• Proceedings of the Korea Inteligent Information System Society Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.375-383
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• 2004

Despite the fact that virtual communities on the Internet have been growing at an exponential rate in recent years, little research has been done on the characteristics of virtual communities. In order to better understand and manage the activities of virtual communities, a theoretical model is proposed in this paper. The objective of this paper is to clarify the factors as they are related to the Technology Acceptance Model. In particular the relationship among identities, trust, and other factors are hypothesized. Using the Technology Acceptance Model, this research showed that the importance of identity and trust in virtual communities. The members of virtual communities interact continuously and share an identity. According to the identity type, different ways of stimulating the members are necessary in order to facilitate participation in activities of virtual communities. The virtual communities of a more utilitarian identity are more sensitive to trust in members than trust in the service provider, and members of a more utilitarian identity are inclined to exchange information with each other.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.57-79
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• 2010

In a virtual community, one can possess multiple identities and pretend to be different by creating self-identity in contrast with his or her actual self. Does false identity undermine the qualitative growth of a virtual community by reducing members' accountability? Or does it stimulate their contributive behaviors by ensuring freedom of speech? It is imperative to understand the effects of multi-identity considering the distinct properties of a virtual community in which people easily change their identities at little or no cost. To answer these questions, we adopted the concept of self-discrepancy from the social psychology theory rooted in the concept of the self and developed a theoretical model to predict quality of contribution of the individual member in virtual communities. Based on the self-discrepancy theory, we first identified two different domains of the self: (1) an "actual self" that consists of attributes that the person believes he or she currently possesses in real life and (2) a "cyber self" that consists of attributes the person believes he or she possesses in a virtual community. Next, we derived an index for two different types of self-discrepancy by using the differences between the actual and the cyber identities: Personal Self-discrepancy and Social Self-discrepancy. Personal Self-discrepancy reflects the degree of discrepancy between actual and cyber identity regarding a person's intelligence, education, and expertise. Social Self-discrepancy reflects the degree of discrepancy between actual and cyber identity regarding a person's morality, sociability, and accordance with social norms. Finally, we linked them with sense of virtual community, perceived privacy rights, and quality of contribution to examine how having a multi-identity influences an individual's psychological state and contributive behaviors in a virtual community. The results of the analysis based on 266 respondents showed that Social Self-discrepancy negatively influenced both the Sense of Virtual Community and Perceived Privacy Rights, while Personal Self-discrepancy negatively influenced only Perceived Privacy Rights, thereby resulting in reduced quality of contribution in virtual communities. Based on the results of this analysis, we can explain the dysfunctions of multi-identity in virtual communities. First, people who pretend to be different by engaging in socially undesirable behaviors under their alternative identities are more likely to suffer lower levels of psychological wellbeing and thus experience lower levels of sense of virtual community than others. Second, people do not perceive a high level of privacy rights reflecting catharsis, recovery, or autonomy, even though they create different selves and engage in socially undesirable behaviors in a virtual community. Third, people who pretend to be different persons in terms of their intelligence, education, or expertise also indirectly debase the quality of contribution by decreasing perceived privacy rights. The results suggest that virtual community managers should pay more attention to the negative influences exercised by multi-identity on the quality of contribution, thereby controlling the need to create alternative identities in virtual communities. We hope that more research will be conducted on this underexplored area of multi-identity and that our theoretical framework will serve as a useful conceptual tool for all endeavors.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.671-681
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• 2013

Persona means the mask of personality where the internal ego exposes itself to the outside. The complicated structure and diversity of contemporary society has provided men with a more variegated and diversified persona; in addition, advancements in internet and information communications creates the possibility for the emergence of more variegated and new persona. This study probes the persona of virtual space expressed in fashion designs; subsequently, this study reviews the concept and various characteristics of persona and examines the type of persona in the virtual space from the perspective of the manifestation of identity. The type of persona in the virtual space canbe categorized into flexible identity and falsified identity; subsequently, the characteristics and meanings of virtual space persona in fashion designs are analyzed. Flexible identity-oriented personas expressed in fashion designs are revealed through the images of animals or dolls. This is a childlike persona expression that expresses ego through other substances in an effort to express infantile substances such as dreams and fantasy cherished in childhood. Falsified identity-oriented personas are expanded as a realm of expression of the body and the realities are camouflaged as transformed persona. Negating existence itself by covering the eyes or face as well as the concealment of the body with masks or veils is an expression of a self-denying persona.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.59-71
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• 2002

