Abstract
Research on online support has largely overlooked the role of self-disclosure in support provision. By manipulating the level of social context cues in a support-seeker’s online profile, this study examined how social context cues affected a support-provider’s self-disclosure in an online support forum. Results of the experiment supported the “social context cues—perceived social presence—trust—self-disclosure” model with regard to descriptive self-disclosure but not with regard to evaluative self-disclosure.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Siyue Li
Siyue (April) Li (Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 2015) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University.
Bo Feng
Bo Feng (Ph.D., Purdue University, 2006) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Davis.
Na Li
Na Li (M.A., University of California, Davis, 2013) was a graduate student in the Department of Communication at University of California, Davis.
Xuan Tan
Xuan Tan (M.A., University of California, Davis, 2011) was a graduate student in the Department of Communication at the University of California–Davis.