Information sharing behaviour on blogs in Taiwan: Effects of interactivities and gender differences

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1 Information sharing behaviour on blogs in Taiwan: Effects of interactivities and gender differences Hsi-Peng Lu Department of Information Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC Judy Chuan-Chuan Lin Department of Computer Science and Information Management, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC Kuo-Lun Hsiao Department of Information Management, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC Li-Ting Cheng Department of Information Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC Abstract. Although blog service providers have developed and promoted various interactive functions of their blog platforms, effects of the interactivities on posting behaviour are still vague. Based on past literature, we proposed an information sharing behaviour model involving three types of interactivities, flow and satisfaction. A survey of 586 blog owners demonstrated strong support for the model. The results indicated that flow and satisfaction were positively affected by various types of interactivities and influenced the information sharing behaviour. Furthermore, gender differences in the relationships among interactivities, flow and satisfaction were found. Finally, the implications of this research were discussed. Keywords: blogs; gender differences; flow; information sharing behaviour; interactivity; satisfaction Correspondence to: Kuo-Lun Hsiao, No 59, Hengshan Raod, Yanchao Township, Kaohsiung County 824, Taiwan, ROC. h @gmail.com Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), Reprints and Permissions: DOI: /

2 1. Introduction A weblog (a blog ) is a new type of media that has become popular among groups and users on the world wide web. According to Sifry [1], the founder and CEO of Technorati, the number of blogs tracked by Technorati ( surged from 57 million in October 2006 to 70 million in April Moreover, the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) in Taiwan reported that blogging was the third most popular entertainment activity on the internet, in Taiwan, based on a survey conducted in Blogs represent a great example of Web 2.0, a second generation of the world wide web which focuses on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online [2, 3]. They have been adopted by information professionals and businesses [4]. On the blogging platforms, the contents created and shared by blog owners may attract more visitors or members and even bring possible advertisement opportunities which eventually lead to profits. Du and Wagner [5] also confirmed that blogger-created content is the key to a successful blogging platform. Nevertheless, about 50% of blog owners seldom share information [6]. Thus, the antecedents of posting behaviour on blogs merit further investigations. Among the determinants of using web systems, users satisfaction and flow are considered to be relatively important [7, 8]. In the context of a blog, the continuous usage of blog owners may lead to frequent posting behaviour. Moreover, interactivity was identified to be one of the most important antecedents to users satisfaction and flow [9 12], and it is also one of the functions in realizing the core value of Web 2.0 (i.e. collaboration and sharing). Therefore, blog service providers (BSPs) have been developing new interactive functions or services in the hope of increasing users satisfaction and flow which, in turn, would lead to blog usage and posting. Although prior research has demonstrated that some individual motivations (e.g. outcome expectations, self-efficacy, enjoyment in helping others, reciprocity and community interest) would influence sharing behaviour [13 16], how users interactive experiences and positive attitudes (e.g. flow and satisfaction) toward web systems affect their information sharing behaviours is seldom discussed. Thus, as important as they may seem in shaping the sharing behaviour, the effect of satisfaction and flow on blog posting behaviour and the influence of interactivity on the satisfaction and flow still remain unclear. Furthermore, previous studies have revealed that gender differences exist in the use of blogs [17 19] but few studies, if any, examined if gender moderates the influence of interactivity on the satisfaction and flow. Consequently, the purpose of the study is twofold. First, we examine the impact of flow and satisfaction on the blog owners information sharing behaviour. Second, we investigate the relationships among interactivity, flow and satisfaction and explore gender differences in those relationships. The empirical findings of this study could contribute to the future development of blog platforms. 2. Background 2.1. Flow theory and the importance of flow Csikszentmihalyi [20] introduced the concept of flow and defined it as the holistic experience that people feel when they act with total involvement. He further emphasized that flow is the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it [21, p. 4]. Applying the theory of flow, previous studies show that users do experience flow in online environments [22, 23]. During network navigation, Novak et al. [23] found that nearly 50% of users have had flow experience online and viewed it as a cognitive state, which was determined by high levels of skill and control, high levels of challenge, arousal and focused attention, and could be enhanced by interactivity and telepresence. Moon and Kim [24] also found that those who use the internet and experience playfulness on it were more absorbed and interested in the interaction on the website Interactivity and its classification Interactivity is defined as the degree to which participants had control over a communication process and could exchange roles in their mutual discourse [25]. Past research has shown that interactivity Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

