Perceived Costs versus Actual Benefits of Demographic Self‐Disclosure in Online Support Groups

Abstract

Millions of U.S. adults join online support groups to attain health goals, but the social ties they form are often too weak to provide the support they need. What impedes the strengthening of ties in such groups? We explore the role of demographic differences in causing the impediment and demographic self-disclosure in removing it. Using a field study of online quit-smoking groups complemented by three laboratory experiments, we find that members tend to hide demographic differences, concerned about poor social integration that will weaken their ties. However, the self-disclosures of demographic differences that naturally occur during group member discussions actually strengthen their ties, which in turn facilitates attainment of members' health goals. In other words, social ties in online groups are weak not because members are demographically different, but because they are reluctant to self-disclose their differences. If they do self-disclose, this breeds interpersonal connection, trumping any demographic differences among them. Data from both laboratory and field about two types of demographic difference-dyad-level dissimilarity and group-level minority statusprovide convergent support for our findings.

Quand le soutien social permet d’accroitre l’auto-efficacité alimentaire: une application aux communautés en ligne de perte de poids

“…La participation, c'est-à-dire la génération de contenu, est à l'origine de toute communauté ; elle est la condition sine qua non de l'existence de ces rassemblements (Bagozzi et Dholakia, 2002 ;Ind et al, 2013 ;Pechmann et al, 2021). Elle est définie comme le fait d'avoir un rôle actif dans la construction de relations (Ind et al, 2013).…”

Reconsidering prosocial behavior as intersocial: A literature review and a new perspective

“…In this respect, Pechmann et al (2021) investigated the role support groups play in facilitating goals regarding why consumers join those groups. In the context of online communities, where self‐disclosures may be a way to build trust in the community, the authors consider how self‐disclosures regarding differences between group members are made.…”

“…Whereas Pechmann et al (2021) reported positive interpersonal outcomes in online communities, Pundak et al (2021) found that consumers can also engage in public shaming of wrongdoers. This observation raises interesting questions such as whether actions that benefit more people by discouraging bad behavior but hurt an individual are prosocial, when are these actions prosocial, and whether such actions can be considered prosocial when other actions could also have discouraged bad behaviors.…”

The effect of self-disclosure on mass trust through TikTok: An empirical study of short video streaming application users

“…Therefore, self-disclosure on short video applications may be considered as a general pattern of behavior in the context of large audiences. With the increase in individual self-disclosure information and the construction of user identities (Pechmann et al, 2021 ), individuals with a strong desire to be identified with the public tend to use strategies that are perceived as positive and worthy of replication to demonstrate desirable characteristics and behaviors, thereby attracting more disclosure (Rosenberg and Egbert, 2011 ; Wei and Liu, 2020 ).…”

“…Self-disclosure is the act of making oneself known to the public; it was the process by which individuals actively reveal personal information, and this process can trigger perceived similarity among the public (Solomonov and Barber, 2019 ). Good interaction between users on short video applications positively affects perceived similarity, which in turn generates interpersonal attraction and raises relationship levels (Pechmann et al, 2021 ). In particular, when the self-disclosure information is more adequate, it will lead to more people perceiving stronger similarity and thus higher perceived similarity to the individual who publicly discloses the information.…”