Negative evaluation fear and sharing avoidance on WeChat Moments: exhaustion and face

Although existing social media research has predominantly focused on problematic use, such as overuse and addiction, considerably less attention has been paid to voluntary disengagement behaviors on socially embedded platforms. This study investigates the psychological mechanisms underlying social media sharing avoidance on WeChat Moments, a prominent Chinese social networking context characterized by strong interpersonal visibility.

Drawing on the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) framework, this study conceptualizes fear of negative evaluation as a stressor, social network exhaustion as a strain response, and sharing avoidance as a behavioral outcome. Data were collected in July 2024 from 353 active WeChat Moments users in China through an online questionnaire distributed via WeChat Moments using a snowball sampling strategy. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results show that fear of negative evaluation directly increases sharing avoidance and also indirectly influences avoidance through social network exhaustion, which serves as a partial mediator. Furthermore, acquisitive face orientation strengthens the effect of fear of negative evaluation on social network exhaustion and intensifies the mediated pathway toward sharing avoidance.

By integrating psychological stress theory with culturally grounded self-evaluative concerns, this study extends media psychology research on social media avoidance. The findings highlight how culturally embedded norms of social approval shape users' emotional experiences and participation behaviors on social media.