Web Services Structure Persuasion. In: de Kort, Y., IJsselsteijn, W., Midden, C., Eggen, B., Fogg, B.J. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4744. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77006-0_25

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77006-0_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-77005-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-77006-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics