To Identify or Not to Identify: A Theoretical Model of Receiver Responses to Anonymous Communication

Abstract

Although anonymity has been studied for well over a century, scholarship on anonymous communication has been fragmented and the role of message receivers, in particular, warrants greater attention. A theoretical model is developed here explaining receiver responses to anonymous communication. The context of the communication, degree to which the source is perceived to be anonymous, receiver's desire to identify the source, and potential ability to determine the source's identity are posited to influence receiver attempts at identifying (or further anonymizing) the source as well as perceptions of the source, message, and medium. The study concludes by identifying instances where anonymity may be particularly beneficial or problematic for message receivers and offering directions for future research.

The Implications of Stigma and Anonymity for Self-Disclosure in Health Blogs

“…Anonymity is conceptualized in this study as a continuous construct defined as the degree to which the identity of a message source is perceived to be unknown or unspecified (Anonymous, 1998;Rains & Scott, 2007). Anonymity has been identified as an important factor associated with computer-mediated communication that may encourage self-disclosure (Joinson, 2001;McKenna & Bargh, 2000;Qian & Scott, 2007).…”

The Causality Test of Network Technical Anonymity and Perceptive Anonymity

“…It is similar online. The identity of users is not absolutely concealed or revealed, instead, it is partly anonymous [14]. Even though their real name has been concealed, they could always use alias to get some extent of anonymity.…”

“…However, perceptive anonymity might be the more important factor that influences how users comment and behave online. Compared with objective anonymity, perceptive anonymity could exert stronger influence on human behaviors [14]. Scholars also find that the degree of perceptive anonymity is different from human behaviors [15].…”

Making sense of food risk information : the case of organic food

“…On social media, it is often uncertain who posted the information, and information about similarity and expertise is also missing. Anonymous authors are considered less credible and the impact of their message is smaller (Rains & Scott, 2007;Rains, 2007). Thus with regard to organic foods, individuals may be less likely to appreciate the opinions of anonymous authors compared to those of experts or peers.…”

“…With respect to sense-making, we expect that individuals experience a feeling of uncertainty when receiving information from an anonymous author (Rains & Scott, 2007). Because sense-making is especially relevant in uncertain situations (Weick, 4 1995;Weick et al, 2005), a higher level of sense-making might be expected when communicating with an anonymous author compared to with a peer or an expert, with the exception of information sharing.…”