Propagation of information-sharing in social media: the perspective of intrinsic and extrinsic cues

Purpose Social media has progressively upgraded an interactive domain via online sociability and information-sharing. This study aims to formulate an information-sharing intention model by identifying the decisive role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Design/methodology/approach Empirical data from 508 participants were collected to examine the structural model using structural equation modeling. Findings Results indicate that information-sharing intention is strongly promoted by intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Furthermore, perceived herding, perceived crowd and intrinsic motivation boost substantially extrinsic motivation. Perceived herding is of utmost importance to extrinsic motivation, whereas emotional appeal and informative appeal are of paramount importance to intrinsic motivation. Moreover, source trust and exhibitionism are underlying motivations for intrinsic motivation. Practical implications The findings provide useful guidelines for practitioners to urge users into information-sharing via social media. Originality/value This study contributes significantly to the current literature by developing an effective mechanism of information-sharing through social media based on the motivational theory.