Moral obligation in online social interaction: Clicking the “like” button

Abstract

Social media greatly facilitate online social interaction among friends, and user behavior in social interaction may be influenced by interpersonal relationships. While individuals sometimes do enjoy the content shared by friends, they may also feel that they have a moral obligation to like what their friends share. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response model, this paper examines whether the characteristics of interpersonal relationships are associated with moral obligation as well as whether moral obligation is associated with “like” intention. By using data from 348 users of WeChat Moments, we provide empirical evidence that the stimuli of interpersonal relationships (perceived authority, perceived closeness, and peer referent) are positively associated with the sense of moral obligation, which in turn, is positively associated with user intention to click the Like button on their friends’ postings on social media. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.