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‘Can I afford to help?’ How affordances of communication modalities guide bystanders' helping intentions towards harassment on social network sites

Author

Listed:
  • Sara Bastiaensens
  • Heidi Vandebosch
  • Karolien Poels
  • Katrien Van Cleemput
  • Ann DeSmet
  • Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij

Abstract

When bystanders want to help victims of harassment on social network sites, they can be guided by the affordances of different communication modalities in order to make a communicative choice. Elaborating on the data of a previous experimental study with 453 adolescents, we compared bystanders’ behavioural intentions to help the victim according to their ‘mediacy’ (via communication technologies (CT) or face-to-face) and their ‘privacy’ (in public or in private). Furthermore, we investigated whether the context of the harassing incident (incident severity, identity and behaviour of other bystanders) influenced the ‘mediacy’ and ‘privacy’ of bystanders’ helping intentions. The results showed that in general bystanders had higher behavioural intentions to help the victim in private (vs. in public) and via CT (vs. face-to-face). While incident severity influenced the ‘mediacy’ of bystanders’ helping intentions, the identity and behaviour of other bystanders affected the ‘privacy’ of their helping intentions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Bastiaensens & Heidi Vandebosch & Karolien Poels & Katrien Van Cleemput & Ann DeSmet & Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij, 2015. "‘Can I afford to help?’ How affordances of communication modalities guide bystanders' helping intentions towards harassment on social network sites," Behaviour and Information Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 425-435, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:tbitxx:v:34:y:2015:i:4:p:425-435
    DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2014.983979
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