TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-disclosure in online social networks
T2 - The needs-affordances-features perspective
AU - Xiao, Zhenxin
AU - Gong, Xiang
AU - Cheung, Christy M.K.
N1 - The work described in this paper was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 72371197, 72001168, 72372130, 72002167, and 72272119). The work was also supported by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Grant HKBU12500124).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors
PY - 2025/3
Y1 - 2025/3
N2 - Drawing on affordance theory and the needs–affordances–features (NAF) perspective, this paper examines the impacts of online social network (OSN) affordances and psychological ownership on users’ self-disclosure. Through the analysis of data collected from a field survey and a scenario-based experiment, we found that accessibility, information retrieval, editability, and association affordances positively affect psychological ownership, which further determines users’ self-disclosure on OSNs. This paper not only advances the understanding of OSN self-disclosure by emphasizing the significance of OSN affordances and psychological ownership but also offers practical insights for OSN providers to enhance self-disclosure by designing effective affordances.
AB - Drawing on affordance theory and the needs–affordances–features (NAF) perspective, this paper examines the impacts of online social network (OSN) affordances and psychological ownership on users’ self-disclosure. Through the analysis of data collected from a field survey and a scenario-based experiment, we found that accessibility, information retrieval, editability, and association affordances positively affect psychological ownership, which further determines users’ self-disclosure on OSNs. This paper not only advances the understanding of OSN self-disclosure by emphasizing the significance of OSN affordances and psychological ownership but also offers practical insights for OSN providers to enhance self-disclosure by designing effective affordances.
KW - Contextualization
KW - Information privacy and security
KW - Online self-disclosure
KW - Psychological ownership
KW - Technology affordance
KW - The needs-affordances-features perspective
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85215924127&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.im.2025.104102
DO - 10.1016/j.im.2025.104102
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85215924127
SN - 0378-7206
VL - 62
JO - Information and Management
JF - Information and Management
IS - 2
M1 - 104102
ER -