This study investigated the self wrapping made possible through the anonymity of cuber-space. According to the analysis of the data, which were collected from the online for 2 days, 2,168 respondents were grouped into three types: Those maintaining the strong sense of identity achievement), 53.8%, those experiencing confusion(identity diffusion), 38.3%, and those losing the sense of identity(foreclosure), 7.9%. Among the general respondents, it was reported that the case of sex wrapping was 11.4%, that of occupation, 40.1%, and that of marital status, 60.6%. Specially 11.4% of the sex wrapper took heterogeneous gender identity, while 7% performed dual sex roles. The rate of gender wrapping of female respondents was higher than that of male ones, which reflects female respondents' longing for male sex. Self-disparity between cyber-space and virtual-space was related with the type of self-identity and gender-identity. The rate of self-disparity between cuber-space and virtual-space was 9%. If it occurred continuously, it may cause individual mental division and maladjustment.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.37
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• pp.342-376
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• 2007

This study attempted to explore relationship between self-identities in real space and in virtual space and to inspect empirically both self-identities' influence on addiction and society maladaptation of online role playing game users. The verified results through this study are summarized as follows. First, both self-identity in real space and self-identity in virtual space represent strong interrelationship. In detail, the user with strong self-identity in real space shows strong self-identity in virtual space. Second, self-identities in two spaces have the negative interrelationship with game addiction and maladaptation. Whether real space or virtual space, the higher self-identity, the lower the levels of game addiction and maladaptation. Especially, self-identity in real space appeared an influential variable determining the level of addiction and maladaptation. Although self-identity in virtual space have not an independent influence, it has the possibility to effect complementary with self-identity in real space. This fact means that virtual space is not the place where the user with weak self-identity in real space can discovers the ideal self. Because they also experience the negative recognition about oneself in virtual space.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.23-45
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• 2011

People could possess different self-identity under virtual world from physical world because of anonymity of the virtual world and this difference could influence their behavior in the virtual world. Based on self-discrepancy theory, this research proposes that continuous use model in self-expression goal. We defined the difference bet ween actual self~identity and ideal self~identity in the virtual world as "self-discrepancy in virtual world", and the difference between actual self-identity in the physical world and actual self-identity in the virtual world as "cross-world self-discrepancy". Before testing hypothesis, we compare the actual self-identity in the online community with the actual self-identity in the physical world, and with ideal self-identity in the virtual world. We derived an index for two different types of self-identity in terms of Personal Self-identity and Social Self-identity through factor analysis. Our results show that online community members have a higher level of ideal self-identity than actual self-identity in online community, and they have better personal self-identity in online community than physical world while a lower level of social self-identity in online community than physical world. The results of the hypothesis testing analysis based on 300 respondents showed that "self-discrepancy in virtual world" negatively influenced perceived usefulness for self-expression while "cross-world self-discrepancy" positively influenced perceived usefulness for self-expression. The perceived usefulness for self-expression and ease of use positively influence both continuous use and knowledge contribution. Specially, the effect of perceived usefulness for self-expression on knowledge contribution is much bigger than the effect of ease of use. This study extends self-discrepancy theory to virtual worlds by suggesting various types of self-discrepancy and by applying the effect of self-discrepancies in online community. Also, this study extends technology acceptance model in the personal goal in terms of self-expression. This study hopes to offer practical insights by suggesting positive effect of self-discrepancy on behavior in the online community.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.181-203
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• 2015

Customers who show high level of brand loyalty are one of the most important corporate assets. Accordingly, customers' brand loyalty has been addressed as a critical issue for the business success. In today's business environment where business channels to customers have expanded and diversified continuously, especially the use of social network services (SNSs) have drawn a lot of attention as an effective channel to promote customers' brand loyalty. This study, thus, analyzes the impact of the virtual brand community identity on customers' brand loyalty, focusing on the role of the sense of communities as mediators. The analysis was conducted by using the data collected from 239 users of Chinese virtual brand communities. The results show that both virtual brand community identity and the sense of communities significantly influence on customers' brand loyalty. Furthermore, the results reveal that both of the community belongingness and community trust composing the sense of community partially mediate virtual brand community and brand loyalty as hypothesized. Based on the results, the strategic implications are suggested and discussed, focusing on improving the customers' brand loyalty in the context of SNSs. Our findings and discussions can help companies develop their customer strategies for utilizing the virtual communities to strengthen customers' brand loyalty.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.183-205
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• 2024

Purpose This study aims to identify the factors that form the social identity of metaverse community users and to investigate the processes that influence engagement behavior. Specifically, this study is to verify the structural relationship between socio-technical factors and social identity of metaverse community. Furthermore, we would figure out the role of psychological ownership and virtual assets in engagement of metaverse community members. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were derived through literature research and a survey was conducted for users of the metaverse community. 357 collected responses were analyzed for the structural equitation modeling(SEM) with AMOS 24.0. Findings As a result of the study, all of the proposed hypotheses were supported. As a result, it was found that technical and social perceptions of the metaverse community platform had a positive effect on social identity. Social identity affects the intention to engage in the metaverse community through psychological ownership, and its influence is reinforced by the perceived value of virtual assets.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.53-74
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• 2012

