Media identity and social anxiety in computer-mediated communication: predicting electronic media preference and use

• Ano de defesa: 2019
• Autor(a) principal: Moura, Fábio Viana de
• Orientador(a): Sanchez, Otávio Próspero
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Palavras-chave em Português: Preferência e uso de meios de comunicação eletrônicos; Teorias de identidade; Ansiedade social; Comunicação mediada por computadores
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Preference and use of electronic communication media; Identity theories; Social anxiety; Computer-mediated communication
• Link de acesso: https://hdl.handle.net/10438/27439

The present work has two main objectives. The first is to describe the intellectual structure of the computer-mediated communication (CMC) literature within the information systems (IS) field. The second is to propose and test a theoretical model that, covering concepts related to identity and social anxiety, could explain the following: (1) the chances of an individual preferring an electronic communication medium (e.g., email, voice-messages, video-conferencing, etc.) to solve a specific managerial task and (2) the frequency of use of a set of electronic communication media (ECM). To reach these objectives, the study was divided into three parts. The first part is a systematic literature review, which used science mapping analysis to describe the theoretical and thematic contours of the literature on CMC within the IS field. The second part, using a sample of 207 respondents recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk, tests through a logistic regression whether the extent to which an individual identifies him/herself with a certain electronic communication medium and their level of social anxiety increase the chances of him/her preferring an electronic communication media to solve a specific and common managerial task. In the last part, using the same sample and predictor variables, a model of structural equations was tested to explain the frequency with which people use ECM in general. As result, the systematic literature review attributed contours to the intellectual structure of the CMC topic inside the IS domain, thereby revealing its theoretical and thematic basis and analyzing the relationship between the primary research aims and the theories used to solve them. The results of this first part also reveal that the literature on computer media communication is multidisciplinary and receives contributions mainly from the following disciplines: communication, administration and psychology. The results of other studies corroborate the hypotheses constructed based on theories about identity and social anxiety. They demonstrate that the extent to which people identify themselves with an ECM and how much they fear exposing themselves to social judgments impact both (1) the preference for an electronic communication medium to solve a common managerial task and (2) the frequency with which they use a set of ECM in a general way. Finally, implications for theory and practice are discussed and directions for future research are proposed.