The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The extended warming effect of social media: Examining whether the cognition of online audiences offline drives prosocial behavior in 'real life'

The extended warming effect of social media: Examining whether the cognition of online audiences offline drives prosocial behavior in 'real life'
The extended warming effect of social media: Examining whether the cognition of online audiences offline drives prosocial behavior in 'real life'

Online audiences (e.g. Facebook friends, Instagram followers) shape users' self-presentation online, but little is known about whether or not they impact users' actions in ‘reality’, so offline, when they are not engaged directly with a site interface. To bridge this gap, we provide the first investigation of the ‘extended warming effect’ of social media, a special form of a phenomenon in which saliency (cognition) of online audiences in offline encounters triggers impression management behavior in the pursuit of a more desirable online public image. Across two controlled experiments in the context of charity fundraising, we support the existence of the extended warming effect. We find that as online audiences become more salient, people show greater intentions of engaging in prosocial behavior offline (e.g. enhanced likelihood of making a donation). This effect is mediated by higher public self-awareness and extrinsic motivations. In addition, we find that the extended warming effect is amplified for more intense social media users. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Charity, Impression management, Prosocial, Self-awareness, Social media, Warming effect
0747-5632
1-9
Lavertu, Laura
ea1a832c-6652-4d85-bd20-85a672a1455e
Marder, Ben
6c556d4a-af17-4625-b03b-fe84159fdf2d
Erz, Antonia
f0fa9fc3-2a65-4efb-94c9-e04b33554130
Angell, Robert
ca8389e4-2a83-43a8-b331-c262eda37674
Lavertu, Laura
ea1a832c-6652-4d85-bd20-85a672a1455e
Marder, Ben
6c556d4a-af17-4625-b03b-fe84159fdf2d
Erz, Antonia
f0fa9fc3-2a65-4efb-94c9-e04b33554130
Angell, Robert
ca8389e4-2a83-43a8-b331-c262eda37674

Lavertu, Laura, Marder, Ben, Erz, Antonia and Angell, Robert (2020) The extended warming effect of social media: Examining whether the cognition of online audiences offline drives prosocial behavior in 'real life'. Computers in Human Behavior, 110, 1-9, [106389]. (doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106389).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Online audiences (e.g. Facebook friends, Instagram followers) shape users' self-presentation online, but little is known about whether or not they impact users' actions in ‘reality’, so offline, when they are not engaged directly with a site interface. To bridge this gap, we provide the first investigation of the ‘extended warming effect’ of social media, a special form of a phenomenon in which saliency (cognition) of online audiences in offline encounters triggers impression management behavior in the pursuit of a more desirable online public image. Across two controlled experiments in the context of charity fundraising, we support the existence of the extended warming effect. We find that as online audiences become more salient, people show greater intentions of engaging in prosocial behavior offline (e.g. enhanced likelihood of making a donation). This effect is mediated by higher public self-awareness and extrinsic motivations. In addition, we find that the extended warming effect is amplified for more intense social media users. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Text
CHB_Warming_revision_open_access - Accepted Manuscript
Download (143kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 13 April 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 14 April 2020
Published date: 1 September 2020
Keywords: Charity, Impression management, Prosocial, Self-awareness, Social media, Warming effect

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 441745
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441745
ISSN: 0747-5632
PURE UUID: 0a7817bd-6693-4c29-a5ba-f324eabf1bc5
ORCID for Robert Angell: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8554-2092

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 25 Jun 2020 16:48
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 04:11

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Laura Lavertu
Author: Ben Marder
Author: Antonia Erz
Author: Robert Angell ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×