3 enhances users engagements and would increase the appeal of websites [26 28]. By adding interactivity to a website, designers could improve users positive attitudes [29]. Much attention has been drawn to the classification of interactivity in an online environment. Based on previous studies [30 36], the interactivity of the blogging platform can be categorized into three types of interactions: human - system interaction (HSI); human - message interaction (HMI); human - human interaction (HHI). HSI is described as the degree to which users believe that they can easily share information via interacting with the functions of the platform, such as posting articles, uploading photos or videos, and style management. Many researchers posited that machine interactivity provides users with the ability to modify the form or content of a mediated environment [30, 31, 37]. Also, Boulos and Wheeler [3] opined that a blog was a simple content management tool which enables non-experts to create easily updatable web diaries or online journals. Thus, HSI becomes important in adopting blogging-related activities. HMI, on the other hand, is identified as the degree to which users believe that they can effectively find or browse information via interacting with the functions of the platform, such as category and keyword search within the platform, title/content search within a blog, and trackback. Bettman et al. [38] believed that interactivity could improve information search, and immediate response has been viewed as an important dimension of interactivity [32 34]. HHI is conceptualized as the degree to which users believe that they can easily communicate with others via interacting with the functions of the platform, such as guestbooks, comments and friend lists. Interpersonal communication has been seen as one type of online interactivity [35 37]. In general, it is believed that the use of wikis, blogs and podcasts could enrich online social interactions Gender differences in an internet-related context Prior research has indicated that gender is an influential variable in predicting internet usage behaviours [39, 40]. Tannen [41] found that females more often viewed computer-mediated communication as a place to post questions and came to a consensus of understanding, whereas males were more likely to get and give information by using it. Weiser [42] concluded that males used the web for entertainment, shopping and functional purposes, such as research, while females used it to enrich interpersonal communication. Other researchers also believed that males had more positive attitudes towards internet technologies than females [43, 44]. In the context of blog, Schler et al. [17] asserted that female bloggers used more words than males, whereas male bloggers used more hyperlinks than females. Nowson and Oberlander [45] stated that female bloggers spent more efforts blogging than males. In addition, it was found that women tended to describe themselves on blogs and were more interested in the social aspects of blogging [18, 19]. Thus, because of preference differences between males and females, the influence of the different interactivities of blogs on flow and satisfaction may be dissimilar. 3. Research framework Figure 1 presents the research model. The rationale of the model is explained below Flow, satisfaction and information sharing behaviour Satisfaction was defined as the user s comfort with, and positive attitude towards, the use of a computer application or a website [11]. Researchers found that user satisfaction affected not only the use of a Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

4 Fig. 1. Research model. system but also the experience sharing intention [46 48]. In addition, Siekpe [49] asserted that flow, which is a psychological state in which people are so involved in an activity, could enhance the visitor experience and might result in a future return to the site, and Liao [7] also found that flow brought about positive attitudes and behaviours. Therefore, we expect that information sharing behaviour, defined as the degree of frequency to which users post their personal or impersonal information with other people on their blogs, will be influenced by satisfaction and flow experience. Moreover, researchers have confirmed that there was a positive relationship between flow and user attitudes toward computer-mediated communication technologies [50, 51]. Thus, we propose the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Information sharing behaviour is positively influenced by the degree of satisfaction. Hypothesis 2: Information sharing behaviour is positively influenced by the degree of flow. Hypothesis 3: The degree of satisfaction is positively influenced by the degree of flow Interactivity Because internet services require a higher level of interactivity in comparison with other traditional media, many researchers adopt uses and gratification theory to explore the needs individuals are meeting by using the services [52 54]. It suggests that users selection and continual use of services is based on their needs or uses satisfaction or gratification. Users have a variety of needs to use the internet (social, work, communication with friends, etc.), which lead to different degrees of exposure to internet applications and result in varying levels of gratification, pleasure experience and involvement. In particular, the gratification on the internet can be characterized into three types: internet process gratification, internet content gratification, and internet social gratification. Content gratification concerns the messages carried by the internet; process gratification concerns actual use of the internet; and social gratification concerns use of the internet as a social environment [55]. According to the theory of uses, gratifications and prior research, interactivity enhances users engagements and would increase the appeal of the websites [26 28]. By adding interactivity to a website, website designers could improve users positive attitudes, such as satisfaction [56]. Based on previous studies, the interactivity of the blogging platform could be categorized into three types of interactions: namely HSI, HMI and HHI. These interactivities could satisfy users different needs. For example, search engine and surfing (HMI) can increase the process gratifications; uploading photo and style management (HSI) can raise the content gratifications; online chatting can enhance the social gratifications (HHI). Moreover, through these interactivities, users involvement and flow experience could also be increased on the internet. Prior research has recognized the causal relationship between interactivity and satisfaction [11, 29, 57]. In online environments, researchers [58, 59] showed that interactivity played an essential role in users satisfaction. In addition, studies also confirmed that higher levels of interactivity would result in more flow experience [9, 10]. In other words, while internet users interact with web Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

