Determinants of friendship in social networking virtual worlds
Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews (RGC: 21, 22, 62) › 22_Publication in policy or professional journal
Author(s)
Detail(s)
Original language | English |
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Article number | 73 |
Pages (from-to) | 1397-1416 |
Journal / Publication | Communications of the Association for Information Systems |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
Link(s)
Abstract
This paper examines the determinants of friendship between two users in a virtual world who are unaware of each other's real identities. Drawing on theories of homophily, heterophily and propinquity, three virtual world behaviours are analysed: avatar appearance, avatar location, and avatar communication. Data are collected on 179 participants interacting in a novel virtual world. The main results show that: (1) avatars did not tend to form friendships with avatars that are similar in appearance to themselves but did tend to form friendships with avatars that are dressed differently from themselves; (2) in terms of location, the closer an avatar stands to other avatars, the more likely the avatar is to receive a friend invitation; and (3) the fewer words an avatar uses in communication, the more likely the avatar is to receive a friend invitation. This paper contributes to theories of virtual world interaction and to using virtual worlds as a data collection platform. © 2014 by the Association for Information Systems.
Research Area(s)
- Assortativity, Avatar, Online community, Server log, Telemetry
Citation Format(s)
Determinants of friendship in social networking virtual worlds. / Chesney, Thomas; Chuah, Swee-Hoon; Hui, Wendy et al.
In: Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 34, No. 1, 73, 2014, p. 1397-1416.Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews (RGC: 21, 22, 62) › 22_Publication in policy or professional journal