How technological affordances predict political expression via Quora: Mediated by risk appraisal and moderated by social motivation

Abstract

Drawing upon social exchange theories, the present study examines how technological affordances predicted individuals’ expectation for social sanction, and how their social motivation moderated the relationship between expected social sanction and their usage of political expression strategies. Results of an online survey of Quora users (N = 420) show that network association and anonymity predicted expected social sanction positively, which motivated individuals to use four strategies to express their political opinion strategically: self-censorship, adjusting expression, access control, and faking. Furthermore, these mediations except access control were consistently stronger when individuals exhibited higher levels of social motivation. This study provides additional evidence on the risk-appraisal approach to understanding political expression online and suggests that user motivation may play an important role in their political expression.