5 services and other users, they may feel enjoyment and absorption which lead to time distortion [10]. Consequently, the following hypotheses are proposed. Hypothesis 4a, 4b and 4c: The degree of satisfaction is positively influenced by the degree of HSI, HMI and HHI. Hypothesis 5a, 5b and 5c: The degree of flow is positively influenced by the degree of HSI, HMI and HHI Gender Past studies have indicated that gender is an influential variable in predicting blog use [19, 60]. Lu and Hsiao [19] demonstrated that the relationships between motivation factors and intention to post information on blogs would be moderated by gender. Moreover, Pedersen and Macafee [60] indicated that males and females blog usage behaviours are different. Women tended to describe themselves and valued social interaction on blogs while men tended to be more interested in information and opinion. Particularly, female bloggers also tended to belong to larger numbers of blog rings. Therefore, females may have preference for HHI and HSI of blog platforms whereas males tend to use HMI to search for information. In other words, the interactions may have different effects on males and females satisfaction and flow. Based on the literature discussed, three further hypotheses are stated as follows: Hypothesis 6: Gender differences will moderate the relationship between interactivity and satisfaction. Hypothesis 7: Gender differences will moderate the relationship between interactivity and flow. Hypothesis 8: Information sharing behaviour will be influenced by gender. 4. Research method 4.1. Measurement instruments For all the measures discussed below, a five-point Likert scale was used, with anchors ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Most of the items were slightly modified to fit the blog context. HSI was assessed based on the scale developed by Liao [7]. HMI was assessed based on the scale proposed by Wu and Chang [10]. The measures for HHI were developed from Flanagin and Metzger s [61] study. Additionally, flow was measured with the four items taken from Huizingh and Hoekstra [62]. Satisfaction was measured with the three-item scale developed by Olsen [63]. Items for measuring sharing behaviour were adapted from Hsu et al. s [64] measurement of knowledge sharing behaviour Pre-test and pilot test The participants of the pre-test involved two e-commerce experts and 16 graduate students who had their own blog(s). They were asked to complete the research questionnaire and comment on the items. The questionnaire was revised in accordance with their feedbacks. To reduce the possible ambiguity of the items in the questionnaire, it was posted onto the blog board on PTT Bulletin Board System (BBS) (the most popular BBS in Taiwan) for a pilot test. This pilot test involved 150 volunteer bloggers. Accordingly, few wordings of the items were modified Data collection and demographics The target subjects were the individuals who owned blogs on WRETCH ( According to the statistics of Alexa.com in 2008 ( WRETCH was ranked first of the top 100 websites in Taiwan, and it is also the most popular blog website in Taiwan based on a survey Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

6 conducted by InsightXplorer in July A private invitation message about the survey was left on the guestbook of the blogs selected by WRETCH s random select function. To increase blog owners incentives to fill out this survey, the respondents were offered the chance to win a gift worth NT$200 (approximately US$6). Three thousand five hundred invitation messages were left. After eliminating incomplete or repeated cases, 699 responses were received. The response rate was nearly 20%. Since this study focused on the behavioural study of active bloggers, we only selected the subjects that update their blogs at least once a week. Consequently, 586 responses of active bloggers were left to examine the research model. Among these subjects, 145 (24.7%) were male and 441 (75.3%) were female. The demographics profile and blog using experiences of samples are given in Table 1. The functions used by bloggers are shown in Table 2 and were categorized according to the definitions of three interactions in this study. 5. Data analysis and results The proposed research model was tested by using the method of partial least squares regression (PLS). PLS is a structural equation modelling technique that simultaneously assesses the reliability and validity of the measures of theoretical constructs and estimates the relationships among these Table 1 Demographics profile Frequency Percentage (%) Gender Female Male Age < > Education Below secondary High school or equivalent College/university Graduate school or above Occupation Student Military Home maker Office worker Self-employment Other Account life Less than 3 months months months years years years or more The frequency of updating blogs 1-2 times a week times a week About once a day Several times a day Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

