Why Are People So Naieve? Long-term Motivation in Online Reputation Management: A Grounded Theory Study

摘要

In our digital society, individuals' online reputation has progressively gained more importance because people used to search for information about others in order to get a first impression before they meet in real life. For example, studies revealed that 70% of human resource professionals have rejected job applicants based on information they found online and only 35% attempted to verify the information they retrieved (Cross-Tab 2010). Although individuals consider their online reputation as important, they do not conduct online reputation management on regular basis. This paper aims to identify the factors that influence individuals' long-term motivation for online reputation management. Thereby, we contribute new insights to the general understanding of online reputation management behaviour and provide recommendations for online reputation management service providers and policy-makers. We have drawn the results from a conducted grounded theory study based on 22 qualitative interviews with young adults in Germany.