Why Do Adults Engage in Cyberbullying on Social Media? An Integration of Online Disinhibition and Deindividuation Effects with the Social Structure and Social Learning Model

Author List: Lowry, Paul Benjamin; Zhang, Jun; Wang, Chuang; Siponen, Mikko;
Information Systems Research, 2016, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 962-986.
The dramatic increase in social media use has challenged traditional social structures and shifted a great deal of interpersonal communication from the physical world to cyberspace. Much of this social media communication has been positive: Anyone around the world who has access to the Internet has the potential to communicate with and attract a massive global audience. Unfortunately, such ubiquitous communication can be also used for negative purposes such as cyberbullying, which is the focus of this paper. Previous research on cyberbullying, consisting of 135 articles, has improved the understanding of why individualsÑmostly adolescentsÑengage in cyberbullying. However, our study addresses two key gaps in this literature: (1) how the information technology (IT) artifact fosters/inhibits cyberbullying and (2) why people are socialized to engage in cyberbullying. To address these gaps, we propose the social media cyberbullying model (SMCBM), which modifies Akers' [Akers RL (2011) Social Learning and Social Structure: A General Theory of Crime and Deviance, 2nd ed. (Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ)] social structure and social learning model. Because Akers developed his model for crimes in the physical world, we add a rich conceptualization of anonymity composed of five subconstructs as a key social media structural variable in the SMCBM to account for the IT artifact. We tested the SMCBM with 1,003 adults who have engaged in cyberbullying. The empirical findings support the SMCBM. Heavy social media use combined with anonymity facilitates the social learning process of cyberbullying in social media in a way that fosters cyberbullying. Our results indicate new directions for cyberbullying research and implications for anticyberbullying practices.
Keywords: cyberbullying; cyberstalking; cyberharassment; social media; social media cyberbullying model; SMCBM; neutralization; anonymity; disinhibition; deindividuation; differential association; differential reinforcement; definition; imitation; social structure and social learning model; SSSL model; social learning; social learning theory; SLT
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#234 0.179 social networks influence presence interactions network media networking diffusion implications individuals people results exchange paper sites evidence self-disclosure important examine
#108 0.165 model research data results study using theoretical influence findings theory support implications test collected tested based empirical empirically context paper
#131 0.101 media social content user-generated ugc blogs study online traditional popularity suggest different discourse news making anonymity marketing videos choices page
#160 0.075 mobile telecommunications devices wireless application computing physical voice phones purchases ubiquitous applications conceptualization secure pervasive differential usability increasing local location
#203 0.065 communication media computer-mediated e-mail richness electronic cmc mail medium message performance convergence used communications messages face-to-face findings participants results work
#188 0.061 processes interaction new interactions temporal structure research emergent process theory address temporally core discussion focuses area underlying deep structures way
#95 0.059 learning mental conceptual new learn situated development working assumptions improve ess existing investigates capture advanced proposes types context building acquisition
#120 0.055 virtual world worlds co-creation flow users cognitive life settings environment place environments augmented second intention spatial interactivity ownership objects immersive