No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Online Prosocial Behaviors: A Scoping Review of Definitions, Actions, and Motivators
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Achieving widespread COVID-19 vaccine acceptance is a key step to global recovery from the pandemic, but hesitancy towards vaccination remains a major challenge. Social proof, where a person’s attitude towards vaccination is influenced by their belief in the attitudes of their social network, has been shown to be effective for making in-roads upon hesitancy. However, it is not easy to know the attitudes of one’s network, nor reliably signal one’s own feelings towards COVID-19 vaccines, minimizing the impact of the social influence channel. To address this issue, Facebook launched a feature that enables users to overlay a message indicating that they support vaccination upon their profile picture. To raise awareness of these vaccine profile frames (VPFs), users received a variety of promotional messages from Facebook, a subset of which contained the social context of friends who had already adopted the frame. Leveraging this variation in promotional messaging, we analyzed the adoption pattern of VPFs in the US to determine the most effective strategies to drive VPF usage. We found that adoption is driven by a pattern of complex diffusion, where multiple exposures to the adoption decisions of others increased VPF uptake, and that there is substantial heterogeneity in the adoption response associated with prior vaccine beliefs, whether the promotion had a social component and closeness of the tie included in social promotions. Specifically, we observed resistance to adoption correlated with an aversion to follow authoritative health pages and stronger adoption effects from social promotions containing close friends. We also confirmed this finding of the value of strong ties through a randomized field experiment and heterogeneous treatment effects modeling. In contrast to studies that have shown the importance of less close relationships in vaccine decision-making, we found little effect from awareness of VPF adoption by weak ties. Finally, we detected no significant backfire effect for expressing support for COVID-19 vaccines via VPFs. Together, these results suggest that social proof provided by close friends may be a key driver for messaging campaigns intended to drive prosocial behavior such as publicly promoting vaccination and that these campaigns do not necessarily come with adverse experiences for adopters, even for a polarizing issue such as vaccines.
Almost two billion people use Facebook every day, but relatively few studies have examined the ways that culture shapes its use, and in turn, its associations with well-being. Our 1-week daily diary study sought to extend this literature by comparing prosocial uses of Facebook in a collectivist culture, Thailand ( N = 169), and in an individualist culture, Canada ( N = 131). We found that, relative to Thais, Canadians more frequently engaged in knowledge-sharing prosocial Facebook behaviour (i.e., providing useful information to Facebook friends), which was mediated by their more independent self-construal, stronger motivation to use Facebook for spreading information, and weaker motivation to use it for belongingness. Only Canadians reported higher life satisfaction on days they engaged in more prosocial knowledge-sharing. However, Thais and Canadians were equally likely to engage in emotionally-supportive prosocial Facebook behavior, which was associated with higher positive affect and life satisfaction in both groups.
Public health and epidemiologic research have established that social connectedness promotes overall health. Yet there have been no recent reviews of findings from research examining social connectedness as a determinant of mental health. The goal of this review was to evaluate recent longitudinal research probing the effects of social connectedness on depression and anxiety symptoms and diagnoses in the general population. A scoping review was performed of PubMed and PsychInfo databases from January 2015 to December 2021 following PRISMA-ScR guidelines using a defined search strategy. The search yielded 66 unique studies. In research with other than pregnant women, 83% (19 of 23) studies reported that social support benefited symptoms of depression with the remaining 17% (5 of 23) reporting minimal or no evidence that lower levels of social support predict depression at follow-up. In research with pregnant women, 83% (24 of 29 studies) found that low social support increased postpartum depressive symptoms. Among 8 of 9 studies that focused on loneliness, feeling lonely at baseline was related to adverse outcomes at follow-up including higher risks of major depressive disorder, depressive symptom severity, generalized anxiety disorder, and lower levels of physical activity. In 5 of 8 reports, smaller social network size predicted depressive symptoms or disorder at follow-up. In summary, most recent relevant longitudinal studies have demonstrated that social connectedness protects adults in the general population from depressive symptoms and disorders. The results, which were largely consistent across settings, exposure measures, and populations, support efforts to improve clinical detection of high-risk patients, including adults with low social support and elevated loneliness.
Information sharing is critical in risk communication and management during the COVID-19 epidemic, and information sharing has been a part of individual prevention and particular lifestyles under the “New Normal” of COVID-19. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore influencing factors and mechanisms in public and private information sharing intention among people under the regular risk situation. This study investigated an information sharing mechanism based on a cross-sectional design. We collected 780 valid responses through a sample database of an online questionnaire platform and utilized partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to further analyze the data. To explore the difference caused by news frames, we divided respondents into two groups according to the news frame (action frame vs. reassurance frame) and proceeded with the multi-group analysis. The results showed that four types of outcome expectations (information seeking, emotion regulation, altruism and public engagement) and habit had impacts on public and private information sharing intention. Two paths influencing information sharing proposed in this study were supported. The results showed that outcome expectations were positively related to habit, which implies that the cognitive mechanism was positively relevant to the formation of habit. The results proved that habit played a mediating role between outcome expectations and information sharing. This research found that emotion regulation and public engagement outcome expectations only affected two types of information sharing intention mediated by habit. Regarding the role of the news frame, this study found no significant difference between the group exposed to action-framed news and the group exposed to reassurance-framed news. By exploring influencing factors and the mechanism of information sharing under the “New Normal”, these findings contribute to understanding of information sharing and have implications on risk management. The proposed mechanism classifying public and private information sharing complements risk information flowing by considering online risk incubation.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic fundamentally disrupted humans’ social life and behavior. Public health measures may have inadvertently impacted how people care for each other. This study investigated prosocial behavior, its association well-being, and predictors of prosocial behavior during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and sought to understand whether region-specific differences exist. Participants (N = 9,496) from eight regions clustering multiple countries around the world responded to a cross-sectional online-survey investigating the psychological consequences of the first upsurge of lockdowns in spring 2020. Prosocial behavior was reported to occur frequently. Multiple regression analyses showed that prosocial behavior was associated with better well-being consistently across regions. With regard to predictors of prosocial behavior, high levels of perceived social support were most strongly associated with prosocial behavior, followed by high levels of perceived stress, positive affect and psychological flexibility. Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of prosocial behavior were similar across regions.
