Marketer-Generated Content Sharing Among Social Broadcasting Users: Effects of Intrinsic Motivations, Social Capital and the Moderating Role of Prevention Focus

Social networking services provide individuals with an easy approach for exchanging messages with others based on interpersonal relationships. However, why individuals spread marketer-generated content (MGC) in their online social circles remains unclear. Therefore, we develop a theoretical model to examine how social capital, intrinsic motivations, personal perceptions, past behavior, and personal traits influence MGC sharing behavior of social media users in micro-blogging context. Data collected from 319 social networking users support the proposed model. The results from partial least squares analyses show that enjoyment, perceived control, and outcome expectations are significant indicators of individual's MGC sharing intention in the social broadcasting environment. Results also suggest that social capital, users' intention, and past behavior positively influence the MGC sharing behavior of users. Moreover, individual prevention pride exhibits a significant interaction effect on the relationships between users' MGC sharing and its antecedents. Implications for research and practice are discussed.