Angels and Devils of Digital Social Norm Enforcement: A Theory about Aggressive versus Civilized Online Comments

摘要: We develop a theory that explains when commenters choose to be aggressive versus civilized in social media depending on their personal norm context. In particular, we enrich traditional by introducing the concept of moral legitimacy. This suggests justifications, particularly those put violators outside boundaries, cause aggression. Using diversity 45,982 comments real-world online firestorm, our results confirm contexts matter strongly for behavior. The developed challenges existing speculations about aggression and helps strategies encourage enlightened, discourse Internet.