The Influence of Social Curiosity on the Observing Behavior of Users on Social Network Sites

Social Network Site (SNS) service providers have a strong interest in knowing which factors drive different kinds of behavior in SNSs, in order to be able to foster behavior that is beneficial to their business models. Current studies neglect the factors driving Observing behavior: behavior that provides members with information within SNSs. Drawing from the Uses and Gratifications Theory, we postulate that Curiosity as well as its people-oriented facet, Social Curiosity, positively influence SNS members' Observing behavior. After surveying Facebook users and applying a structural equation modeling approach, we confirmed that two facets of Social Curiosity, General Social Curiosity and Covert Social Curiosity, positively influence Observing behavior. However, we were not able to confirm a corresponding influence of general Curiosity. Overall, our findings suggest that just being curious is not enough in order to be attracted to SNSs' Observing functions. Rather, people need to have a curiosity for people.