The Optimal Experience: Social Identity and IT Identity as Antecedents of Group Flow in Social Media Use

Abstract

Social media is a popular platform for daily communication and collaboration which supports interaction with online groups and communities. Prior research has investigated flow experiences in social media but only from an individual perspective. In this article, we examine group flow in the context of social media use. The key role played by the IT artifact, as well as the social nature of such use, require the addition of two new antecedents to group flow: IT identity and social identity. We propose that in conjunction with traditional flow experiences, group members’ IT identity and social identification with the group will be strong predictors of group flow experiences. We further propose that group flow will lead to increased group exploration of the focal technology. Our research thus contributes to the growing literature on group flow by further developing its nomological network in social media usage contexts.