Online identity interruption: Antecedents and psychological distress

This proposed study aims to understand how online identity interruption can impact psychological distress and how psychological distress drives avoidance intention and approach intention in using online social networks. Drawing on the identity interruption theory as the theoretical lens, we plan to focus on two key technological characteristics of online social networks, namely network similarity and social readership. To better understand the psychological impact of online identity interruption, we will rely on the psychological contract violation perspective to focus on the cognitive aspect and emotional aspect of psychological distress. We plan to operationalize the research model by conducting a laboratory experiment in which participants will be asked to evaluate an involuntary embarrassing exposure that is published with varies settings of network similarity and social readership. Expected implications are discussed.