A challenge in fostering virtual communities is the continuous supply of knowledge, namely members' willingness to contribute knowledge to their communities. Previous research argues that giving away knowledge eventually causes the possessors of that knowledge to lose their unique value to others, benefiting all except the contributor. Furthermore, communication within virtual communities involves a large number of participants with different social backgrounds and perspectives. The establishment of mutual understanding to comprehend conversations and foster knowledge contribution in virtual communities is inevitably more difficult than face-to-face communication in a small group. In spite of these arguments, evidence suggests that individuals in virtual communities do engage in social behaviors such as knowledge contribution. It is important to understand why individuals provide their valuable knowledge to other community members without a guarantee of returns. In virtual communities, knowledge is inherently rooted in individual members' experiences and expertise. This personal nature of knowledge requires social interactions between virtual community members for knowledge transfer. This study employs the social capital theory in order to account for interpersonal relationship factors and identity theory for individual and group factors that may affect knowledge contribution. First, social capital is the relationship capital which is embedded within the relationships among the participants in a network and available for use when it is needed. Social capital is a productive resource, facilitating individuals' actions for attainment. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1997) identify three dimensions of social capital and explain theoretically how these dimensions affect the exchange of knowledge. Thus, social capital would be relevant to knowledge contribution in virtual communities. Second, existing research has addressed the importance of identity in facilitating knowledge contribution in a virtual context. Identity in virtual communities has been described as playing a vital role in the establishment of personal reputations and in the recognition of others. For instance, reputation systems that rate participants in terms of the quality of their contributions provide a readily available inventory of experts to knowledge seekers. Despite the growing interest in identities, however, there is little empirical research about how identities in the communities influence knowledge contribution. Therefore, the goal of this study is to better understand knowledge contribution by examining the roles of social capital and identity in virtual communities. Based on a theoretical framework of social capital and identity theory, we develop and test a theoretical model and evaluate our hypotheses. Specifically, we propose three variables such as cohesiveness, reciprocity, and commitment, referring to the social capital theory, as antecedents of knowledge contribution in virtual communities. We further posit that members with a strong identity (self-presentation and group identification) contribute more knowledge to virtual communities. We conducted a field study in order to validate our research model. We collected data from 192 members of virtual communities and used the PLS method to analyse the data. The tests of the measurement model confirm that our data set has appropriate discriminant and convergent validity. The results of testing the structural model show that cohesion, reciprocity, and self-presentation significantly influence knowledge contribution, while commitment and group identification do not significantly influence knowledge contribution. Our findings on cohesion and reciprocity are consistent with the previous literature. Contrary to our expectations, commitment did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This result may be due to the fact that knowledge contribution was voluntary in the virtual communities in our sample. Another plausible explanation for this result may be the self-selection bias for the survey respondents, who are more likely to contribute their knowledge to virtual communities. The relationship between self-presentation and knowledge contribution was found to be significant in virtual communities, supporting the results of prior literature. Group identification did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in this study, inconsistent with the wealth of research that identifies group identification as an important factor for knowledge sharing. This conflicting result calls for future research that examines the role of group identification in knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This study makes a contribution to theory development in the area of knowledge management in general and virtual communities in particular. For practice, the results of this study identify the circumstances under which individual factors would be effective for motivating knowledge contribution to virtual communities.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.205-227
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• 2023

Recently, Virtual Human(VH) has begun to appear in various media, not only on social media, but also in advertisements, music sources, and dramas. Virtual human has become a primary marketing tool for companies, but there also exist concerns when the companies do not disclose the identities of virtual humans. Accordingly, it is necessary to examine users' responses toward content that features virtual humans. This study aimed to examine how the exposure of virtual humans in the content affects users' perceptions. Therefore, the study defined the concept of 'VH Disclosure(VHD)', referring to the exposure of the virtual human's identity, and explored the impact of VH disclosure on attitude toward the ad (Hedonism, Utilitarianism, and Interestingness) and source credibility (Trustworthiness and Expertise). The study conducted an experimental survey with 302 respondents. Regardless of when the ad featured a VH or a human, the results showed that there was no significant difference between users' attitudes and source credibility. The results revealed that it was more effective to disclose the VH in social media feeds than directly reveal the VH's identity in the content. Therefore, this study utilizes a new concept of 'VH Disclosure(VHD)' to enhance the understanding of VH and contributes to establishing marketing strategies optimized for consumers in the creation of virtual human-related content.