Pike, Jacqueline C.
(2011)
The Impact of Boundary-Blurring Social Networking Sites: Self-Presentation, Impression Formation, and Publicness.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Individuals have more opportunities than ever before to present themselves in public using social networking sites (SNSs). These sites allow users to make self-presentations by creating online profiles, containing text, photos, or videos, about themselves and their activities. While individual users generate these presentations, millions of individuals can potentially access them over many years. From the perspective of organizations developing these SNSs, the more people, the broader range of people, and the greater interaction among the people that use them, the more sustainable it is. However, individuals tend to live segmented lives and often develop different self-presentations depending on the audience. Maintaining one or multiple presentations is possible offline as long as the audiences are separate and little opportunity for interaction exists. Online, tension can form between boundary-blurring expansion and boundary-preserving development of SNSs. This dissertation seeks to develop better understanding of how boundaries blurred by SNSs affect impressions formed of job candidates. To examine the issue, two studies were conducted, one exploratory qualitative and one experimental. The first study investigates whether, how, and why SNSs are accessed to obtain information about candidates. The second study develops and tests a model of how characteristics of the SNS environment affect impression formation and subsequent hiring decisions. Both studies found that SNSs can have both benefits and detriments for the job candidate by influencing the impression formed by a professional.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
22 September 2011 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
27 April 2011 |
| Approval Date: |
22 September 2011 |
| Submission Date: |
18 June 2011 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business > Business Administration |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
hiring; impression formation; internet; job market; self-presentation; social networking |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-06182011-002223/, etd-06182011-002223 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:48 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:44 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8147 |
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