7 Table 2 Functions frequently used on blogs Male (%) Female (%) Entire (%) Human-system Post articles, article management Upload photos, album management Style management Music management Upload videos, video management Other Human-message Title/content search within a blog Category search within the platform Keyword search within the platform Change view mode Message search within a blog Trackback RSS Condition search within the platform Other Human-human Recent visitors Guestbook Comment Friend list Visiting card Other constructs. PLS approach allows researchers to assess measurement model parameters and structural path coefficients, and is widely used in information science research [16, 65, 66]. Different from covariance-based structural equation modelling, PLS focuses on maximizing the variance of the dependent variables explained by the independent ones in place of reproducing the empirical covariance matrix [67]. The advantages of PLS are minimal restrictions on measurement scales, sample size and residual distributions [68]. For the relatively smaller sub-sample size (N Male = 145), it is considered to be the most appropriate analysis technique for this study Measurement model assessment The reliabilities of the items of the reflective measures were examined by checking the standardized loadings of the items. The minimal indicator-construct loading in this study was between 0.78 and 0.9, all higher than the recommended cut-off of 0.70 [69] in Table 3. Convergent validity was assessed by examining Cronbach s alpha, composite reliability and average variance extracted (AVE) from the measures [70]. Table 4 shows that the composite reliabilities and Cronbach s alpha for the measures were above the threshold of 0.7, and the AVE of our scales ranged from to 0.799, which were above the recommended value of 0.5 [69]. The discriminant validity of the scales was assessed by comparing the square root of the AVE with the correlations among the six constructs [69]. It was recommended that the square root of the AVE for each construct should exceed the correlation between any pair of distinct constructs [71]. The results in Table 5 show that the validity was adequate. The overall statistics allow us to conclude that the constructs have reasonable reliability and validity. Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

8 Table 3 Descriptive statistics Construct/indicators Mean SD Loading Sharing behaviour SB SB SB Satisfaction Sa Sa Sa Flow F F F F Human-system interaction HSI HSI HSI Human-message interaction HMI HMI HMI Human-human interaction HHI HHI HHI Table 4 Analysis of convergent validity Construct Cronbach s alpha Composite reliability Average variance extracted SB SAT Flow HSI HMI HHI HHI: human-human interaction; HMI: human-message interaction; HSI: human-system interaction; SAT: satisfaction; SB: sharing behaviour. Table 5 Analysis of discriminant validity SB SAT Flow HSI HMI HHI SB SAT Flow HSI HMI HHI HHI: human-human interaction; HMI: human-message interaction; HSI: human-system interaction; SAT: satisfaction; SB: sharing behaviour. Note: The diagonal elements show the square root of the average variance extracted. The off diagonal elements show the correlations between constructs. Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

