Information asymmetry and social exchange: exploring compliance gaining online

Proliferation of social media has increased the amount of personal information available about users online, and this information is increasingly available to anyone including advertisers and other (unknown) users. Having knowledge about others creates information asymmetries that can be used strategically in compliance gaining scenarios. In an online text-based interaction, 66 (31 male and 35 female) same-sex dyads engaged in conversation with one partner tasked in gaining his partner's compliance. When the persuading partner benefited from information asymmetry, he was more successful at getting his conversation partner to comply with requests (42% success rate vs. 9% in the control condition). Text analysis using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count indicates that while asymmetry affected conversational topics, compliance was linked to linguistic style – not content – as well as individual differences such as sex and behavioral sensitivity. This study demonstrates how individuals might utilize publicly available information about others in conversation to achieve self-serving goals. Implications for information sharing online are discussed.