Experience with Surveillance, Perceived Threat Of
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EXPERIENCE WITH SURVEILLANCE, PERCEIVED THREAT OF SURVEILLANCE, SNS POSTING BEHAVIOR, AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION ON SNSs: AN EXAMINATION OF CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE U.S. Kisun Kim A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2016 Committee: Sung-Yeon Park, Advisor Gi Woong Yun Louisa Ha © 2016 Kisun Kim All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Sung-Yeon Park, Advisor This study applied the uses and gratifications (U&G) perspective in order to explore Chinese students’ SNS (Social Networking Site) identity construction in four ways: (1) how Chinese young adults studying in the U.S. use various kinds of SNSs, (2) how their use of SNSs are influenced by the surveillance of the Chinese government, (3) how their experience with and perceived threat of surveillance varies depending on the type of SNS being used, and (4) how their experience with and perceived threat of surveillance are related to their SNS posting behaviors and identify construction on SNSs. This study categorized SNSs by their national origin (Chinese SNSs vs. U.S. SNSs) and by their network openness (open SNSs vs. closed SNSs). Thus, SNSs were assigned to one of the four categories: (1) Chinese open SNSs, (2) Chinese closed SNSs, (3) U.S. open SNSs, and (4) U.S. closed SNSs. 169 Chinese students attending colleges in the U.S. participated in a survey for this study. They were asked about their experience with and perceived threat of surveillance, posting behaviors, and identify construction on the four different types of SNSs. This study found that Chinese students in the U.S. have different experiences and perceptions of surveillance depending on the type of SNS they use. This study also found that the different level of surveillance experience and perceived threat of surveillance were related to different SNS posting behaviors and identity construction strategies. Implications of these findings are discussed, and limitations and opportunities for future research are addressed. iv This thesis is dedicated to my parents who pray every day for me. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank numerous people both academically and personally for their support and assistance in making this thesis in a reality. My advisor, Dr. Park, deserves my deepest gratitude for her willingness to assist me in every way possible. She is the best person I had ever had academically as well as personally. It is not exaggeration that “perfect” is the word for her. I, really, appreciate her carefulness and thoughtfulness. If she were not my advisor, I could not succeed this long and tough journey. My genuine thanks also go to Dr. Yun for his valuable examination of this study. His interest and encouragement influence me to study this research. He helped me to effectively conceptualize various ideas I had about this study. Without them, I would not have been able to complete the study. I am also incredibly grateful to Dr. Ha for her careful critiques and specific suggestions, which refined and improved my thesis. Being a member of her research team, moreover, I got many research experiences. I would like to express my appreciation to Claire. I have depended on her for my two academic years. I know she had a lot of difficulty and hardness on her life because she is also an international doctoral student. Nevertheless, she always tried to care about me, and paid attention to my situations. I cannot imagine my two years life here without her. I am also grateful to all of Chinese students who participated in this study. Even though the questionnaire was longer than normal questionnaire, a number of Chinese students participated in this study. Their concern and interest about this study encouraged me to keep my work. Especially, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to Qiusi, Sima, Dandan, and Yihui for their valuable help and encouragement. vi Without my friends’ help, this process would have been much too difficult of an adventure. I especially would like to thank my friends Cindy, Starry, Dai, Olivia, Emi, Sasha, Fang, Scott, CT, Cody, Ben, and Chenjie. A special thanks to my friend Courtney Wright. Finally, I would like to say that my parents and brother. They always support me whatever I want to do. Their pray, devotion, continual support, unlimited faith, and love in my own potential makes me being a very precious and treasure honor. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 Organization of the Thesis ..................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 5 Internet Surveillance in China ............................................................................... 5 Uses and Gratifications (U&G) Perspective .......................................................... 8 Uses and Gratifications (U&G) Perspective on Social Networking Sites ............. 10 Motivation for SNS Use ................................................................................. 11 Identity Construction through SNS Use ......................................................... 13 Different Functions and Motivations, Different Social Networking Sites ..... 15 CHATPER III. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES .............................................................. 19 Experience with Surveillance on Different SNSs ................................................. 21 Perceived Threat of Surveillance on Different SNSs ............................................ 22 Experience with Surveillance, Perceived Threat of Surveillance, and SNS Posting Behaviors ............................................................................................................... 22 Predictors of Identity Construction on SNSs ......................................................... 24 CHAPTER IV. METHOD ............................................................................................ 26 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 26 Participants ............................................................................................................ 27 Measurement ......................................................................................................... 27 Experience with surveillance (ES) ................................................................. 27 Perceived threat of surveillance (PTS) ........................................................... 28 viii Political Posting (PP) ..................................................................................... 30 Social Criticism (SC) ..................................................................................... 30 Privacy Protection Behavior (PPB) ................................................................ 30 Private Information Disclosure (PID) ............................................................ 31 SNS Types ...................................................................................................... 32 Demographic Variables .................................................................................. 32 Strategies for Statistical Analysis .................................................................. 33 CHAPTER V. RESULTS ............................................................................................. 35 Descriptive Results ................................................................................................ 35 Basic Demographic Characteristics of the Participants .................................. 35 SNS Accounts ................................................................................................ 39 Descriptive Statistics for Each SNS ............................................................... 41 Experience with Surveillance ......................................................................... 43 Perceived Threat of Surveillance ................................................................... 43 Political Posting ............................................................................................. 44 Social Criticism .............................................................................................. 45 Privacy Protection Behavior .......................................................................... 46 Private Information Disclosure ...................................................................... 47 Result of Hypotheses ............................................................................................. 48 Experience with Surveillance on Different Types of SNSs ........................... 48 Perceived Threat of Surveillance on Different Types of SNSs ..................... 50 Relationship between Experience with Surveillance and Posting Behaviors 53 1. Chinese SNSs ............................................................................. 53 ix Political posting .............................................................. 53 Social criticism ................................................................ 54 2. US SNSs..................................................................................... 55 Political posting ............................................................... 55 Social criticism ................................................................ 56 3. Open SNSs ...............................................................................