Erin M Bryant

The rules of Facebook friendship: A two-stage examination of interaction rules in close, casual, and acquaintance friendships

The present study examined friendship rules on the online social networking site Facebook. Study 1 used focus group data to inductively create a list of 36 Facebook friendship rules. Study 2 utilized survey data to examine college students’ endorsement of the various rules in close, casual, and acquaintance friendships. Results indicated five categories of Facebook friendship rules, which included rules regarding communication channels, deception and control, relational maintenance, negative consequences for the self, and negative consequences for a friend. Additionally, close friends, casual friends, and acquaintances significantly differed in their endorsement of four of the five rules categories. Results suggested that interaction rules provide a useful framework for the study of online social networking sites.

Sensemaking and Relational Consequences of Peer Co-worker Deception

This exploratory study examined sensemaking of peer co-worker deception from the perception of the deceived. A total of 58 narrative accounts of deception were collected via face-to-face interviews with 23 employed adults. Analysis revealed four primary narratives of co-worker deception: corrupt system narratives, “cover your ass” (CYA) narratives, personal gain narratives, and personality trait narratives. Perceived motives and consequences were primary considerations in the sensemaking process and employees reported changing their communication patterns to avoid deceptive co-workers or hold them more accountable for their actions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for future research are posited.

Development and Validation of a Facebook Relational Maintenance Measure

This manuscript details the construction of a measure of Facebook relational maintenance behaviors. The first study generated an item pool by drawing from previous qualitative investigations and adapting an established relational maintenance scale. Participants were then invited to evaluate these items in order to establish face validity. During study two, participants were asked how often they used the behaviors represented in these items to maintain a specific friendship. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the underlying structure of these items; three latent factors emerged, social contact, response-seeking, and relational assurances. This factor structure was then assessed using confirmatory factor analysis during phase three. Study three participants were also asked to complete measures of friendship quality, Facebook intensity, and online social communication. The relationship of the three factors of Facebook relational maintenance to friendship quality, Facebook intensity, and online social communication suggests convergent and discriminant validity for the Facebook relational maintenance measure.

Relational Reconnection on Social Network Sites: An Examination of Relationship Persistence and Modality Switching

Recent research suggests that social network sites enable users to reconnect with prior relational partners with whom they had lost contact. The present study examines whether relationship characteristics and the total number of postreconnection channels used differ as a function of relational persistence and modality switching (MS) to face-to-face (FtF). Results reveal that partners whose relationship persisted reported more positive pre–loss-of-contact characteristics and greater modality expansion post-reconnection than did their counterparts. Similarly, partners who met FtF after reconnecting also reported more positive pre–loss-of-contact characteristics and greater modality expansion post-reconnection than did partners whose relationship did not persist.

Drama at Dunder Mifflin: Workplace Bullying Discourses on The Office

This study examines the portrayal and affective framing of workplace bullying behaviors on the popular American television show The Office. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses were conducted on 54 episodes spanning the show’s nine seasons. Results revealed 331 instances of workplace bullying, for an average of 6.13 bullying behaviors per episode. Workplace bullying behavior on The Office was grouped into five categories: sexual jokes, public humiliation, practical jokes, belittlement, and misuse of authority. In general, instances of workplace bully were scripted as humorous and lacking significant consequences, which could further contribute to social discourses that perpetuate the problem of bullying in real-life workplaces.