• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.101-112
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• 2016

Purpose - The objective of this study is to identify the effects of the communication cues and anonymity on group polarization in mobile communication settings, both in terms of route and extent. Research design, data and methodology - Laboratory experiments were conducted to achieve the above research objective; the effect of communication cues on group polarization with social presence as mediation and the direct effect of anonymity, social presence, and perceived cohesion were analyzed. The experiments were conducted by the participation of 240 people, who were divided into 48 groups of 5 people. Results - According to the results, the difference in intergroup polarization due to communication cues and anonymity was insignificant. From this analysis, the structural equation model, communication cues and anonymity did not affect group polarization through social presence. Moreover, anonymity did not affect group polarization through perceived cohesion; however, anonymity directly affected group polarization. Conclusions - This research can help to explain the discussions and the related decision-making actions on internet forums, which have recently come to the rise as well as provide foundational basis in newly establishing policies for the forums.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.217-241
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• 2015

One of the challenges in online community management is what level of perceived anonymity can be granted to encourage active participation from members while discouraging unhealthy activities. Few studies developed a scheme of anonymity and investigated how different levels of anonymity influence community activities. This study develops a classification scheme of anonymity encompassing the following three different levels : (1) real name(no anonymity), (2) nickname (partial anonymity), and (3) random assignment of a temporal ID (complete anonymity). Then, it examines how different levels of anonymity influence trust and perceived risk, which in turn affect virtual team performance. A series of laboratory experiments were performed, manipulating the levels of anonymity, in the context of well-structured communities that allow prior interactions among community members. The data was collected from 364 laboratory participants and analyzed using ANOVA and PLS. The results indicate that the difference of anonymity between (2) and (3) had not be significant and the only (1) could not guarantee the anonymity. The impact of anonymity on trust and perceived risk could not be significant in this situation. These findings could contribute to make more beneficial member identification strategies in online community practice.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2020

Online rumor creates psychological stress and image loss for victims. Prior studies related to online rumor did not consider the online environmental factor, despite the fact that online rumor occurs in the online space. Therefore, this study tried to investigate the influence of online characteristics on online rumor. This study considered perceived anonymity, lack of social presence, and perceived dissemination as online characteristics. We established and demonstrated a research model in which online characteristics affect online rumor behavior through attitude toward online rumor. This study obtained the sample of 201 social network users based on the survey and verified the research model using PLS tool. The results provided that perceived anonymity and perceived dissemination influenced online rumor behavior through attitude toward online rumor. On the other hand, lack of social presence was not significant. The findings of this study provide the fact that an individual's online rumor behavior can be caused by online characteristics. This study suggests that we pay attention to the role of perceived anonymity and perceived dissemination for online rumor behavior.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.387-395
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• 2022

This study empirically studied the effect of the characteristics of consumer experience in a virtual store in the metaverse of a fashion brand on consumers' perceived utility and self-congruence for the medium. As a result of the analysis, all three factors (reality, ubiquity, anonymity) of the fashion brand metaverse virtual reality store experience had a significant positive effect on the perceived avatar consistency. On the other hand, realism and ubiquity had a significant positive effect on perceived fun, but the effect of anonymity on perceived fun was not significant. On the other hand, perceived avatar identity was found to have a significant positive effect on perceived consumer-brand self-congruence. Finally, it was found that the perceived fun in the metaverse fashion brand virtual reality store had a statistically significant positive effect on perceived consumer-brand self-congruence.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.591-614
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• 2019

With the proliferation of social media, it has become easier for people to spread rumors online, which can aggravate the issues arising from online rumors. There are many individuals and organizations that are adversely affected by malicious online rumors. Despite their importance, there has been little research into why and how people spread rumors online, thus inhibiting the understanding of factors that affect the spreading of online rumors. With attention seeking to address this gap, this paper draws upon the dual process theory and the de-individuation theory to develop a theoretical model of factors affecting the spreading of an online rumor, and then empirically tests it using survey data from 211 individuals about a specific rumor. The results indicate that the perceived credibility of the rumor affects the individuals' attitudes toward spreading it, which consequently affects the rumor spreading behavior. Vividness, confirmation of prior beliefs, argument strength, and source credibility positively influence the perceived credibility of online rumors. Finally, anonymity moderates the relationship between attitude toward spreading online rumors and the spreading behavior.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.27-35
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• 2007

