An Empirical Study on the Motivations of Individuals’ Retweeting Intention on Sina Weibo

Abstract

Users’ retweeting behavior is critical to information dissemination on SNS and has obtained lots of attention from both academia and industry. Researcher have identified lots of factors that have a significant impact on individuals’ sharing behavior. However, few research has been conducted on the motivations of individuals’ sharing behavior. In the current work, we carry out a questionnaire study to explore the motivations of Sina weibo users’ sharing behavior. 303 Sina Weibo users participate in the survey. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) show that both online persona consistency and perceived reputation enhancement positively mediate the relationship between topical familiarity and individual sharing intention. What's more, online persona consistency is stronger than perceived reputation enhancement in driving individuals’ daily retweeting behavior on Sina Weibo.