9 There is a general agreement among researchers that common method bias is a potential problem in behavioural research because it is one of the main sources of measurement error which threatens the validity of conclusions about relationships between measures. Therefore, we used Harman onefactor test to check the common method problem [72 74]. A confirmatory factor analysis of the dependent and independent variables conducted by using Amos 7.0 resulted in the expected sixfactor solution (RMR = 0.04; NFI = 0.94; CFI = 0.93; TLI = 0.95) and was superior to the one-factor model (RMR = 0.11; NFI = 0.60; CFI = 0.63; TLI = 0.57). These goodness of fit statistics suggest common method bias is unlikely to be a concern for our data Model testing Figure 2 presents a graphical depiction of the PLS results, which shows the standardized path coefficients among the constructs and the variance explained (R 2 ). A bootstrapping approach, where 100 random samples of observation were generated from the original dataset, was used to test hypotheses. The results demonstrated that all path coefficients were significant. The results showed that the information sharing behaviour was predominantly determined by satisfaction (β = 0.603, t = ) and flow (β = 0.089, t = 2.261). Flow experience was also found to have a significant positive association with satisfaction (β = 0.423, t = ). Hence, hypotheses 1, 2 and 3 were supported. The results also showed that satisfaction was positively affected by HSI (β = 0.239, t = 4.322), HMI (β = 0.108, t = 2.372), and HHI (β = 0.172, t = 3.923), supporting hypotheses 4a, 4b and 4c. Similarly, flow experience was positively influenced by HSI (β = 0.121, t = 2.313), HMI (β = 0.134, t = 2.778), and HHI (β = 0.223, t = 4.723). Thus, hypotheses 5a, 5b and 5c were full supported. Moreover, gender had a significant effect on information sharing behaviour (β = 0.039, t = 1.655). Hypothesis 8 was supported as well. In conclusion, 15.5%, 50.3% and 43.2% of the variance of flow, satisfaction and information sharing behaviour was explained respectively. To examine whether gender might moderate the influence of interactivity on flow and satisfaction, a multi-group analysis was conducted. The original data were separated into two groups (N Male = 145, N Female = 441) and were tested respectively. The results of the PLS analysis are presented in Table 6. Among the six hypothesized relationships, only three path coefficients were significant for males (HSIàSAT, HHIàSAT, HMIàFlow), while six hypothesized paths were significant for females (HMIàSAT, HHIàSAT, HSIàSAT, HMIàFlow, HHIàFlow, HSIàFlow). The results showed that HSI had significant impact on satisfaction for both males and females. Nevertheless, HHI and HMI were found to have different influences on satisfaction and flow for males and females. For example, HHI and HMI had a stronger influence on female satisfaction (t = and 2.266) while HMI affected male flow more significantly (t = 2.976). This finding provided evidence that gender differences might cause a significant difference in the impact of the interactivities on satisfaction and flow. Thus, hypothesis 6 and hypothesis 7 were supported. 6. Discussion This study divided interactivity of blog platforms into three interactions and examined the impacts of them on active blog owners flow experiences, satisfaction towards using blogs and sharing behaviour. It also explored the influence of gender on information sharing behaviour and gender differences in the impacts of the interactivity on flow and satisfaction. All hypotheses were supported in this study. Overall, the results show that the model demonstrates good predictive power and explains information sharing behaviour. It was found that blog owners who engaged in HHI were most likely to experience flow. As past research has confirmed, two-way communication could increase the flow status during the process of interactions [51, 75], and the functions which are easy to interact with others would lead to increased levels of flow experience as well [37]. For example, the guestbook and comment functions allow bloggers to communicate with each other via one-to-one, one-to-many, even many-to-many Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

10 Fig. 2. Hypothesis testing results (Coding: male=1). Table 6 T-tests for multi-group analysis Males Females Hypothesis b t-statistics b t-statistics H6 HSIàSAT 0.293*** *** HMIàSAT ** HHIàSAT 0.179* *** H7 HSIàFlow ** HMIàFlow 0.245*** * HHIàFlow *** Note: ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1 communications. When bloggers concentrate on replying to other viewers messages or comments, the high intensity of flow experience will ensue. In addition, the results demonstrated that HSI and HHI had more influences on user satisfaction among the three interactions. It indicated that the functions of posting information and communicating with others are more essential for active blog owners. In the past, the static websites containing text, graphics, or perhaps multimedia, and links to other websites [76] were read-only. Recently, the promotion of the interaction between human and system in blog context enable bloggers not only to read but also to edit the contents of the websites. Zhang and von Dran [77] posited that users who had abilities to control the interaction with websites would feel satisfied. By posting articles, uploading photos or videos on the blogging platform, blog authors may acquire more chances to communicate with other people, and be satisfied while they get feedback from visitors. In other words, bloggers could widen the audience through posting their creative content on blogs. Thus, the sociability and the sense of community could enhance the sense of satisfaction. Furthermore, compared with three interactions, flow seemed to be the largest predictor of user satisfaction. Blog owners who have flow experiences while using the functions of blog platforms tend to have more satisfaction on the blog services. This echoed Ghani s [78] findings that flow was associated with user satisfaction and the acceptance of information technology. Additionally, our results also provided support for the impacts of flow and satisfaction on information sharing behaviour, which suggests that blog owners who have experienced flow and a higher degree of satisfaction demonstrate more frequent posting behaviours. Past studies also found that flow and positive attitude were important factors influencing intention to accept and use blogs [79] [80]. Although the direct effect of flow on behaviour was weaker than that of satisfaction in this study, the indirect effect of flow was strong (0.423 x = 0.255). The flow feelings of blog owners should be valued Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

