Exploring the effects of personal and situational factors on cyber aggression

Abstract

Antisocial behaviour by social media users has escalated, which in turn has created various socio-psychological implications for users and society at large. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on the concept of cyber aggression inclination (CAI) and its personal and situational antecedents in the context of social media. This study explores and measures the CAI of general social media users and examines the personal and situational factors affecting CAI. Data was collected using an online survey resulting in a sample of respondents who are active social media users. A total of 101 responses were received of which 71 were complete. Primary data was analysed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test eight hypotheses. Findings suggest perceived anonymity, impulsive use of social media and subjective norms are correlated with and CAI. We could not find any conclusive evidence to suggest a significant association exerted by prior aggression victimisation, social pressure, and perceived incident severity on CAI. This paper makes original contributions to the field of cyberpsychology where a more specific form of antisocial behaviour has been studied in social media settings.