Self-Disclosure in Social Virtual Reality: The Influence of Information Management Dynamics, Social Presence, and Privacy Concerns

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Issues or Challenges: A major issue in Social Virtual Reality (SVR) technology is users' concerns about privacy and security, which may hinder SVR's development as a mainstream medium for social communication. Specifically, information leakage and perceptions of information control are influenced by the permeability of environmental boundaries (e.g., interference from unknown users) and the identifiability of conversation partners (e.g., whether offline information can be accessed).
• Significance: With the rapid growth of the virtual reality market (expected to reach nearly $29 billion by 2027), understanding information disclosure and management in SVR is crucial. This not only helps improve user experience but also drives technological design to more closely simulate real face-to-face social interactions.
• Research Motivation and Related Work: Current research on Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory has been widely applied across various media but has yet to be explored in the context of SVR. Meanwhile, although studies have shown that SVR can foster intimate interpersonal relationships, they also indicate that users may lack trust and comfort in unfamiliar or insufficiently transparent environments.

Solution

• Proposed Approach:

  • Experimental Design: A 2x2 experiment was designed to manipulate boundary permeability (presence or absence of interference) and the identifiability of conversation partners (whether offline information is presented) to explore their effects on users' information disclosure behaviors and perceptions of information control.
  • Data Collection: A mixed-method approach was used to collect participants' self-disclosure behaviors and related psychological perceptions during a simulated interview.
  • Exploration of Mediating Variables: The study examined whether social presence (including actor identity, salience, co-presence, and relatedness) and privacy concerns mediate the relationships mentioned above.

• Innovations:

  • For the first time, CPM theory is applied to the SVR environment, revealing how platform rules (e.g., user identification and boundary settings in the environment) influence information disclosure behaviors.
  • By employing a multidimensional social presence model, the study highlights the unique value of specific dimensions (e.g., actor identity) rather than treating social behaviors through the traditional holistic perspective of presence.

• Implementation Steps:

  1. Develop a standardized interview scenario in virtual reality, where participants interact with a research assistant for 10 minutes.
  2. Manipulate two variables: whether the interviewer's LinkedIn offline profile is displayed (manipulating identifiability) and whether interruptions occur during the interview (manipulating boundary permeability).
  3. Measure variables such as information disclosure (via word count and self-reports), information control, social presence, and privacy concerns.
  4. Conduct data analysis using a path mediation model to explore direct and indirect effects.

Research Findings

• Specific Findings:

  • When boundaries were more permeable (e.g., interruptions occurred), participants' actual information disclosure significantly decreased.
  • The sense of the conversation partner's actor identity (i.e., the perception of them as a real individual) enhanced participants' self-disclosure levels, even though users typically prefer higher anonymity in virtual settings.
  • Boundary permeability and conversation partner identifiability did not significantly affect participants' perceptions of information control.

• Comparison with Existing Solutions and Advantages:

  • This study complements prior research on SVR social experiences by providing a more granular analysis of social presence dimensions (e.g., actor identity and relatedness), rather than relying on broad descriptions.
  • It extends the applicability of CPM theory to complex virtual environments (e.g., SVR), emphasizing the necessity of technical design considerations (e.g., boundary settings in the environment).

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Quantitative analysis revealed that actor identity significantly mediates the effect of identifiability on information disclosure, while privacy concerns did not serve as a significant mediator, contrasting with existing literature on privacy anxiety.
  • Qualitative results indicated that participants generally perceived the lack of nonverbal social cues (e.g., facial expressions) in the SVR interview as significantly impacting their interaction experience, broadening the understanding of potential directions for VR design improvements.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations:
    1. The sample primarily consisted of university students, which may limit the external validity of the results for broader user groups.
    2. The controlled simulated interview scenario may not represent other informal communication contexts (e.g., social or gaming applications).
    3. Technical limitations (e.g., insufficient realism in nonverbal expressions of virtual characters) may have significantly influenced user perceptions.
  • Future Directions:
    1. Explore information management behaviors among different user groups (e.g., older adults) or in various SVR contexts (e.g., social gaming).
    2. Investigate the potential long-term effects of privacy boundary settings on user trust and interaction continuity.
    3. Further enhance the social cues of virtual characters (including voice and facial expressions) to improve users' social presence experiences.