Social Computing: An Examination of Self, Social, and Use Factors

Thisarticleexplorestheinfluenceofsocial,self,andusefactorsontheintentiontoperformsocial computingactionsinonlinesocialsites.Asurveywasconductedusingpeer-to-peerfilesharingas representativeofasocialcomputingaction.Collecteddatawasanalyzedusingthestructuralequation modelingmethodwithpartialleastsquares.Thesefindingsshowthatsocialcomputingconsensus andsocialcomputingcooperationare important social factors thathavesignificant influenceon theformationofsocialnorms,whichinturnincreasestheintentionofmemberstoperformsocial computingactions.Interestingly,thewidelytestedusefactorsperceivedusefulnessandperceived easeofusehavenosignificanteffectuponauser’sintentiontoperformsocialcomputingactions. Furthermore,whilesocialnormshavesignificantinfluenceuponauser’sintentiontoperformsocial computing actions, self-identity has no significant impact. These findings lead to academic and practicalimplicationsontheefficacyofsocial,self,andusefactorsinfurtheringunderstandingof socialcomputing. KEywoRdS Partial Least Squares, Peer-to-Peer, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Social Computing Consensus, Social Computing, Social Computing Cooperation, Structural Equation Modeling