Dark side of instant messaging: an empirical investigation from technology and society perspective
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-04-2021-0101 |
| Published date | 02 August 2021 |
| Date | 02 August 2021 |
| Pages | 928-955 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
| Author | Sheshadri Chatterjee,Ranjan Chaudhuri,Demetris Vrontis |
Dark side of instant messaging:
an empirical investigation from
technology and society perspective
Sheshadri Chatterjee
Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India
Ranjan Chaudhuri
Department of Marketing, National Institute of Industrial Engineering,
Mumbai, India, and
Demetris Vrontis
School of Business, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to examine the dark side of instant messaging from the technological
and societal perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach–With the help of literature review and different theories, a model has been
developed conceptually. Later the model has been validated using statistical method. The authors have used
304 responses from the survey method, and this sample has been used to statistically validate the
conceptual model.
Findings –This paper has been able to explicitly investigate and identify how different instant messaging
platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat in the form of electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) are contributing
toward increase of mob lynching cases. The paper also highlights the important to have effective and
enforceable regulation to regulate instant messaging services to the citizens.
Research limitations/implications –The findings cannot be generalized as the data is collected from India
only. Moreover, the study is cross-sectional in nature. To get the comprehensive results, a longitudinal study
needs to be conducted. This study considered seven constructs with one moderator. Having more predictors
with other boundary conditions might have increased the explanative power of the model.
Practical implications –Instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat and so on are
disseminating quick unverified in formation to the common people. This inf ormation sometimes is
disseminated in inappropriate and exaggerated forms. This makes the instant messaging (WhatsApp)
users’sentiment readily heated in some cases. They take such an action as mob lynching. This study
determines the predictorsof mob lynching along with the moderator impact of instant messaging in the society.
Originality/value –There are only a few studies those have explored the dark side of instant messaging. The
proposed theoretical model is a unique model, which shows the predictors of mob lynching along with the
negative consequences of the instant messaging (WhatsApp) in the society. From this perspective, this study
can be considered as a unique study.
Keywords Communication, eWOM, India, Instant messaging, Mob lynching, Society, WhatsApp
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
India has the second highest number of smartphone users in the world (Statista, 2020), most
of whom have WhatsApp as an instant messaging platform. The messages they exchange
are unverified and are even disseminated in an exaggerated form, and often they are
inflammatory in nature. Sometimes unverified and exaggerated messages cause violent
incidents such as mob lynching (Mohit, 2012). Mob lynching is an action of a group of people
putting someone to death without any legal sanction (Sangma, 2017). Of the multifarious
reasons for mob lynching, electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) or unverified instant messages
play a vital role. News that a crime has been committed is quickly spread through instant
messaging (IM) platforms, such as WhatsApp (Tseng et al., 2018). Many people read these
AJIM
74,5
928
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-3806.htm
Received 1 April 2021
Revised 24 May 2021
13 July 2021
Accepted 14 July 2021
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 74 No. 5, 2022
pp. 928-955
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-04-2021-0101
messages, and their sentiment is affected and magnified. They react by unlawfully killing
another person without any legal authority (Leung, 2008).
Sometimes these inflammatory messages are sent on IM platforms as a form of
propaganda. This cyber propaganda becomes the origin of a verbal spat over the issue
(Kangaspunta, 2018). As the message is eventually magnified out of proportion, the affected
community takes the law in their own hands, resulting in crime such as lynching. IM
sometimes hurriedly spreads information that might be wrong, overcolored or even
inappropriate. Comments through online media include commentators’varied motivations,
which interact with a wide scope of other readers, who are instigated by the messages
(Ksiazek et al., 2016;Tseng et al., 2018;Arfaoui et al., 2019;Bhattacharjee et al., 2020a). After
reading these messages, an affected group will seek revenge illegally in a mob lynching
(Choliz, 2012;Chatterjee, 2019a;Belyaeva et al., 2020). Thus, the negative consequence of IM
on WhatsApp may be one of the root causes of mob lynching.
People find IM easy to use and inexpensive, but its dark side cannot be ignored (Augner
and Hacker, 2012;Al-Rawi, 2019;Bhattacharjee et al., 2020b;Yang, 2020), as already
mentioned. IM is an application of e-WOM. Individuals are motivated to use IM to spread
information about a crime, causing excitement in a community to which the victim of the
crime belongs (Kelty and Erickson, 2018;Chatterjee, 2019b). Once the community is angered,
it can become a mob that lynches a person who belongs to the offender’s community. The ease
of spreading information through e-WOM on IM platforms can motivate one to commit an
offence such as mob lynching.
In this paper, we attempt to identify the factors related with issues of e-WOM (IM through
electronic means) that contribute to mob lynching. We also analyze how mob lynching
disrupts social harmony. These crimes happen when people receive information quickly
through IM platforms such as WhatsApp (Sreenivasulu et al., 2019;Vrontis et al., 2020).
Several studies have highlighted how IM platforms could make communication with people,
even beyond borders, more cost-effective and quicker. But the extant literature is found silent
on how such IM could instigate some people to indulge in mob lynching. This study has taken
a holistic attempt to investigate how several IM platforms, such as WhatsApp, WeChat and
so on, in the form of e-WOM could contribute to wrongfully instigate people to indulge in an
illegal activity, inimical to society (Rosenbaum and Wong, 2012;Harris, 2020). Such wrongful
activities by people in response to any unauthorized information are construed as a social
disease and social crimes. They are concerned with individual behavior within a group, as
envisaged in social learning theory (Bandura, 1971). This theory posits that an individual in a
group is supposed to be influenced considerably through observing others’behavior. In the
context of the present study, the authors investigate the contribution of IM toward
disseminating wrongful messages to society.
Technological advancement offers many advantages to the users; however, its dark side is not
nominal, because the information disseminated through IM platforms is mostly unverified and
hasmuch influenceover people (Gong et al., 2018;Burnett and Lloyd, 2020). The dissemination of
wrongful information to the masses with IM platforms might instigate a group of people to react
and respond immediately, without thinking about the legal consequence of their action. This
concept is supplemented by the theory of crowd psychology (LeBon, 1896). This theo ry includes
the idea that any action taken by the people because of wrongful information might instigate the
peoplenot to retreateven from indulgingin such a heinousactions,such as mob lynching.In this
context, we ask if e-WOM, through IM services, might instigate mob lynching.
This study also investigates how strict and enforceable regulation could keep the mob
lynching menace in check. From this perspective, it is a critical research issue to investigate if
the usage of IM platforms is solely responsible for mob lynching. The converse question
arises as to whether the absence of any strict regulation is also accountable for increasing
cases of mob lynching based on wrongful information disseminated through IM platforms.
Dark side of
instant
messaging
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