Influence Of Self-disclosure On Customer Experience In Online Settings:A Cross-cultural Study

In the era of web 2.0,consumers marshaled by and inter-weaved in the virtual net create,disseminate,and updating information in online settings for various purposes.And affluent society and thriving tertiary industry accelerate the pursuit of customer experience.Although there are many studies about self-disclosure or customer experience respectively,the relationship between them especially in online settings lacks concrete explanation and exploratory estimation.The paper seeks to explore the influence of self-disclosure on customer experience in online settings and through the lens of individualism and collectivism.Therefore,after online observation and literature review,two studies were conducted.Study one expects to test the proposed relationships and the moderating effect of individualism and collectivism at country-level by rating after analyzing reviews,profiles and interactions of consumers(N=200;100 Chinese,100 American)on review sites.Amount and valence of self-disclosure positively influence customer experience.Collectivism only moderates the effect of amount of self-disclosure on emotional experience.Study two relies on self-reporting methods to collect data from participants(N=322).Data are analyzed by SPSS 21 and WarpPLS 6.0.Consistent with related theories and studies,amount of self-disclosure exerts positive influence on social experience,positively moderated by collectivism.Valence of self-disclosure positively influences sensory,social,and emotional experience.Besides,collectivism negatively moderates the influence of amount of self-disclosure on sensory experience.Amount and valence of self-disclosure also positively influence sensory and social experience via the mediation of social capital.Users can,on information-sharing platforms with different features,disclose themselves frequently and positively for better experience.The study has both practical and academic implication for learning online self-disclosure,customer experience and cultural values at both national and individual level.