The role of personality traits in participation in an Online Cancer Community

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate how personality traits influence participative behaviour in an Online Cancer Community (OCC).Design/methodology/approachQualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 users of one of the largest OCCs in Australia – Cancer Council Online Community in New South Wales (NSW).FindingsThe results showed that extraversion, emotional stability and agreeableness traits influence posting behaviour, whereas the conscientiousness trait influences lurking behaviour. The openness trait did not affect either posters or lurkers’ online behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsThe research highlights the pivotal role of personality traits in users’ decisions to post or lurk using a multi-theory perspective that combined the social exchange theory and the Five-Factor Model. Future studies should explore personality traits that can benefit from online participation in an OCC to transition only lurkers who may benefit from posting.Practical implicationsInsights from the study inform OCC practitioners and moderators when designing the OCC platform. Except for the openness trait, lurkers and posters exhibited different attitudes, which indicates that integrating these findings in the OCC design can facilitate adopting strategies to elicit more participation by OCC users.Originality/valueThis is the first study that explored the role of personality traits in users’ decisions to participate in an OCC.