Narcissism as a Predictor of Facebook Users' Privacy Concern, Vigilance, and Exposure to Risk

Abstract

A model is developed and tested to explain the relationships among narcissism, privacy concern, vigilance, and exposure to risk on Facebook, with age and gender as controlling variables. Two important constructs are conceptualized and measured in this research. Facebook exposure is defined as the opportunity for privacy and security breaches on Facebook. Facebook vigilance is the extent to which consumers stay focused, attentive, and alert to potential security and privacy risks on Facebook by restricting who can access and post to their Facebook accounts. Data from a survey of 286 adult Facebook users in the U.S. support the hypothesized relationships in the model. Results suggest that narcissism is related to increased Facebook exposure and lower Facebook vigilance, despite greater stated concern for privacy and security. Furthermore, females and younger users have greater risk exposure compared to males and older users. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Narcissism and social media use: A meta-analytic review.

“…For example, the Unmitigated Approach Model (Campbell et al, 2006; Foster & Trimm, 2008) describes grandiose narcissists as much more sensitive to and motivated by potential reward than by potential punishment. This creates a tendency toward approach-oriented social behavior (Foster, Misra, & Reidy, 2009), which may explain why those high in grandiose narcissism generate more content (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008; Mehdizadeh, 2010; Poon & Leung, 2011)—especially self-promoting content (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008; Mehdizadeh, 2010)—with relatively little concern for privacy (Smith, Mendez, & White, 2014; Utz & Kramer, 2009) on social media sites. In contrast, vulnerable narcissists, who are high in both approach and avoidance motivation (Foster & Trimm, 2008), are more cautious about obtaining praise, showing more concern for privacy (Ahn, Kwolek, & Bowman, 2015) and putting more effort into impression management (i.e., taking multiple selfies before picking one and cropping and editing pictures) than grandiose narcissists (McCain et al, 2016).…”

The moderating role of narcissism in predicting the behavior intention of the Palestinian university students towards adopting the new Facebook currency

“…This could be attributed to the fact that narcissists are more concerned to be the center of attention and care less for security issues as narcissism relates to high levels of self-importance, self-esteem and the imagination of unlimited success and power (Bouncken et al, 2020). According to Smith et al (2019), despite greater stated respect for privacy and security, narcissism is linked to increased Facebook visibility and lower Facebook vigilance. In addition, narcissists tend to be more serious with their personal security and privacy by focusing on themselves, compared to less narcissistic Facebook users.…”

“…The third part of the questionnaire representing the security concern (6 items) was adapted from Dinev and Hart (2004). The fourth part addressed narcissism (8 items) was adapted from Smith et al (2019). The fifth part dealt with the new Facebook currency (7 items) adapted from Schuh and Shy (2016).…”

“…A person could, for example, post attractive images, or post a boastful status up-date. Such activities directly refer to the narcissism's dimensions related to showing off to others, perceptions of greater attractiveness, greatness, success, self-esteem and recognition (Smith et al, 2019). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is established: H5-8.…”

Motivações Para a Não Institucionalização Do Estatuto Do Empreendedor Em Municípios Sergipanos

“…Uma perda de si, uma perda de tempo que deveria ser mais investido em evolução. Pondera-se que expor-se em demasia é atestar o complexo ou a neurose narcisista, dizendo que o próprio tempo e os próprios saberes são egóicos e parcos, de pouca profundidade, forçando um pouco esta interpretação na direção do aviltamento do que há de mal em ser narciso (Smith, Mendez, & White, 2014).…”