Objective:
The purpose of this article is to clearly describe how to develop a robust and detailed scoping review protocol, which is the first stage of the scoping review process. This paper provides detailed guidance and a checklist for prospective authors to ensure that their protocols adequately inform both the conduct of the ensuing review and their readership.
Introduction:
Scoping reviews are a common approach to evidence synthesis for researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers across a variety of fields. Scoping reviews are not concerned with making analytical comparisons based on pooling results data from multiple primary sources of evidence, but rather on collating and describing the evidence and presenting the summation in a clearly illustrated format. Methods for undertaking and reporting scoping reviews continue to be refined. Some prospective reviewers may be uncertain how to plan, structure, and report scoping review protocols, as there is little or no specific guidance for scoping review protocols yet available.
Methods:
This guidance was developed by members of the JBI Scoping Review Methodology Group based on previous experience and expertise in developing scoping review and evidence synthesis methodologies, protocols, and reviews, as well as through experiences working with and guiding authors to develop scoping review protocols. Elements of a comprehensive scoping review protocol are outlined and explained in detail.
Conclusion:
Knowledge users of evidence syntheses rely on clear and transparent reporting to understand and use the results of published work to drive evidence-based improvements within and health care and beyond. It is hoped that readers will be able to use this guidance for developing protocols to assist them in planning future scoping reviews and to carry them out with a high degree of transparency.
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, published in 2009, was designed to help systematic reviewers transparently report why the review was done, what the authors did, and what they found. Over the past decade, advances in systematic review methodology and terminology have necessitated an update to the guideline. The PRISMA 2020 statement replaces the 2009 statement and includes new reporting guidance that reflects advances in methods to identify, select, appraise, and synthesise studies. The structure and presentation of the items have been modified to facilitate implementation. In this article, we present the PRISMA 2020 27-item checklist, an expanded checklist that details reporting recommendations for each item, the PRISMA 2020 abstract checklist, and the revised flow diagrams for original and updated reviews.
Objective:
A sense of belonging-the subjective feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences-is a fundamental human need that predicts numerous mental, physical, social, economic, and behavioural outcomes. However, varying perspectives on how belonging should be conceptualised, assessed, and cultivated has hampered much-needed progress on this timely and important topic. To address these critical issues, we conducted a narrative review that summarizes existing perspectives on belonging, describes a new integrative framework for understanding and studying belonging, and identifies several key avenues for future research and practice.
Method:
We searched relevant databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, and ClinicalTrials.gov, for articles describing belonging, instruments for assessing belonging, and interventions for increasing belonging.
Results:
By identifying the core components of belonging, we introduce a new integrative framework for understanding, assessing, and cultivating belonging that focuses on four interrelated components: competencies, opportunities, motivations, and perceptions.
Conclusion:
This integrative framework enhances our understanding of the basic nature and features of belonging, provides a foundation for future interdisciplinary research on belonging and belongingness, and highlights how a robust sense of belonging may be cultivated to improve human health and resilience for individuals and communities worldwide.
Background: Verified and authentic information about coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on social networking sites (SNS) could help people make appropriate decisions to protect themselves. However, little is known about what factors influence people’s sharing of verified information about COVID-19. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influence people’s sharing of verified information about COVID-19 on social networking sites. Methods: Based on social exchange theory, we explore the factors that influence sharing of verified information about COVID-19 from two perspectives: benefits and costs. We employed the survey method to validate our hypothesized relationships. By using our developed measurement instruments, we collected 347 valid responses from SNS users and utilized the partial least squares method to analyze the data. Results: Among the benefits of sharing verified information about COVID-19, enjoyment in helping (β = 0.357, p = 0.000), altruism (β = 0.133, p = 0.029) and reputation (β = 0.202, p = 0.000) were significantly associated with verified information sharing about COVID-19. Regarding the costs of sharing verified information about COVID-19, both verification cost (β = −0.078, p = 0.046) and executional cost (β = −0.126, p = 0.011) also significantly affect verified information sharing about COVID-19. All the proposed hypotheses were supported. Conclusions: By exploring factors from both benefits and costs perspectives, we could understand users’ intention to share verified information about COVID-19 comprehensively. This study not only contributes to the literature on information sharing, but also has implications concerning users’ behaviors on SNS.
Within a relatively short time span, social media have transformed the way humans interact, leading many to wonder what, if any, implications this interactive revolution has had for people’s emotional lives. Over the past 15 years, an explosion of research has examined this issue, generating countless studies and heated debate. Although early research generated inconclusive findings, several experiments have revealed small negative effects of social media use on well-being. These results mask, however, a deeper set of complexities. Accumulating evidence indicates that social media can enhance or diminish well-being depending on how people use them. Future research is needed to model these complexities using stronger methods to advance knowledge in this domain.
Personality has been considered as important influential factors of prosocial behavior (PB). This study aims to investigate whether the personality-PB association revealed in the real world is applicable to cyberspace. Researchers further considered moral identity (MI), empathy, and social self-efficacy as mediators accounting for the association of personality and online prosocial behavior (OPB). Self-reported measures were administrated to 1398 participants from eastern China. Results showed (1) extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness were positively related to OPB, while neuroticism was negatively related to OPB; (2) perspective taking could serve as a mediator between all big five traits and OPB, social self-efficacy did the same job unless the predictor was agreeableness. Empathic concern and MI were less important mediators partly because OPB involves no face-to-face interaction. These findings show that personality has a significant effect on OPB through its influence on moral development.
Using social media through mobile has become a major source of disseminating information; however, the motivations that impact social media users’ intention and actual information-sharing behavior need further examination. To this backdrop, drawing on the uses and gratifications theory, theory of prosocial behavior, and theory of planned behavior, we aim to examine various motivations toward information-sharing behaviors in a specific context [coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)]. We collected data from 388 knowledgeable workers through Google Forms and applied structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. We noted that individuals behave seriously toward crisis-related information, as they share COVID-19 information on WhatsApp not only to be entertained and seek status or information but also to help others. Further, we noted norms of reciprocation, habitual diversion, and socialization as motivators that augment WhatsApp users’ positive attitude toward COVID-19 information-sharing behavior.