The purpose of this research is to explore gender differences in perceptions and relationships among dominants affecting deviant behavior of adolescent in cyber space. This study developed a research model to analyze the factors explaining the intensity level of cyber deviant behavior, employing internet usage, awareness of anonymity, fear of cyber crime, and perceived seriousness as major research variables, and collected 478 survey responses from college students in Seoul.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.45-68
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• 2013

Despite improved technologies, procedures, and regulations, consumers are still uncertain about purchasing online. The objective of this study is to understand uncertainty factors in online shopping and their relationships with the consumers' intention to purchase. For this objective we derived seller anonymity, lack of product transparency, and lack of process transparency as uncertainty factors from previous researches which may affect consumers' perceived uncertainty on online shopping. Then, a causal model was developed to conceptualize the relationships between these uncertainty factors as antecedent variables and consumer's intention to purchase as consequent variable with perceived uncertainty as an intermediary variable. Purchase involvement was used as a moderating variable on the relationship between perceived uncertainty and the intention to purchase online. The model was tested empirically to find meaningful relationships among these variables. The findings indicate that all antecedent variables affect perceived uncertainty significantly and perceived uncertainty negatively affects consumers' intention to purchase. Moreover, the results of analysis show purchase involvement has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceived uncertainty and intention to purchase online.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.406-418
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• 2024

In line with the rapid spread of Metaverse in various marketing areas, fashion companies have also begun to devise various activities using the Metaverse. Fashion experiences within the Metaverse platform must be conducted considering the characteristics of the Metaverse itself. However, there has yet to be any research on Metaverse fashion based on the characteristics of the Metaverse platform itself. Accordingly, this study sought to empirically analyze the impact of various characteristics of the Metaverse platform on consumers' virtual fashion experience within the platform. In particular, this study focused on the relationships among the Metaverse platform characteristics, perceived avatar identity, and the purchase intention of actual fashion products. In order to test the hypotheses, a survey was conducted on 300 Korean male and female consumers with an average age of 39.3 who had experience with virtual fashion through the Metaverse platform. In response to the recent increase in domestic and foreign brands' attempts to experience fashion using ZEPETO, the questionnaire provided an experience scenario that included detailed captured images of the use of avatars in the ZEPETO world. Data was subjected to statistical analysis using the SPSS 28.0 program. The results confirmed that the characteristic factors of the Metaverse platform (i.e., presence, social interactivity, anonymity) had a significant impact on the user's perceived avatar identification. Additionally, perceived avatar identity significantly affected users' purchase intention. Theoretical and managerial implications and study limitations are discussed.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.179-197
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• 2019

Although there have been lots of studies about users' behaviors online, few have explored the mechanism of hostile behaviors. In this sense, this study aims at discovering what may elevate users' hostile behaviors. More specifically, we tried to find the relationship between flaming behavior and perception factors such as perceived risk, anonymity and expected emotional reaction. A survey was conducted to investigate the relationship of the above variables. As a result, all these variables show significant effects on flaming, and information overload are found to act as a moderator. We carefully conclude that flaming in online community can be reduced by preventing information overload each user perceives.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.51-70
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• 2013

The flaming which is defined as posting deliberately hostile messages online has been perceived as one of the most dangerous behaviors on the Internet. Although the previous research on flaming focused on finding the effects of anonymity and individual differences, more comprehensive explanation is still needed. This research attempted to find social variables which affect the attitude toward and the act of flaming based on the differences between high school and college students. Findings show that both high school and college students are strongly influenced by their affiliated groups in the intention to commit online flaming and past experiences of the number of the acts of flaming. At the same time, vicarious learning was positively associated with high school students, but direct utterance was positively associated with college students. The implications of the study was also discussed.