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Social Media Trolling: An fsQCA Approach

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Transfer, Diffusion and Adoption of Next-Generation Digital Technologies (TDIT 2023)

Part of the book series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology ((IFIPAICT,volume 698))

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Abstract

The rise of online social media has fostered increasing instances of deviant online behaviour. One of the most lethal is collective bullying i.e., trolling, which has severe impacts including suicides of victims. Yet, it remains a mystery what kind of factors lead social media users to engage in trolling. To explain social media trolling, we contextualized concepts from deindividuation theory. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis technique to analyse survey data from 337 Facebook users, three configurations explaining social media trolling have been developed. The results suggest that social media affordances and deindividuation states together give rise to trolling. Our results offer theoretical and practical implications.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia

    Mohammad Alamgir Hossain & Matthew Warren

  2. Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia

    Mohammed Quaddus

  3. University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Shahriar Akter

Authors
  1. Mohammad Alamgir Hossain
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  2. Mohammed Quaddus
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  3. Shahriar Akter
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  4. Matthew Warren
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad Alamgir Hossain .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IIM Nagpur, Nagpur, India

    Sujeet K. Sharma

  2. Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Yogesh K. Dwivedi

  3. IIM Nagpur, Nagpur, India

    Bhimaraya Metri

  4. University of Bradford, Bradford, UK

    Banita Lal

  5. Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK

    Amany Elbanna

Appendix A

Appendix A

The items of the constructs and their psychomatric properties.

Digital Anonymity

(CR: 0.833; AVE: 0.501)

I believe that in social media …

  1. 1.

    it is not easy for others to verify who truly I am. (0.716)

  2. 2.

    it is not easy for others to make sure if I am truly what I say I am. (0.701)

  3. 3.

    it is not possible to confirm other’s true identities. (0.736)

  4. 4.

    people cannot confirm each other’s true identities. (0.763)

  5. 5.

    I cannot be sure who I am communicating with. (0.614)

Digital Dispersed Collectivity

(CR: 0.804; AVE: 0.542)

  1. 1.

    In social media, I can become a part of a group easily. (0.758)

  2. 2.

    I can interact with members from dispersed locations. (0.701)

  3. 3.

    The members are from various locations. (0.616)

  4. 4.

    We do not need to know each other in social media. (0.644)

  5. 5.

    In social media, we do not need to come at a place. (0.634)

Loss of Self-consciousness

(CR: 0.867; AVE: 0.566)

Try to recall an incident where you participated in a trolling (if did not participated ever, you should pretend), and then answer the following questions: During that …

  1. 1.

    I was not worried about my performance. (0.760)

  2. 2.

    I was not concerned how I was presenting myself. (0.785)

  3. 3.

    I was not worried about what others’ thinking. (0.680)

  4. 4.

    I completely overlooked what I was doing. (0.742)

  5. 5.

    I lost my self-mind/intellect. (0.789)

Diffused Responsibility

(CR: 0.857; AVE: 0.501)

Try to recall an incident where you participated in a trolling:

  1. 1.

    All people on the group would be equally liable for trolling; not only me. (0.693)

  2. 2.

    It would be impossible to make me more responsible than others for my trolling. (0.715)

  3. 3.

    It would be impossible to blame me personally for troll I have participated in. (0.726)

  4. 4.

    It is okay to participate in trolling since I do not start. (0.726)

  5. 5.

    Someone else rather than me is responsible for troll I have participated in. (0.653)

  6. 6.

    The content creator, not me, can be punished for trolling, if someone has to blame. (0.727)

Collective Distinct Pleasure

(CR: 0.852; AVE: 0.537)

Try to recall where you participated in a trolling incident:

  1. 1.

    Trolling gives us consensual enjoyment. (0.665)

  2. 2.

    Trolling is exciting to our group. (0.722)

  3. 3.

    Trolling is interesting to our group. (0.703)

  4. 4.

    Seeing someone suffering makes me feel good. (0.769)

  5. 5.

    Teasing others is fun for us as a group. (0.798)

Trolling

(CR: 0.892; AVE: 0.626)

In the past three months, how often you liked/ shared/commented in posts with a group that …

  1. 1.

    targeted someone. (0.741)

  2. 2.

    publicly embarrassed someone. (0.842)

  3. 3.

    spread rumours about someone. (0.858)

  4. 4.

    was threatening or harassing someone. (0.844)

  5. 5.

    made fun of someone. (0.652)

Note: CR, composite reliability; AVE, average variance extracted; the values in parenthesis are the item loadings of respective item.

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Hossain, M.A., Quaddus, M., Akter, S., Warren, M. (2024). Social Media Trolling: An fsQCA Approach. In: Sharma, S.K., Dwivedi, Y.K., Metri, B., Lal, B., Elbanna, A. (eds) Transfer, Diffusion and Adoption of Next-Generation Digital Technologies. TDIT 2023. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 698. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50192-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50192-0_12

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