“I can't express my thanks enough”: The “gratitude cycle” in online communities

Makri, Stephann; Turner, Sophie

doi:10.1002/asi.24257

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(99 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In online community settings, gratitude is frequently expressed by the beneficiary toward the benefactor and/or the community as a whole. Online community researchers argue that experiencing gratitude and expressing it publicly helps sustain social support among the community participants (e.g., Makri and Turner, 2020). Psychologists have offered several explanations to prosocial effects of gratitude.…”

Section: Gratitude and Community Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike participatory behaviors and reciprocity, gratitude as a positive affect has received very little attention in online community research despite the fact that gratitude expression is a major category of postings in various online forums (Armstrong et al , 2011; Makri and Turner 2020; van Berkel et al , 2015). When gratitude is mentioned in some IS studies, it is either viewed as an intangible reward for contribution (Ridings et al , 2006; Yang et al , 2017) or mingled with the innate need to reciprocate the received help (Pai and Tsai, 2016).…”

Section: Community Attachment and Its Antecedentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Community attachment and emotional well-being: an empirical study of an online community for people with diabetes

Bernardi²

2020

ITP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.Design/methodology/approachA survey study was conducted in one of the largest online health communities (OHC) for people with diabetes.FindingsOHC participants are likely to experience reduced emotional distress when they have developed an attachment to the community. This attachment is, in turn, positively associated with the normative expectations of reciprocity and the affective feeling of gratitude. However, some commonly used behavioral measures of community participation, such as visit frequency and membership tenure, have little to do with either community attachment or reduced emotional distress.Research limitations/implicationsThe research highlights the pivotal role of community attachment in appraising the much-debated benefits of OHCs. However, the cross-sectional survey study has its limitations in terms of establishing causality.Practical implicationsOHC managers need to look beyond some of the commonly used metrics, such as monthly visits and number of new postings, and focus on fostering a sense of attachment among existing users in order to fulfill the OHC's potential of emotional support. Our study implies that design features facilitating reciprocation and gratitude expression among users can lead to a strong emotional bond.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies on the antecedents of community attachment and the relationship between community attachment and emotional distress in the context of OHC.

show abstract

Section: Gratitude and Community Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Community Attachment and Its Antecedentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community attachment and emotional well-being: an empirical study of an online community for people with diabetes

Bernardi²

2020

ITP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These contexts include the user context; Mohammad Arif, Du, and Lee (2015) examined tourists' collaborative information‐seeking behavior, the use context; Laing and Masoodian (2015) examined the role of visual information‐seeking in visual design practice, the environment context; Zhao, Xu, Peng, and Song (2018) examined the phenomenon of user exodus on social networking sites, the device context; Goyal, Bron, Lalmas, Haines, and Cramer (2018) examined the impact of mobile ad design decisions on peoples' mobile information interaction experience, the social context; Worrall (2019) examined the sociotechnical infrastructure surrounding information sharing in online communities and social digital libraries and the privacy context; Vasalou et al (2015) examined how digital information environments could encourage user engagement with the privacy domain. Finally, this special issue features work that informs design by examining: the sociomateriality of information environments (Veinot & Pierce, 2019), the role of information in everyday experiences (specifically peoples' experiences of gratitude in online communities; Makri & Turner, 2020), and information experience in personally meaningful activities (Gorichanaz, 2019).…”

Section: Embracing the Recent Past And Present: Jasist Research From mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In “I can't express my thanks enough”: The “gratitude cycle” in online communities , Makri and Turner (2020) interviewed eight online community users to understand their experiences of gratitude in online communities. They integrated their findings into a process model of gratitude in online communities.…”

Section: Embracing the Recent Past And Present: Jasist Research From mentioning

confidence: 99%

Information informing design: Information Science research with implications for the design of digital information environments

Makri

2020

Asso for Info Science & Tech

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This debut curated "virtual special issue" of JASIST is on the theme of "information informing design." It comprises several excellent scholarly research articles previously published in JASIST with important implications for the design of digital information environments. It covers articles that motivate the need for Information Science research to inform design and those that have empirically examined informationrelated concepts such as information behavior, practices, interaction, and experience and, based on their findings, proposed recommendations or posed questions for design. This article argues that as JASIST exists at the intersection between information, systems, and users, it is natural to want to understand how people engage with information to inform design and, by doing so, Information Science research can build bridges between Information Science and computing disciplines and make contributions that transcend its discipline boundaries. It argues that Information Science research not only has the potential but also the duty to inform the design of future digital information environments.

show abstract

“…Nonetheless, some researchers have shifted their perspective towards more positive and rewarding aspects in this area such as the higher contexts of life (Kari and Hartel, 2007), pleasure principle in information behaviour (Fulton, 2005, 2009), sharing happy information (Tinto and Ruthven, 2016), gratitude cycle in online communities (Makri and Turner, 2019), information experience in personally meaningful activities (Gorichanaz, 2019), the sensory experience of information (Ocepek, 2018), the numinous experience with information as a form of mystical flow (Latham, 2013) and contemplative aims for information like meaning, compassion and wisdom (Gorichanaz and Latham, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Joyful information activities in serious leisure: looking for pleasure, passion and purpose

Mansourian

2021

AJIM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThis paper provides selective findings from a broader research project on information behaviours in serious leisure. This paper focuses on the positive feelings of information seeking and sharing in this context, aiming to capture and contextualise the joy of information embedded in and inspired by leisure activities.Design/methodology/approachThe required data were obtained using semi-structured interviews with 20 serious leisure participants from Wagga Wagga city in Australia, recruited via a maximum variation sampling technique. The data were fully transcribed and analysed based on a qualitative thematic analysis method.FindingsThe joy of information is embedded within a wide spectrum of information activities in serious leisure ranging from information seeking and browsing to information sharing and information creation. Among all these activities, information sharing with peers and a broader audience is the most joyful experience because it often generates social engagement, a sense of belonging and friendship. Moreover, serious leisure is a productive ground to transform hedonic wellness into eudaimonic well-being, while continuous information seeking and sharing play a significant role in achieving this goal.Practical implicationsInformation system designers can use the findings to consider the emotional aspects of information seeking and sharing to improve the usability of their products. At the policy level, cultural policy writers and decision-makers can make more informed decisions to support serious leisure.Originality/valueThis study explores the joyful aspects of information behaviour in a unique context. Exploring the joy of information is an emerging topic in human information behaviour scholarship, and the existing knowledge on this issue is still limited. This paper can contribute to creating new knowledge in this emerging area.

show abstract

“I can't express my thanks enough”: The “gratitude cycle” in online communities

Cited by 12 publications

References 42 publications

Community attachment and emotional well-being: an empirical study of an online community for people with diabetes

Community attachment and emotional well-being: an empirical study of an online community for people with diabetes

Information informing design: Information Science research with implications for the design of digital information environments

Joyful information activities in serious leisure: looking for pleasure, passion and purpose

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About