Does the type of anonymity matter? The impact of visualization on information sharing in online groups

Groups who share information in computer-mediated settings often have to deal with the issue of anonymity. Previous research has shown that only people with a prosocial orientation--that is, those whose main interest is to add to the benefit of the group as a whole--are willing to share information in anonymous situations. The willingness to share information by those people with a proself orientation--that is, those who put more emphasis on their personal benefit--can be increased by providing photographs of the other group members. The information-sharing behavior of prosocials, however, suffers from such a deletion of anonymity. In an online experiment, we examined how information-sharing behavior of proselfs may be increased without negatively influencing the information-sharing behavior of prosocials in an online setting. It was shown that even proselfs share information if the group members are visualized in a homogeneous way, while prosocials' information-sharing behavior is not impaired by this visualization. In addition, the results suggest that people's perceived homogeneity of the online group, as well as the importance of the collective goal, are the underlying processes of this effect. These results have important practical implications for the design of online information-sharing settings.