Exploring the Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivations in Blogging: A Survey on Hong Kong University Students

Abstract

Blogging stickiness and motivations have beco\rme a frequently studied topic in blogging \rresearch for several years. Yet few research pay attention to the difference between the initial \rmotivation and current motivations. This study proposes to investigate and understand \rbloggers behaviors through spec\rifying the intrinsic and extrinsic components of their \rmotivations.\rTwo major questions were raised and explored in this study: 1. what the reasons \rthat promote students to initiate blogs are; 2. how the blogging motivations and behavior \rpatterns interact \rin blog maintaining. Based on a survey of 186 bloggers among City \rUniversity of Hong Kong, it is found that: three major motivations (\rpracticing a new type of \rdiary\r, \rcuriosity\rand \rthoughts on following the crowd\r) are the most important motivations in \riniti\rating blogging. In maintaining a blog, the hypothesis that social connection motivation is \rpositively related to interaction\r-\roriented behavior while emotion pouring motivation is \rpositively related to self\r-\rrestriction behavior in expression is supported.