Authors
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Valerie Barker
School of Journalism and Media Studies
San Diego State University
Keywords:
self efficacy, credibility, site features, flow
Abstract
Increasing engagement with other users and online content is an important goal for digital and social media managers. Through such involvement educators, brands, and organizations seek to achieve desired outcomes. Thus, in the current study, the concept of flow (intense involvement and engagement) is of interest as the focal dependent variable. An online survey (N = 888) was used to measure three potential antecedents to flow: perceptions about self-efficacy, social networking site credibility and site features. The findings indicated that self-efficacy predicted flow for social networking site users when they experienced positive perceptions about site features and credibility. This outcome underscores the value of user-friendly site features, and beliefs about site credibility in facilitating optimal involvement with social networking site content.
Author Biography
Valerie Barker, School of Journalism and Media Studies
San Diego State University
Dr. Valerie Barker is the chair of the
JMS Digital & Social Media Research Project in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University. Her most recent research focuses on the processes underlying and outcomes from interaction with various web genre – especially social networking sites. As well, she has investigated the social identity processes associated with social networking sites with regard to the role of
gender,
culture, and
age. Additionally, Dr. Barker's research has focused upon intergroup surveillance and contact via social media (i.e., lurking on Facebook). Other research strings involve two broad areas of intergroup communication: the role of language in social identity, and intergenerational communication from an intergroup perspective. Dr. Barker's publications have appeared in
New Media and Society, Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking , the
Journal of Communication ,
Health Communication , the
International Journal of Aging and Human Development ,
Journal of Intercultural Communication Research , and the
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development . Additionally, she has authored book chapters with Howard Giles and colleagues as well as numerous conference papers (which include 13 top paper awards).