For families with limited opportunities for face-to-face interaction, social media can be a vital communication medium to help shape the family identity, maintain bonds, and accomplish shared tasks. This mixed-methods systematic review of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method empirical studies published between 1997 and 2019 uses a convergent data-based framework to explore how long-distance families engage in family practices using various modes of social media. Fifty-one papers were synthesized into four domains: (1) doing family in a social media environment, (2) performing family through stories and rituals, (3) the nature of online communication practices, and (4) privacy, conflict, and the quality of family relationships. Given the value of patterned routines to families, research into the role of family kinkeepers is suggested. Finally, families use chat (messages) extensively for both assuring behaviour and conflict resolution so further investigation of the impact of this asynchronous mode is recommended.
Sustainable development is a common challenge for all. Under this background, how to promote public participation in environmental communication has become an important topic. The purpose of this study is to understand the motivating mechanism behind Chinese WeChat users’ environmental information-sharing behavior by taking China’s unique social and cultural background into account. A comprehensive theoretical model for this study is constructed based on the uses and gratification theory, the norm activation model, and the theory of planned behavior. Through an online survey, data were collected from 526 participants to test the research model. The research results show that Chinese WeChat users’ environmental information-sharing behavior is motivated by both egoistic factors (self-presentation, information seeking, and socializing) and altruistic factors (awareness of consequences and ascription of responsibility). During the behavioral decision-making process, these motivating factors impact people’s actual sharing behavior via their attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, personal norms, and behavioral intention in various patterns. The findings are discussed from an interdisciplinary perspective of media usage, prosocial behavior, and behavioral psychology. This article not only proposes a new conceptual framework to explain social media users’ behavior of sharing environmental information but also provides important theoretical and practical implications regarding motivating public participation in environmental communication on social media.
This study examines how website specific factors promote prosocial behaviours in website visitors. After reviewing the literature, we hypothesise a structural model involving seven perceptions (ease of use, trust, negative affect, positive affect, aesthetics, information quality, and argument strength) and an interaction between positive and negative affect. We test our model by recording participants' perceptions and prosocial behaviours after their use of a website promoting volunteering and philanthropy. Two websites ("Amnesty International", and "Casa Guatemala") are used. We find that website based appeals to both the head (i.e., perceptions of argument strength) and the heart (i.e., perceptions of positive and negative affect) motivate online prosocial behaviour, ii) that appeals to the heart are more effective than appeals to the head, iii) that positive and negative appeals to the heart have similar effectiveness, and; iv) that mixed appeals to the heart (i.e., simultaneous perceptions of both positive and negative affect) are ineffective.
Aim:
Negative body image increases the risk of engaging in unhealthy dieting and disordered eating patterns. This review evaluated the impact of habitual social media engagement or exposure to image-related content on body image and food choices in healthy young adults (18-30 years).
Methods:
A systematic search of six databases of observational literature published 2005-2019, was conducted (PROSPERO Registration No. CRD42016036588). Inclusion criteria were: studies reporting social media engagement (posting, liking, commenting) or exposure to image-related content in healthy young adults. Outcomes were: body image (satisfaction or dissatisfaction) and food choices (healthy eating, dieting/restricting, overeating/binging). Two authors independently screened, coded and evaluated studies for methodological quality.
Results:
Thirty studies were identified (n = 11 125 participants). Quantitative analysis (n = 26) identified social media engagement or exposure to image-related content was associated with higher body dissatisfaction, dieting/restricting food, overeating, and choosing healthy foods. Qualitative analysis (n = 4) identified five themes: (i) social media encourages comparison between users, (ii) comparisons heighten feelings about the body, (iii) young adults modify their appearance to portray a perceived ideal image, (iv) young adults are aware of social media's impact on body image and food choices, however, (v) external validation via social media is pursued. Most studies (n = 17) controlled for some confounding variables (age, gender, BMI, ethnicity).
Conclusions:
Social media engagement or exposure to image-related content may negatively impact body image and food choice in some healthy young adults. Health professionals designing social media campaigns for young adults should consider image-related content, to not heighten body dissatisfaction.
The current study uses big data to study prosocial behavior by analyzing donations made on the GoFundMe platform. In a dataset of more than $44 million in online donations, we find that 21% were made while opting to be anonymous to the public, with survey results indicating that 11% of these anonymous donations (2.3% of all donations) are not attributable to any egoistic goal. Additionally, we find that donors gave significantly more to recipients who had the same last name as them. We find evidence that men and women donated more when more donors of the opposite sex were visible on the screen at the time of donating. Our results suggest that men and women were both significantly affected by the average donation amounts visible at the time of their decisions, and men were influenced more. We find that women expressed significantly more empathy than men in messages accompanying their donations.
Background
In online medical consulting platforms, physicians can get both economic and social returns by offering online medical services, such as answering questions or sharing health care knowledge with patients. Physicians’ online prosocial behavior could bring many benefits to the health care industry. Monetary incentives could encourage physicians to engage more in online medical communities. However, little research has studied the impact of monetary incentives on physician prosocial behavior and the heterogeneity of this effect.
Objective
This study aims to explore the effects of monetary incentives on physician prosocial behavior and investigate the moderation effects of self-recognition and recognition from others of physician competence.
Methods
This study was a fixed-effect specification-regression model based on a difference-in-differences design with robust standard errors clustered at the physician level using monthly panel data. It included 26,543 physicians in 3851 hospitals over 133 months (November 2006-December 2017) from a leading online health care platform in China. We used the pricing strategy of physicians and satisfaction levels to measure their own and patients’ degree of recognition, respectively. Physicians’ prosocial behavior was measured by free services offered.
Results
The introduction of monetary incentives had a positive effect on physician prosocial behavior (β=1.057, P<.01). Higher self-recognition and others’ recognition level of physician competence increased this promotion effect (γ=0.275, P<.01 and γ=0.325, P<.01).