11 as well in order to enhance their information sharing behaviours. In addition to flow and satisfaction, gender seems to be the other important predictor of sharing behaviour. The result showed that males are more inclined to share information on their blogs. Finally, gender difference was found to affect the impact of interactivities on flow and satisfaction in this study. According to Table 6, male blog owners flow experience was affected by HMI, while female blog owners was mainly influenced by HHI. Moreover, the effect of HSI on flow is stronger for females than for males (t = and 1.512). This result is consistent with prior studies implicating that males prefer HMI whereas females focus more on HHI and HSI. The reasons may be that males are more likely to use the web to search for information while females use it to enrich interpersonal communication [42]. On the blogging platform, male bloggers search information by category, message, trackback, and condition functions and even use RSS to keep up with other blogs more than female bloggers (see Table 2). When male bloggers search for information in the blogosphere, they may be totally absorbed by using blogs and are not aware of how long they had already been there due to the interconnections among numerous blogs. On the contrary, female bloggers prefer to know who has visited their blogs recently, and use friend list and visiting card functions more frequently than male bloggers to connect with others (see Table 2). Past research also suggested that men are more avid consumers than women of online information while women are more enthusiastic online communicators [60]. Accordingly, HMI and HHI could fulfil both males and females needs respectively and increase their flow experience of using blogs. On the other hand, although females were expected to exhibit stronger effects on satisfaction from HSI and HHI while males from HMI, the results of this study had revealed somewhat different findings. It was found that the effects of HMI and HHI on satisfaction were stronger for female blog owners than for males, while HSI showed significant influence on satisfaction for both males and females. The possible explanation for these differences might be in part due to the fact that men are more task-oriented when using IT while women are more eager for online social interaction [81]. In the context of blogging, HMI and HHI can help enhance the effectiveness of social contacts, which fulfil the needs of females and thus results in satisfaction. Moreover, this inconsistent outcome may also be due to the fact that most responses are from active blog users (77% of them update their blogs at least three times a week), and HSI provides a helpful tool to update blogs for both active male and female users. Consequently, HSI is an important factor in shaping active users satisfaction. 7. Implications 7.1. Implications for academic researchers From the theoretical standpoint, our research model demonstrated the influences of the interactivities of blog platforms on information sharing behaviour. The test results indicated that three types of interactivities affected information sharing behaviour on blogs through flow and satisfaction of using blog platforms. The results re-confirmed the significant impact of flow and satisfaction on the using and sharing behaviours as well [7, 46, 49, 82, 83]. Moreover, the research found that the interactivities would have different effects on males and females flow and satisfaction of using blogs. Therefore, this research suggests that academic researchers could consider gender differences in the preferences for the interactivities of blog-related services, such as micro-blogging, or Web 2.0-related services in analyzing individuals information sharing behaviours. In summary, the interactivities of blog services indeed lead to different usage behaviours Implications for practitioners This study generated a few important implications for blog-hosting service providers. First, the findings underscored the importance of the interactivities of blog services. Blog-hosting service providers should strive to develop the tools or functions facilitating the interactivities, in particular HHI and HSI. For example, the tools aiding blog owners in editing, organizing, uploading, or backing-up information and the services causing blog owners motives for direct or indirect communications with others bloggers should be taken into consideration. Second, in addition to the interactivities, the flow feeling of blog Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

