Examining gender differences in people’s information-sharing decisions on social networking sites

Highlights

• A comparative model of information-sharing across genders is developed.

• The effect of privacy risks on information sharing attitudes is stronger for women.

• Women put more emphasize on social ties and commitment.

Abstract

Information systems research provides increasing evidence that women and men differ in their use of information technology. However, research has not sufficiently explained why these differences exist. Using the theory of reasoned action and social role theory, this paper investigates gender differences in people’s decisions about information sharing in the context of social networking sites (SNSs). We developed a comparative model of the information-sharing decision process across genders and theoretically explained why these differences exist. Data was collected from an online survey taken by American SNS users. We found that privacy risks, social ties, and commitment were more important in the formation of attitudes toward information sharing for women than men. Gender significantly moderates the relationship between people’s perceptions of information sharing and their intention to share information. This paper provides an enhanced understanding of gender differences in people’s decisions about sharing information on SNSs. It advances gender differences research into the use of newly emerged information technology and provides researchers insightful views of the role that gender plays in the social media era. Being aware of the research findings, practitioners may better engage their targeted stakeholders on SNSs and collect more useful information for business purposes.

Introduction

Social networking sites (SNSs) enable people to share a variety of information online. Increasingly, people are participating on SNSs to share, request, and acquire information and knowledge or to just have fun and resolve the problems they have encountered in their daily lives. A report shows that, every 60 s, 510,000 comments are posted, 293,000 statuses are updated, and 136,000 photos are uploaded on Facebook (Noyes, 2019). Further, about 32% of Facebook users regularly engage with brands (Osman, 2018). For example, people share their personal shopping information with other SNS users and provide or receive social support in purchase decisions (Liang, Ho, Li, & Turban, 2011; Prentice, Wang, & Lin, 2018; Wang, Lin, & Spencer, 2019). Such user-generated content enables people to make better-informed purchase decisions because shopping information received from other users on SNSs is viewed as more valuable than that from traditional marketing vehicles (Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009). Users’ information sharing is a key factor that affects people’s online purchase behavior (Liang et al., 2011; Stephen & Toubia, 2009; Trusov et al., 2009). Thus, there is a growing interest in examining the factors that influence users’ information sharing on SNSs.

Previous studies that investigated the antecedents of information sharing have explicated the role that various constructs (e.g., trust and social ties) play in users’ information- and knowledge-sharing behavior on SNSs, such as blogs (Lu, Lin, Hsiao, & Cheng, 2010) and virtual communities (Chiu, Hsu, & Wang, 2006; Hsu, Ju, Yen, & Chang, 2007). Those studies about information sharing have generally assumed that each gender bases its information-sharing behavior on similar criteria and that genders make decisions on information sharing equivalently (e.g. Acquisti & Gross, 2006; Constant, Kiesler, & Sproull, 1994; Jarvenpaa & Staples, 2000). However, few studies have attempted to examine the role of gender in information-sharing behavior. In the Information Systems (IS) discipline, it has been concluded that gender’s role in IS research has been underrepresented and needs to be more theorized (X. Lin, Califf, & Featherman, 2012; Trauth, 2013). Trauth (2013) pointed out that “there isn’t enough gender and IS research being published” (298) and underscored the need for IS researchers to explain gender differences explicitly in the use of information technology (IT). To address this gap, our work aims to systematically examine gender effects on online users’ information-sharing behavior on SNSs. Rather than assume that both genders share information equivalently, the aim of this study is to test the moderating role and to explain theoretically gender differences in information-sharing behavior on SNSs. As such, this study is among the very first to provide a detailed analysis of the moderating effects of gender on users’ decision-making about sharing information on SNSs, rather than just exploring the role of gender as a moderator. Additionally, a deeper understanding about the effect of gender differences on users’ information-sharing behavior can provide firms with further insights regarding how to promote their products and services more efficiently (Krasnova, Veltri, Eling, & Buxmann, 2017; Lin, Featherman, Sarker, & Management, 2017). Therefore, a detailed analysis of gender differences and its effects on users’ information behavior on SNSs will have important implications for both academicians and practitioners.

The social role theory (SRT) was chosen as the theoretical foundation to explain and theorize gender effects in our study (please refer to 2.3 Social Role Theory for an explanation). It has been demonstrated to be an appropriate theory for studying gender differences in various research contexts, such as Facebook continuance (Lin, Li, Califf, & Featherman, 2013) and bloggers’ knowledge-sharing behaviors (Chai, Das, & Rao, 2011). The SRT suggests that men and women play different social roles that may affect their social behavior due to different societal and cultural expectations (Archer, 1996; Eagly & Wood, 1991). Different social roles are likely to lead to behavioral differences between genders in a specific environment—here, SNSs. As such, the SRT can serve as a foundation for providing a detailed analysis of the moderating role in people’s information-sharing behavior on SNSs.

To execute a detailed analysis of the moderating effects of gender on information-sharing behavior in the context of SNSs, we propose a baseline model by integrating SNS environmental constructs into the theory of reasoned action (TRA). Specifically, based on the literature (please refer to 2.2 Theory of Reasoned Action & Conceptual Baseline Model for details), we identify the design (i.e., social presence), security (i.e., privacy risk), and personal (i.e., commitment and social ties) factors of the TRA to examine individuals’ formation of attitudes toward information sharing. Please note that the goal of this study is to provide a detailed analysis of the moderating role of gender on the effects of proposed SNS-oriented constructs on people’s decision-making about information sharing, not to test the baseline model. Specifically, we seek to address the following research questions:

• Do genders perceive different levels of importance regarding SNS environmental constructs in the formation of their attitudes toward sharing information?

• Does gender moderate the effects of individuals’ psychological perceptions on their information-sharing decisions?

Based on the above discussion of these important missing elements in online information- sharing research and gender differences in the literature, we develop a comparative model to understand the differences in information-sharing decision-making across genders by achieving two primary objectives in this study:

• Integrate SNS environmental constructs into the TRA and incorporate gender as a moderator to study individuals’ decision-making about information sharing on SNSs.

• Theoretically explain how gender differences affect SNS environmental constructs in the formation of people’s attitudes toward information sharing on SNSs.

The sections of this paper are organized as follows. First, we provide a literature review of the theoretical foundations that lead to our research model and justifications for our hypotheses. Next, the chosen research methodology, data analysis, and results are presented. Finally, we conclude with our theoretical contributions and practical implications.