Antecedents of impression management motivations on social network sites and their link to social anxiety

ABSTRACTAlthough many aspects of impression management on a social network site have been examined, there remain important but understudied aspects. One such aspect concerns the factors leading to the motivation to impress others. In this study, we examined how an individual’s psychological and contextual factors were associated with the degree to which he or she was motivated to impress others on Facebook. We also studied whether one’s motivation to impress others on Facebook was related to the degree to which he or she feels socially anxious on the site. Analyzing the survey responses of 708 South Koreans, we found that the level of motivation to impress others on Facebook was positively correlated with public self-consciousness, the perceived importance of others, and the fear of negative evaluations on Facebook. We also found that the motivation to impress others on Facebook was positively associated with social anxiety on Facebook.