Understanding Users’ Disclosure of Others’ Embarrassing Information on Social Networking Sites: A Neutralization Perspective
Prof. Weiquan Wang
Professor in the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology
Business School
Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Date: 4 Feb 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 11:00-12:30
Venue: E22-G008
Host: Prof. Zhiya Zuo, Associate Professor in Business Intelligence and Analytics
Abstract
Disclosure of others’ embarrassing information (DOEI) is a prevalent yet paradoxical behavior on social networking sites (SNSs), where the existing privacy norms and moral constraints often fail to deter SNS users from engaging in such deviant behaviors. Drawing on neutralization theory, we investigate how various neutralization techniques (NTs) are applied by SNS users to rationalize their focal DOEI behavior as morally acceptable, thereby facilitating their decisions to engage in DOEI in the focal scenario. We identify the situational applications of various NTs, which are highly situation-sensitive, as key determinants of users’ DOEI decisions, extending prior research that focuses primarily on dispositional acceptance of NTs. We highlight acceptance of NTs as a dispositional antecedent and privacy co-ownership as a situational facilitator influencing the application of NTs. Our study also aims to develop effective anti-neutralization design interventions for SNSs to mitigate users’ application of NTs. Three studies—comprising an online survey and two scenario-based online experiments—were conducted to test our research model. Our results corroborate the effects of the applications of NTs on situational DOEI decisions and underscore the crucial role of privacy co-ownership in facilitating NT applications. Moreover, the results demonstrate that parasocial presence cues of stakeholders involved in a DOEI event can effectively reduce perceived co-ownership of other’ s embarrassing information, thereby inhibiting users’ application of NTs and accordingly their DOEI on SNSs. This research advances the theoretical understanding of the paradoxical DOEI phenomenon on SNSs and offers practical implications for designing interventions to curb DOEI behavior on SNSs.
Speaker
Professor Weiquan Wang is a Professor in the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School. He received his PhD in Management Information Systems from the University of British Columbia, and double-bachelor’ s degrees in i) Engineering Physics and ii) Enterprise Management as well as a Master’ s degree in Management Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University. Before joining CUHK Business School, he was at the College of Business at the City University of Hong Kong. His main research interests include Human-AI/Algorithm Interaction/Collaboration, Recommendation Agents & Non-human Virtual Influencers, IT Fashion, and Information Privacy. He is currently serving as an associate editor of Information Systems Research and served as an associate editor of MIS Quarterly during Jan 2012 and Dec 2015.
All are welcome!