Conclusions
This study explored the positive effect of the introduction of monetary incentives on physician prosocial behavior. We found this effect was enhanced for physicians with a high level of self-recognition and others’ recognition of their competence. We provide evidence of the effect of monetary incentives on physicians’ prosocial behaviors in the telemedicine markets and insight for relevant stakeholders into how to design an effective incentive mechanism to improve physicians’ prosocial engagements.
Research has focused on the role of prosocial behaviors in mate choice, across both social and evolutionary psychology. Several studies provide strong support for the role of altruism in mate choice, whereby people find prosociality attractive in potential mates. As most research focuses on the role of altruism in mate choice, most research has found that people exhibit altruism towards attractive people, suggesting altruistic behavior is driven by mate choice motivation. Although studies have supported the notion that men’s altruism towards women is driven by mate choice, the findings are inconsistent, which may be due to the methodologies adopted by researchers. To our knowledge, this review paper is the first to critically review the literature concerning prosociality and mate choice. We provide an outline of the research thus far, methodological issues, and considerations for future research.
This study adapted and investigated the psychometric properties of the Prosocial Behavioral Intentions Scale (PBIS) in a Turkish sample in four sub-studies. Findings of a confirmatory factor analysis (Study 1), and tests of internal consistency and test-retest reliability (Study 2), concurrent validity (Study 3), convergent, and discriminant validity (Study 4), have been presented in this article. The confirmatory factor analysis conducted in Study 1 indicated that the unidimensional-factor structure had the best fit to the data. Study 2 found that the internal consistency value was acceptable and test-retest reliability over a 4-week period was adequate. Study 3 supported the concurrent validity of the Turkish PBIS with reference to altruism and empathy. In Study 4, convergent validity was established based on the correlation between the Adult Prosocialness Scale (APS) and Turkish PBIS. Factor loadings and t-values of the items, composite reliability (CR), and the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) value of the Turkish PBIS were optimal. Discriminant validity was confirmed based on the correlation between the Turkish PBIS and Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS), with adequate cross-loadings of the PBIS and the Fornell and Larcker criterion. Thus, the Turkish PBIS was found to be a brief, valid, and reliable measure of prosocial behaviors.
Does kindness always pay? The influence of recipient affection and generosity on young children's allocation decisions in a resource distribution task. Abstract The aim of the current study was to determine whether the level of generosity shown by 3-to 8-year-old children (N = 136; M age = 69 months) in a resource distribution task would vary according to whether the recipient had previously displayed kind (affection and generosity) and/or non-kind (non-affection and non-generosity) behavior towards a third party. We first asked whether donor children would show higher levels of generosity towards an affectionate than a non-affectionate recipient (condition 1), and a generous than a non-generous recipient (condition 2), before pitting the two forms of recipient kindness directly against each other (condition 3). Last, we asked whether donations to generous recipients would decrease if the recipient simultaneously displayed non-kind behavior through a lack of affection (condition 4). Here we show that children allocated a greater share of the available resource to generous and affectionate recipients than non-generous and non-affectionate recipients respectively. However, when asked to divide resources between a generous and an affectionate recipient, or two recipients who had each displayed a combination of kind and non-kind behavior, children allocated each recipient an equal share of the resource. These findings suggest that children donate selectively based on previous information regarding recipient generosity and affection, however when both forms of kindness are pitted directly against each other, children strive for equality, suggesting that kindness engenders donor generosity irrespective of the form of kindness previously displayed.
It is well documented that cyberbullying can lead to adverse mental health outcomes. Separate research shows that higher levels of social connectedness may result in more positive mental health outcomes, however, the relationship between social connectedness and mental health in the face of cyberbullying is not yet fully understood. An online survey of 229 adolescents (aged 12–17 years) was conducted, and we examined experiences of cyberbullying, levels of social connectedness, depression, anxiety, and stress. Structural equation modeling suggested that social connectedness may act as a protective buffer against the negative mental health outcomes associated with cybervictimization. This paper highlights the fact that social connectedness plays an important role for young people, the more frequently they are victimized. The implications of these findings are far reaching and suggest that understanding the role of social connectedness may be crucial to interventions that seek to mitigate the effects of cyberbullying.
This study investigates motivations for self‐archiving research items on academic social networking sites (ASNSs). A model of these motivations was developed based on two existing motivation models: motivation for self‐archiving in academia and motivations for information sharing in social media. The proposed model is composed of 18 factors drawn from personal, social, professional, and external contexts, including enjoyment, personal/professional gain, reputation, learning, self‐efficacy, altruism, reciprocity, trust, community interest, social engagement, publicity, accessibility, self‐archiving culture, influence of external actors, credibility, system stability, copyright concerns, additional time, and effort. Two hundred and twenty‐six ResearchGate users participated in the survey. Accessibility was the most highly rated factor, followed by altruism, reciprocity, trust, self‐efficacy, reputation, publicity, and others. Personal, social, and professional factors were also highly rated, while external factors were rated relatively low. Motivations were correlated with one another, demonstrating that RG motivations for self‐archiving could increase or decrease based on several factors in combination with motivations from the personal, social, professional, and external contexts. We believe the findings from this study can increase our understanding of users' motivations in sharing their research and provide useful implications for the development and improvement of ASNS services, thereby attracting more active users.
Since the creation of the Internet as an information technology, it has become a tool which exerts its influence on virtually all aspects of human life, including pro-social behavior (Amichai-Hamburger, 2008). An online context is a place of pro-social promise (Wright and Li 2012), and as Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) face increasing challenges (such as resource scarcity) the Internet has become an important resource for involving and recruiting volunteers and creating opportunities for participation through online volunteering (Pinho and Macedo, 2006). Online volunteering is understood as a particular form of volunteering whose main distinction lies in procedure, since it occurs partially or totally on the Internet. This study seeks to understand the factors that cause and sustain online volunteerism from the volunteer’s perspective, namely the motivations that lead the individual to volunteer online, as well as the resulting experiences and consequences/benefits. We did twenty-four interviews with volunteers of several nationalities. The results contribute to the understanding and development of new knowledge about the online volunteering process, more precisely for a better understanding of how NPOs can best use this resource, namely in the management, recruiting and retaining of volunteers. The main conclusions show that altruistic motivations and learning/career rewards are the most common motivations. Regarding the intention for permanence, the satisfaction associated with the experience and the initial motivations are shown to be decisive. The consequences/benefits are essentially associated with the acquired learning which volunteers consider to be a valuable future asset, and the intrinsic reward of self-actualization and e-empowerment.
