An integrative and holistic understanding of personal online reputation management

The Internet has initiated a revolutionary process in which people are becoming more and more digitally connected. So many activities, such as chatting with friends around the world, organizing events, exchange knowledge and information, meeting new people, or dating, happen online and are integrated in our daily lives. Because of the digital transformation of the society and people’s engagement with others in the Internet, a lot of personal information is online available. Such information can form an individual’s online reputation, which can be useful, as it is an indicator for reciprocity, credibility, or competence. However, there is a dark side: any Internet user can conveniently create comprehensive profiles of other people for various purposes like deliberate defamation or social engineering. Therefore, online reputation management becomes more and more important, not only for self-presentation, but also for self-protection. Recent studies show that people’s online reputation management efforts are relatively low. Additionally, the online reputation management research landscape is fragmentary and fails to explain people’s lack of motivation and the obstacles that hinder them to conduct online reputation management. Motivated by these circumstances, this dissertation addresses this research gap and goes beyond that. The research provides a holistic view on personal online reputation management. The innovative approach fosters the understanding of this process on and outside social media platforms. Furthermore, this dissertation analyses how people perceive legal changes that provide them with the right to remove information from the Web.