Role conceptions, performance, and the impact of credibility: Professionals’ and citizens’ views on citizen visual contributors

Abstract

Through two separate surveys targeting visual professionals (VP) and citizen visual contributors (CVC), we assess their views on citizen journalists’ roles along with their views on the likelihood to act on those views (i.e., role performance intention) in order to identify associations between perception and performance. The role that perceived media credibility plays in the assessment of role conceptions and potential role performance was also examined. Findings indicate that CVC rate their roles as significantly more important than the ratings of VP on citizens’ roles. Correlation analysis points to associations between the roles but misalignment in the relationship between conceptions and performance among CVC but alignment among VP. When looking at the impact of media credibility on role conceptions and performance, it is clear that perceived media credibility plays a significant role among the views of professionals. However, media credibility is not much of a factor in the assessments by CVC. Implications are discussed.