Scoping reviews, a type of knowledge synthesis, follow a systematic approach to map evidence on a topic and identify main concepts, theories, sources, and knowledge gaps. Although more scoping reviews are being done, their methodological and reporting quality need improvement. This document presents the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist and explanation. The checklist was developed by a 24-member expert panel and 2 research leads following published guidance from the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network. The final checklist contains 20 essential reporting items and 2 optional items. The authors provide a rationale and an example of good reporting for each item. The intent of the PRISMA-ScR is to help readers (including researchers, publishers, commissioners, policymakers, health care providers, guideline developers, and patients or consumers) develop a greater understanding of relevant terminology, core concepts, and key items to report for scoping reviews.
The present study investigated underlying motivations of Twitter users for retweeting with a presumption that retweeting is a prosocial behaviour. Accordingly, retweeting were predicted to occur when an individual was motivated for prosocial reasons. In this study, prosocial motivations were classified into three categories of egoistic, altruistic, and reciprocity motivations. In addition, behavioural intention was taken as part of predicting variables of actual retweeting behavior and was investigated with other motivation variables. Participants were actual Twitter users who were recruited on Twitter, and data collection was done through an online survey. The results showed that altruistic motivation among three prosocial motivations could predict actual retweeting behaviour through behavioural intention. In addition, the differential effects of reciprocity motivation was found to vary depending on the sizes of the followers and the followees.
Combining knowledge from research on prosocial behavior, online communication, and (online) social support, this paper examines (1) how online communication shapes the provision of online support and (2) how the provision of online support is related to wellbeing. The focus lies on the underrepresented perspective of those acting prosocially by providing support. To answer these research questions, a qualitative (n = 22) and quantitative study (n = 470) have been conducted. The results of both studies suggest that providing online social support is positively related to people's wellbeing by satisfying basic psychological needs. This relation was partially mediated by beneficence and moderated by autonomous motivation and positive feedback. The qualitative results underline the specific conditions of online communication for providing support. It connects people with shared concerns and enables the autonomous building of anonymous support communities. Moreover, asynchronous communication with reduced cues transmitted may foster positive feedback that strengthens the self-image of those acting prosocially.
Purpose
This study aims to examine personal factors that drive the initiation of an online firestorm, an online collaborative attack against a brand that usually occurs when a brand fails or engages in misconduct.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire is used for data collection. Via an online panel, 303 questionnaires are completed. Hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling.
Findings
Civic engagement and, to a lesser extent, narcissism explain intentions to initiate online firestorms. Individuals’ inherent concern for others and for ethical issues prompts them to punish a brand publicly, with the expectation that other individuals will follow and that the brand will feel compelled to react. Misconduct-related appraisal factors, such as severity, proximity, moral inequity and outrage, can amplify the effect of civic engagement.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should investigate whether the findings hold for different types of misconduct, cultures and other forms of narcissism.
Practical implications
By providing managers with a better understanding of the motivations for launching an attack, this study offers guidance on managing a brand when an online firestorm occurs.
Originality/value
Whereas previous research has focused on external drivers of online firestorms, this study builds on the prosocial behaviour literature to analyse the individual characteristics prompting the initiation of an online firestorm.
In an Internet-enabled era, we are citizens in a vast array of different online spaces, and the behaviours afforded to these spaces are becoming increasingly complex. Within the study of computer-mediated communication (CMC), there is an implicit assumption that behaviour occurring in CMC is equivalent to that depicted in the communicated message. However, we note that this is not always the case. The purpose of this critical review is to elucidate different typologies of “online behaviour” based on our proposed Online Behaviour Taxonomy. Within this, we propose three types of “online behaviour” which are largely distinguishable based on where the behaviour itself originates (online or offline) and how this interacts with internet-enabled technologies. These are: online-exclusive, online-mediated and online-recorded behaviour. Specifically, we assert that the source of behaviour (i.e. whether it occurs online or offline) is currently not explicitly referenced in CMC theory, yet acts as a key indicator to dissect the ambiguity of ‘online behaviour’ as a generalised concept. This is arguably a critical factor associated with user experiences and effects of CMC. We situate this discussion in the wider context of CMC; specifically how factors such as audience effects are differentially relevant to these three types of behaviour. Finally, we outline the emerging conceptual contributions and practical directions which we assert may be influenced by our proposed Online Behaviour Taxonomy.
Purpose
Misinformation on social media has become a great threat across the globe. Therefore, the authors aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of social media users' misinformation combating behavior, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the authors merged the uses and gratifications theory, social cognitive theory and theory of prosocial behavior into one theoretical framework (e.g. information seeking, status seeking, entertainment and norms of reciprocity) to understand their effect on users' prosocial media sharing experience and misinformation self-efficacy to combat misinformation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected data from 356 social media users through “Google Forms” during the third wave of coronavirus in Pakistan. Further, the authors applied structural equation modeling for hypotheses testing.
Findings
The authors noted that entertainment and perceived norms of reciprocity positively affect social media users' prior experience and misinformation self-efficacy to enhance their misinformation combating intention. However, information seeking positively affects social media users' prior experience and insignificantly affects their misinformation self-efficacy. Similarly, status seeking was noted to be insignificantly associated with social media users' prior experience and misinformation self-efficacy.
Research limitations/implications
The authors tested this model of misinformation combating intention in a developing country during the COVID-19 pandemic and noted that entertainment and status seeking motives are context-specific. Therefore, this study may likely benefit researchers, academicians and policymakers to understand the causal relationship between motivations and the behavior of combating misinformation on social media within a developing country.
