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Curating social image : Experimental evidence on the value of actions and selfies

Holm, Hakan J. LU and Samahita, Margaret LU (2018) In Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 148. p.83-104
Abstract
We manipulate the information subjects can share on the web concerning socially sensitive actions (public good contribution) and visibility (selfie) to determine the effect on social image, as captured by the price subjects demand for publication. Our novel design incorporates aspects of social media interaction including limited anonymity and the possibility to manipulate published information in retrospect, which involves a controled decision-making process. The overall conclusion from the experiment is that theory about social reputation can predict subjects’ social-signaling behavior. People take costly decisions to curate their social image online. We also report results of a more exploratory nature and find that taking a selfie has a... (More)
We manipulate the information subjects can share on the web concerning socially sensitive actions (public good contribution) and visibility (selfie) to determine the effect on social image, as captured by the price subjects demand for publication. Our novel design incorporates aspects of social media interaction including limited anonymity and the possibility to manipulate published information in retrospect, which involves a controled decision-making process. The overall conclusion from the experiment is that theory about social reputation can predict subjects’ social-signaling behavior. People take costly decisions to curate their social image online. We also report results of a more exploratory nature and find that taking a selfie has a strong negative impact on cooperation among frequent selfie takers, but not on other subjects. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
social image, selfie, cooperation, signaling, social media, dual process theory, C90, C91, D80, D82
in
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
volume
148
pages
83 - 104
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85042273584
ISSN
0167-2681
DOI
10.1016/j.jebo.2018.02.008
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
135610f5-80d1-4d21-b954-314975c627c8
date added to LUP
2018-03-01 10:56:06
date last changed
2023-04-08 08:08:33
@article{135610f5-80d1-4d21-b954-314975c627c8,
  abstract     = {{We manipulate the information subjects can share on the web concerning socially sensitive actions (public good contribution) and visibility (selfie) to determine the effect on social image, as captured by the price subjects demand for publication. Our novel design incorporates aspects of social media interaction including limited anonymity and the possibility to manipulate published information in retrospect, which involves a controled decision-making process. The overall conclusion from the experiment is that theory about social reputation can predict subjects’ social-signaling behavior. People take costly decisions to curate their social image online. We also report results of a more exploratory nature and find that taking a selfie has a strong negative impact on cooperation among frequent selfie takers, but not on other subjects.}},
  author       = {{Holm, Hakan J. and Samahita, Margaret}},
  issn         = {{0167-2681}},
  keywords     = {{social image; selfie; cooperation; signaling; social media; dual process theory; C90; C91; D80; D82}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{83--104}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization}},
  title        = {{Curating social image : Experimental evidence on the value of actions and selfies}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.02.008}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jebo.2018.02.008}},
  volume       = {{148}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}