12 owners was an important factor of satisfaction. In order to increase bloggers satisfaction with blogs, blog service providers could enhance flow by interactivities, particularly HHI. Many users recognize blogs as communication tools to connect with their friends or audiences and enjoy discussing their opinions with others on blogs. Accordingly, blog service providers should continue to improve and develop the functions of HHI. Third, this study provided evidence that males and females prefer the different interactivity services of blogs. The different preferences may affect their flow, satisfaction and information sharing behaviours. Hence, blog service providers should develop functions of interactivities based on their focused group. If the main group of bloggers is female, blog service providers need to focus their main attention on developing HHI and HSI. Otherwise, they need to enhance the HMI and HSI. 8. Limitations The limitations of this study should be addressed. First, though WRETCH is a representative blog website in Taiwan, the characteristics of blog owners may differ in different blogging platforms or nations. Second, the subjects were limited to active blog owners, who post information at least once a week. This led to exclusion of subjects that updated a great deal of information less than once a week. Third, active blog owners usually spend more time on posting articles or uploading photos (HSI) rather than searching something on the blogging platform (HMI). Thereby, these may limit the generalizability of the results. Nevertheless, active blog owners and their creative contents are the treasures in the era of Web 2.0, understanding their behaviours in information sharing will help practitioners develop more effective marketing strategies and promote blog usage. Fourth, this study mainly focused on the effects of interactivity, flow and satisfaction on the behavioral intention of information sharing. Other constructs (e.g. outcome expectations, organization reward and reciprocity) that may affect information sharing behaviour should be examined in future research. Finally, even though all explained variances in this study were higher than the recommended value of 10% [84], the variance of flow showed a lower level than others, e.g. satisfaction and sharing behaviour. Thus, it will be worthwhile to explore other antecedents of flow experience on the blogging platform. Appendix A Information sharing behaviour 1. I frequently update my blog. 2. I usually spend a lot of time sharing information on my blog. 3. I usually actively share information with others on my blog. Satisfaction 1. Using blog(s) makes me feel very pleased. 2. I like to use blog(s). 3. Using blog(s) makes me feel very satisfied. Human-system interaction Through the functions provided by WRETCH 1. I can easily document my life. 2. I can easily express my opinions or thoughts. 3. I can use words, graphs, videos, or other symbols easily. Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

13 Human-message interaction Through the functions provided by WRETCH 1. I can effectively search some information which is interesting to me. 2. I can easily filter some information which is useful to me. 3. I can speedily connect some information which is meaningful to me. Human-human interaction Through the functions provided by WRETCH 1. I can easily meet other people. 2. I can easily stay in touch with other people. 3. I can easily exchange views with other people. Flow 1. While using blogs, time seemed to go by very quickly 2. While using blogs, I forget about my immediate surroundings 3. While using blogs, I was not aware of how long I had been there already 4. While using blogs, I felt like I was totally absorbed by it. References [1] D. Sifry, The State of the Live Web (2007). Available at: (accessed May 2008). [2] C. Addison, Web 2.0: a new chapter in development in practice? Development in Practice 16(6) (2006) [3] M.N.K. Boulos and S. Wheeler, The emerging Web 2.0 social software: an enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education, Health Information and Libraries Journal 24(1) (2007) [4] W.A. Warr, Social software: fun and games, or business tools? Journal of Information Science 34(4) (2008) [5] H.S. Du and C. Wagner, Weblog success: exploring the role of technology, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 64(9) (2006) [6] Technorati, The State of Technorati (2006). Available at: (accessed 5 February 2009). [7] L.-F. Liao, A flow theory perspective on learner motivation and behavior in distance education, Distance Education 27(1) (2006) [8] A. Tiwana and A.A. Bush, Continuance in expertise-sharing networks: A social perspective, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 52(1) (2005) [9] M. Sicilia, S. Ruiz and J.L. Munuera, Effects of interactivity in a web site: The moderating effect of need for cognition, Journal of Advertising 34(3) (2005) [10] J.-J. Wu and Y.-S. Chang, Towards understanding members interactivity, trust, and flow in online travel community, Industrial Management & Data Systems 105(7) (2005) [11] P.B. Lowry, T. Spaulding and T. Wells, A theoretical model and empirical results linking website interactivity and usability satisfaction, Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2006) [12] V. Cauberghe and P.D. Pelsmacker, The impact of banners on digital television: The role of program interactivity and product involvement, Cyberpsychology & Behavior 11(1) (2008) [13] C.-M. Chiu, M.-H. Hsu and E.T.G. Wang, Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories, Decision Support Systems 42(3) (2006) Journal of Information Science, 36 (3) 2010, pp The Author(s), DOI: /

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