Originality/value
In this study the authors merged three theories (e.g. uses and gratifications theory, social cognitive theory and theory of prosocial behavior) to understand information seeking, status seeking, entertainment and norms of reciprocity as the main motives for social media users' misinformation combating intention.
Purpose
This research considers the role of social media platforms and their impact on individuals' eudaimonic well-being, and aims to help develop a social marketing programme in the future that would enable students in Jordanian universities to flourish, by focussing on their social media drivers and overcoming their challenges in an attempt to improve their psychological well-being (PWB).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used qualitative research examining lived experiences and behaviours around social media use. The authors conducted 39 semi-structured interviews with students at various universities across Jordan, alongside an online survey with open-ended questions, which were based on six PWB dimensions: environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, self-acceptance, autonomy and positive relationships with others.
Findings
Social media use and advertising were found to positively impact students' self-acceptance and relationships with others but to negatively impact their autonomy. They were found to have different impacts on students' sense of purpose in life and personal growth, depending on the content shared on their platforms.
Originality/value
The ethical debate surrounding social media amongst students indicates that such social marketing programmes might stimulate individuals' sense of control over their environment, encourage openness to new experiences, and give their lives a beneficial direction. The study makes recommendations for the creation of an evidence-based social marketing programme that is extrinsically focussed on increasing resilience, creating an audience persona and building awareness of PWB.
With the rise of social media in people’s lives, the tendency to donate through social media platforms has increased tremendously. The positive attitudes of social media users towards online charity initiatives, such as ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, are also gaining traction. Therefore, it is of great value for the charitable organizations to identify the motivational factors that encourage social media users to participate in blatant benevolence. Drawing on costly signalling and self-presentation theories, this study undertakes a multi-method approach with the aim to explore social media users’ motivation of posting prosocial behaviour on social media platforms by identifying the antecedents of blatant benevolence. Using the interview data from 126 social media users, the study first applies rigorous grounded theory analysis to identify factors that lead to blatant benevolence, and subsequently employs a survey method approach, comprising data from 342 social media users, to empirically test the factors identified. Our findings show that desire for social network enhancement and warm glow attainment are the significant drivers that motivate people to post prosocial behaviours on social media. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings for social media behaviour researchers and charity organizations are also discussed in the paper.
The growth of interactive technologies has fostered different online health communities (OHCs) where individuals share similar interests in health-related information and exchange social support to facilitate health outcomes. While OHCs offer a variety of benefits to society, it is challenged by surrounding issues of privacy concerns. Breach of privacy poses undesirable consequences for people, and thus privacy concerns can influence individuals' social support behaviour in OHC platforms. Moreover, willingness to engage in the community can be an outcome of prosocial behaviour, motivating people to offer additional social support on OHC platforms. Hence, addressing the role of engagement in a multi-actor online environment requires further attention. Drawing on social support theory, by examining the effects of privacy concerns, control of information, and community engagement, this study develops a framework to create an informed and sharing online community. Using survey data collected from different OHC platforms on Facebook, our study presents some interesting conclusions. Our results show that community engagement and privacy concerns can influence certain types of social support (i.e., information or emotional support), leading to OHC members' intention to participate. Our conceptual model and findings will inform both future research and policymakers.
Social media services become a hotbed for rumors and lies during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. While previous literature studies the negative role that social media users play in spreading rumors during crises, this study explores how users can be motivated to combat COVID-19 rumors. We build a research model that is based on the Awareness-Motivation-Capability framework and empirically test our model using data collected from 279 Chinese social media users. Our results show that rumor combating behavior, defined as users’ actions to discourage others from sharing information from unverified sources, is influenced directly by the personal norm, altruism, social ties, and knowledge, and indirectly by perceived severity and perceived vulnerability through the personal norm. Our study highlights the importance of prosocial behavior such as rumor combating on social media during health crises.
Sharing information about disasters and victims on social media can help raise situational awareness, enhance issue-related knowledge, promote prosocial behaviors and rebuild a sense of community during the recovery stage. In the current study, we investigate two specific ways of framing victim information, how they influence the likelihood of sharing such information on social media, and the underlying cognitive and emotional mechanisms. Participants (N = 631) were randomly assigned to 1 of 12 experimental conditions as part of 2 (victim exemplification: present vs. absent) × 2 (provocative language: present vs. absent) × 3 (message stimuli) between-subjects factorial design. Main findings indicate that, although both sadness and message enjoyment were positively associated with information sharing intentions, messages that induced more enjoyment and less sadness were more likely to be shared. In addition, messages that violated less expectation were also more likely to be shared. Overall, this study suggests that those wanting to create a victim message that can be shared more widely should produce a message that elicits more sadness, uses less provocative language and is more enjoyable.
Online audiences (e.g. Facebook friends, Instagram followers) shape users' self-presentation online, but little is known about whether or not they impact users' actions in ‘reality’, so offline, when they are not engaged directly with a site interface. To bridge this gap, we provide the first investigation of the ‘extended warming effect’ of social media, a special form of a phenomenon in which saliency (cognition) of online audiences in offline encounters triggers impression management behavior in the pursuit of a more desirable online public image. Across two controlled experiments in the context of charity fundraising, we support the existence of the extended warming effect. We find that as online audiences become more salient, people show greater intentions of engaging in prosocial behavior offline (e.g. enhanced likelihood of making a donation). This effect is mediated by higher public self-awareness and extrinsic motivations. In addition, we find that the extended warming effect is amplified for more intense social media users. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.
Little previous research has examined the in-play decision-making processes of multiplayer video game players related to both prosocial (helping others in general) and altruistic (helping with no expectation of reward) actions. The study used an established decision-making model, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and assessed additional constructs of prototypical images (favorability and similarity to a typical gamer who helps) and general levels of empathy. Participants completed two self-report online surveys. At Time 1, participants (N = 387) completed measures assessing the predictors of prosocial and altruistic intentions. The model accounted for 53 percent of variance in prosocial players' prosocial intentions and 60 percent of variance in players' altruistic intentions. Participants' reported prosocial and altruistic gameplay behaviors were assessed 4 weeks later (n = 107), with intention to help significantly predicting both types of helping behaviors. Given established links between helping and positive health and well-being outcomes, these findings are relevant to both game developers, as well as stakeholders concerned with the impact of video games on players.
