An exploratory investigation of the motivation to share on the Web

niversity of Minnesota M.A. thesis. January 2013. Major: Mass Communication. Advisor:Professor John Eighmey. 1 computer file (PDF); iv, 55 pages, appendices A-B.A desire to satisfy basic psychological needs underlies any motivated behavior. The primary goal of this study is to explore personal and social motivations for viral sharing. We are also interested in tracing the relationship between the amount of sharing and the escape from boredom (aversive gratification) as well entertainment (attractive gratification). To test the research question and two hypotheses, an online survey was conducted. Then, a series of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were run in SPSS. A correlation and one-step OLS multiple regression analysis were performed afterwards. The EFA's result revealed 6 major groups of motivations. Boredom is not related to the amount of viral sharing when entertainment is controlled, whereas there is a strong relationship between entertainment and the amount of viral sharing when boredom is controlled. This empirical study may be of interest not only for scholars but also for advertising and marketing professionals