Trolling in social media : a deindividuation and contagion perspective

Hossain, Mohammad Alamgir (author), Quaddus, Muhammed Abu. B. (author), Akter, Shahriar (author), Mikalef, Patrick (author), Warren, Matt (author)

Trolling on social media has a profound impact on its victims, yet existing literature offers a limited understanding of the factors driving this behavior. This study applies deindividuation and contagion theories to explore the phenomenon, surveying 337 Facebook users and 275 Instagram users and analyzing the data using SEM-PLS and fsQCA methods. The SEM results indicate that digital anonymity and dispersed collectivity both directly and indirectly impact trolling behavior, mediated by a loss of self-consciousness and a diffused sense of responsibility. The fsQCA analysis reveals four distinct equifinal configurations that predict trolling behavior, one for each platform, providing new insights into the research on trolling. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of trolling and offers practical implications for addressing this issue.

• Language: English
• Keywords: social media, internet, social responsibility, trolling, cyberbullying, deindividuation, contagion, PLS, fsQCA
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 19 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 62, iss. 7, article no. 104211
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-177856
• UDC: 659.2:004
• ISSN on article: 0378-7206
• DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2025.104211
• COBISS.SI-ID: 243212035
• Publication date in RUL: 09.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Information & management
• Shortened title: Inf. manage.
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0378-7206
• COBISS.SI-ID: 6313479

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: družbeni mediji, internet, social responsibility

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0441
• Name: Regeneracija ekonomije in posla