Participation of health-care professionals in online health communities is essential for these communities to achieve their goals of improving health outcomes. However, little research has been conducted to understand what motivates health-care providers to participate in such communities. This study utilizes the expectancy/value theory to identify the factors that might affect health professionals’ intentions to continue contributing health knowledge in online health communities (OHCs). Specific motivators driving health professionals’ continuance intentions in OHCs include intrinsic motivators (helping motivator, self-efficacy, and moral obligation), and extrinsic motivators (reputation). This study also investigates how health professionals’ satisfaction in the OHC mediates the relationship between the study motivators and the continuance intentions. The study also suggests that health professional characteristics have a moderating effect on continuance intentions. The study employed a sample of 234 health professionals who contribute to a well-regarded OHC in Jordan to test the theoretical model developed for this study. The findings suggest that helping motivator, self-efficacy motivator, and reputation motivator affect OHC members’ satisfaction. The helping motivator, reputation motivator, moral obligation motivator, and satisfaction affect OHC members’ contribution continuance intentions. Finally, the study finds that age, work experience, experience in the OHC, and the daily time spent in the OHC, moderate the relationship between the helping motivator and continuance intentions.
This study investigated the effects of non-economic motivations and attitude on electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM), as well as whether the technology acceptance model (TAM) moderated e-WOM in a social media context. The study's empirical model is based upon the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The results indicated that altruism, reputation, reciprocity, and attitude have positive impacts on e-WOM. The findings also revealed that TAM has a significant positive impact upon the relationship between attitude and e-WOM. This research has implications, relevant to scholars and managers, which indicate that practitioners should encourage altruistic customers to write positive online reviews. Non-economic rewards, such as appreciation and free upgrades, provide motivation.
Purpose
This paper aims to conceptualize two patterns of user recognition mechanisms and two kinds of user contribution behavior in enterprise-hosted online product innovation community and explain their relationships between user recognition mechanisms and user contribution behavior of online product innovation community.
Design/methodology/approach
A Chinese enterprise-hosted online innovation community and an American enterprise-hosted online innovation community are selected as research objects. Four Logit models are developed and some hypotheses are supposed from the perspective of prosocial behavior theory. Objective user data with three months from two online product innovation communities are collected to test with Logit regression analysis.
Findings
Findings show that there are obvious correlations between user recognition mechanisms and user contribution behavior, and there is also an obvious difference in community user activity level between the quantity-based user recognition mechanism community and the quality-based user recognition mechanism community. More specifically, in the online product innovation community with quantity-based recognition mechanism, both variables of peer recognition and community image motivation significantly affect user proactive contribution behavior. In the online product innovation community with quality-based recognition mechanism, the variable of peer recognition significantly affects both user proactive contribution behavior and user responsive contribution behavior; the variable of community image motivation significantly affects both user proactive contribution behavior and user responsive contribution behavior.
Practical implications
Although it is voluntary, online user voluntary contribution behavior still need to be presented, recognized and affirmed by community. For enterprise-hosted online community managers, they should pay more attention to design the reasonable online community user recognition mechanism with the coexistence of quantity and quality.
Originality/value
The theoretical contribution in this study is to enrich the existing research theme about enterprise-hosted online product innovation community. First, it conceptualizes two patterns of user recognition mechanisms. Second, it regards the variable of user contribution behavior as the co-existence of proactive contribution and responsive contribution. Third, from the perspective of prosocial behavior theory, it is an important supplement to explain the mechanism of user contribution behavior in enterprise-hosted online product innovation community. Fourth, it deepens the overall understanding of the relationship between user recognition mechanism and user contribution behavior. This study provides theoretical guidance for enterprises how to design reasonable and efficient online product innovation community platform. The theoretical contribution in this study is to enrich the existing research theme about enterprise-hosted online product innovation community. First, it conceptualizes two patterns of user recognition mechanisms. Second, it regards the variable of user contribution behavior as the co-existence of proactive contribution and responsive contribution. Third, from the perspective of prosocial behavior theory, it is an important supplement to explain the mechanism of user contribution behavior in enterprise-hosted online product innovation community. Fourth, it deepens the overall understanding of the relationship between user recognition mechanism and user contribution behavior. This study provides theoretical guidance for enterprises how to design reasonable and efficient online product innovation community platform.
Aim:
Systematic reviews play an important role in ensuring trustworthy recommendations in healthcare. However, systematic reviews can be laborious to undertake and as such software has been developed to assist in the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews. The Joanna Briggs Institute and its collaborating centres consist of thousands of researchers, academics and clinicians across the globe conducting systematic reviews of various types. To support them in their work, modern software and online tools are required. Our aim was to develop a software program to support systematic reviewers across the globe.
Methods:
A working party was formed with extensive consultation with members of the Joanna Briggs Collaboration focusing on ideal features of a software program to support systematic reviews. The new systematic review software was built using an agile methodology and designed to be a modern web application.
Results:
The new systematic review software, the Joanna Briggs Institute System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information (JBI SUMARI), was successfully developed through an iterative process of development, feedback, testing and review. The software is now available (https://www.jbisumari.org/) and supports the entire systematic review process for different types of systematic reviews.
Conclusions:
An agile software development approach combined with wide consultation and user testing can facilitate systematic review software design and development. This new software can support systematic reviews and guideline developers to create systematic reviews for a diverse range of questions.
Research has indicated that empathy and prosocial responding are associated with numerous emotional, psychological and social benefits. However, although adolescence is recognised as a key period for prosocial development, knowledge about the factors that facilitate the development of empathy and prosocial responding among adolescents is limited. A narrative systematic review was conducted of studies examining the significant social and psychological correlates of empathy and prosocial behaviour in adolescents. Empirical research papers focusing on typically developing adolescents, aged 13-18 years were identified and assessed for quality. Findings from a total of 168 papers were extracted and subjected to a narrative synthesis. Results indicated that a number of different contextual and psychological factors significantly influence the levels of other-oriented (empathy and prosocial) responding expressed by adolescents. However, findings indicate that differential relationships may be observed depending on how empathy and prosocial responding are operationalised. Overall, results from this review have important implications for future research and policy.
