Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-3-1905
Abstract
Social networking platforms, systems designed to provide digital content services specifically for social network sites, continue to develop through a rapid combination of components forming a service ecology that is much more than a single tool or service. In spite of this development, the most widely utilized theories of technology adoption and usage have focused on single user level tool adoption which limits their explanatory power of services platforms. These platforms have experienced tremendously rapid growth rates and the current state-of-the-art research attempts to explain this phenomenon through an economic or network effect lens, which fall short in explaining individual or social antecedents driving this phenomenon. Filling these gaps, the present study identifies social and technological factors that influence widespread and fast adoption of digital services on social networking platforms. Our findings suggest that (a) perceived usefulness has a strong, positive effect on predicting two critical elements of social contagion - fan out and retention, and (b) individual behaviors of voyeurism and exhibitionism and the platform processes of co-creation and co-production provide a stronger explanation of social contagion on social networking platforms than single-user focused technology adoption theories. This study makes an important theoretical contribution by articulating the impact of social factors on fan out and retention on social networking sites thus offering new vistas to examine digital platform growth and the diffusion of digital services.
Keywords
social contagion, social networking, platforms, co-creation, co-production, voyeurism, exhibitionism
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Recommended Citation
Fisher, Michael, "The Antecedents of Social Contagion on Social Networking Platforms" (1905). Student Scholarship. 432.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/432