The role of identification in soliciting social support in online communities

Zheng An and Luana Mendiola-Smith (University of Hawaii at Hilo, USA) and Jingbo Meng (Michigan State University, USA) published in Computers in Human Behavior Volume 104 (March 2020)

Highlights

• Support seeking narratives are conceptualised as persuasive acts.
• Support seeking narratives are contextualised in interpersonal conflict.
• Identification with the support seeker increased provision of social support.
• Identification with the perspectivising character increased external attribution.

Abstract

Narrative sharing is a common strategy for soliciting social support in online communities. Identification is a form of audience involvement and describes how individuals respond to mediated texts.

In two online surveys, this study tested the effects of identification in the context of support-seeking.

In Study 1 (N = 268), participants read a first-person support soliciting narrative that described emotional distress caused by an interpersonal conflict. Results showed that identification with the support seeker increased social support intention and behaviour

In Study 2 (N = 131), identification was manipulated by randomly assigning participants to read a narrative from the perspective of either the support seeker or the opposing character. When the narrative was told from the perspective of the opposing character, identification with the support seeker decreased significantly, and the opposing character was blamed less for causing the conflict

Implications for narrative persuasion in the context of support solicitation are discussed.

Labels:
support-seeking, narrative_persuasion, identification, attribution, interpersonal_conflict,

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