Owing to the rapid development of social media technologies and the prevalence of mobile devices, social media have introduced to modern society a brand new communication platform, where various types of information are created and shared. Here, we explored the motivations of people sharing social crisis information through WeChat, one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, and identified the motivating factors that influence their sharing behavior. We proposed and examined a research model based on the theory of planned behavior, the theory of use and gratification, and the theory of prosocial behavior to better analyze and understand the WeChat users’ social crisis information sharing behavior. To test this model, we developed a study using a sample of 365 surveys collected from WeChat users. We found that in general, they share social crisis information not for entertainment, but for obtaining information from others’ comments, socializing with others, or simply completing their social media routines. Moreover, we found that habit, status seeking and reciprocity positively affect WeChat users’ attitudes towards the behavior. We also found status seeking, socializing, and reciprocity positively affect their perceived subjective norm about the behavior. In addition, it was found that consistent with the framework of the planned behavior theory, the attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control affect WeChat users’ behavioral intention significantly within the context of social crisis information sharing. This article presents a new conceptual model to explain WeChat users’ sharing behavior with regards to social crisis information, and illustrates multiple variables that affect their motivations. Our findings contribute overall to a better understanding of WeChat users’ social crisis information sharing behavior and provide important practical implications for the scientific and reasonable management of crisis information dissemination.
This work examines users' motives for sharing commercial content on social networking services (SNS). We first interviewed Internet users to map sharing behaviors and SNS use (n = 409). We then used a mixed-methods design combining self-reports and a scenario-based experimental manipulation to compare intrinsic and extrinsic incentive models among those who already shared commercial content (n = 134). The findings reveal a contradiction between the self-reports, where intrinsic motives for sharing dominated, and the experimental manipulation, where extrinsic (financial) incentives induced greater willingness to share. We suggest two possible processes that may be at play in our results. First, based on the theory of planned behavior, whereby actions which are not motivated by financial incentives are associated with more positive normative beliefs, SNS users are likely to perceive – and therefore self-report – intrinsic motives for social sharing (e.g., altruism) as more important to them than extrinsic motives (e.g., financial rewards). Second, assuming that reported intrinsic motives are real and not a product of social desirability bias, financial incentives may dilute the impact of intrinsic incentives via a crowding-out effect, shifting users' motives for sharing e-commerce content from intrinsic reasons (e.g., enjoyment) toward extrinsic ones with the application of financial incentives (e.g., a discount). The findings have implications for planning incentive models that fit marketing communication strategies and enhance customer engagement efforts.
The effect of motivations on knowledge sharing behavior has been extensively investigated in various online communities. However, this topic is rarely examined in the context of online health communities (OHCs). Furthermore, the difference in the motivations of sharing knowledge between two types of members in OHCs − health professionals and normal users, is never examined. The present study models and examines both the extrinsic (reputation and reciprocity) and intrinsic (knowledge self-efficacy, altruism, and empathy) motivations of health professionals and normal users. The hypotheses derived from the research model were empirically validated using an online survey of 443 members of three famous online health communities in China. Results show that reciprocity and altruism positively affect the knowledge sharing intention of both health professionals and normal users. Moreover, reputation and knowledge self-efficacy have a greater influence on the knowledge sharing intentions of health professionals than normal users; whereas reciprocity, altruism, and empathy have a greater influence on the knowledge sharing intentions of normal users than health professionals. These new findings expand our understanding on the motivations that may affect knowledge sharing intentions in the context of OHCs.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways to encourage members in QQ knowledge-communication groups to persistently share knowledge in terms of contexts and autonomous motivations.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on self-determination theory, three important contextual factors of QQ knowledge-communication groups were selected as exogenous variables and three typical autonomous motivations as mediating variables to construct a knowledge-sharing model. Internet questionnaire surveys and data collection were conducted to test proposed hypotheses by means of structural equation modeling with AMOS.
Findings
Reciprocity, learning, and altruism have significant positive influence on persistent sharing willingness, and the degree to which each factor influences persistent sharing willingness differs considerably. Autonomy support, perceived usefulness, and relatedness support have no significantly direct influence on persistent sharing willingness, but they indirectly influence the persistent sharing behaviors by the mediating effect of different autonomous motivations.
Originality/value
This study contributes theoretically and practically. First, the results suggest that a particular motivation in different contexts has a different degree of autonomy. In addition, explanations are offered for the phenomenon that suggest that controlled motivations directly affect autonomous motivations. It was found that the contextual factors of competence support and relatedness support also have influence on different autonomous motivations, and hence encourage knowledge-sharing behaviors. Specific suggestions for QQ group managers and information seekers are proposed.
We explored the mediating effect of self-efficacy in the association between Internet altruistic behavior (IAB) and subjective well-being (SWB). Chinese middle school students (N = 467; 216 boys and 251 girls, age range = 12–16 years) completed the Index of Well-Being, the Internet Altruistic Behavior Scale, and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. The results indicated that both IAB and self-efficacy had positive effects on SWB, and IAB affected SWB indirectly via self-efficacy, which showed that self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between IAB and SWB. The results extend knowledge of how IAB functions. © 2016 Scientific Journal Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Prosocial behavior is versatile, multifaceted, and complex. This special section seeks to advance coherent, integrative understanding of prosocial development by addressing this topic through the prism of motivations. This conceptual Introduction presents key ideas that provide a framework for thinking about motivation for prosocial behavior and its development. It outlines the evolutionary roots of prosocial behavior, underscoring the interdependent roles of nature and nurture. This is followed by a discussion of several key psychological mechanisms reflecting different motivations for prosocial action (empathy for a distressed other, concern about another's goal, desire to act in accordance with internalized prosocial norms, and guilt). We discuss the critical components of each motivation and highlight pertinent contributions of the special section articles. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development