Antecedents of Self-Disclosure on Social Networking Sites (SNSs): A Study of Facebook Users

Abstract

Self-disclosure on social networking sites (SNSs) leads to social capital development, connectedness, and relationship building. Due to several benefits associated with this behavior, self-disclosure has become a subject of research over the last few years. The current study investigates the antecedents of self-disclosure under the lens of the technology acceptance model (TAM). The research is quantitative, and the data were collected from 400 Pakistani Facebook users with a variety of demographic characteristics. The partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) analysis technique was employed to analyze the data. The study′s findings confirmed that perceived usefulness is a strong predictor of personal information sharing, and it along with other variables causes a 31% variation in self-disclosure behavior. However, trust (medium and social) mediates the relationshipof perceived usefulness, privacy concerns, and self-disclosure behavior.