The Influence of Perceived Trolling on Weibo Users’ Lurking Behavior — The Moderating Role of Social Media Affordance and Platform Engagement
Abstract
With society evolving, social media platforms have become an indispensable component of individuals’ daily existence. However, the relationship between online trolling and user lurking behavior deserves more attention and research. This research, conducted using the Weibo platform, gathered 289 valid survey responses through a questionnaire to explore the correlation between online trolling and lurking. The moderating impacts of social media affordance and platform engagement were also examined. The results revealed that online trolling significantly and positively predicts lurking behavior; While the moderating influence of social media affordance did not yield significant results, the moderating impact of platform engagement was found to be significant. Specifically, at low levels of platform engagement, online trolling significantly and positively predicted lurking behavior, while at high levels of platform engagement, online trolling negatively predicted lurking behavior. Therefore, social media platforms should enhance their monitoring of online trolling and provide users with more privileges to increase their platform engagement and more features to deal with trolling, enabling them to participate in maintaining a healthy platform environment.
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