Dr. Sonja Utz

Monday, Thursday and Friday

Information in Dutch 

Sonja Utz is an assistant professor at the Dept. of Communication Science. She has studied psychology at the Catholic University of Eichstaett where she received her PhD in 1999. Her PhD thesis was on social identification with virtual communities. After doing  fundamental social psychological research on the effects of priming on cooperation and competition for a few years, she switched to communication science. Her current research interests are the use and effects of social media in the interpersonal, but also the organizational domain. Among others, she studied impression formation, consequences of social network sites (SNS) for romantic relationships, privacy issues, or campaigns on SNS. She is also interested in crisis communication and online reputation management as well as in information sharing dilemmas. Her work has been published in major scientific journals (e.g., Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, new media & society, Communication Research, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes), and she has co-edited the book “Mediated Interpersonal Communication”(Routledge, 2008).

Current research focus

• social network sites
• strategic information sharing
• the reparation of trust in eBay

Recent publications

• Utz, S. & Kerkhof, P., & Van Den Bos, J. (in press). Consumers rule: How consumer reviews influence trust in online stores. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
• Utz, S., Tanis, M. & Vermeulen, I.E. (in press). It’s all about being popular: The effects of need for popularity on social network site use. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
• Schultz, F., Kleinnijenhuis, J., Oegema, D., Utz, S., & Atteveldt, W. v. (in press). Strategic Framing in the BP crisis: A semantic network analysis of associative frames, Public Relations Review.
• Baams, L., Jonas, K.J., Utz, S., Bos H.M.W., & Van der Vuurst, L. (2011). Internet use and online social support among same sex attracted individuals of different ages. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 1820-1827.
• Kleinnijenhuis, J., Van den Hooff, B., Utz, S., Vermeulen, I.E., & Huysman, M. (2011). Emergent leadership in networks of practice: Network structure and communication content. Communication Research, 38, 587-612.
• Utz, S. & Beukeboom, C. J. (2011). The role of social network sites in romantic relationships: Effects on jealousy and relationship happiness. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 16(4), 511-527. DOI:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2011.01552.x
• Schultz, F., Utz, S., & Göritz, A. (2011). Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media. Public Relations Review, 37 (1), 20-27.Link to article
• Steinel, W., Utz, S., & Koning, L. (2010). The good, the bad and the ugly thing to do when sharing information: Revealing, concealing and lying depend on social motivation, distribution and importance of information. [doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.07.001]. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 113(2), 85-96.
• Utz, S. (2010). Show me your friends and I will tell you what type of person you are: how own profile, number of friends, and type of friends influence impression formation on social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15, 314-335.
• Utz, S. (2010). Using automated “field notes” to observe the behavior of online subjects. In S. D. Gosling & J. A. Johnson (eds.). Advanced methods for conducting online behavioral research (pp. 91-108). Washington: American Psychological Association.
• Utz, S., Matzat, U., & Snijders, C. (2009). Online Reputation Systems: The Effects of Feedback Comments and Reactions on Building and Rebuilding Trust in Online Auctions. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 13, 95-118.
• Utz, S. (2009). Rebuilding trust after negative feedback: the role of communication. In K. Cook, C. Snyders, V. Buskens & C. Cheshire (eds.), eTrust: Forming relationships in the online world (pp. 215-237). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
• Utz, S. (2009). Egoboo vs. altruism: the role of reputation in online consumer communities. New Media & Society, 11, 371-388.
• Utz, S. & Krämer, N. (2009). The privacy paradox on social network sites revisited: the role of trust, narcissism, privacy concerns, and norms. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research in Cyberspace, 3, article 2. http://cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2009111001&article=2
• Utz, S. (2009). The (potential) benefits of campaigning via Social Network Sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 221-243. 
• Konijn, E.A., Utz, S., Tanis, M. & Barnes, S.B. (2008). Introduction. How technology affects human interaction. In E.A. Konijn, S. Utz, M. Tanis & S.B. Barnes (eds.). Mediated interpersonal communication (pp. 3-13). New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
• Utz, S. (2008). (Selbst)marketing auf Hyves [(Self)marketing on Hyves]. In P. Alpar & S. Blaschke (eds.) Web2.0. Eine empirische Bestandsaufnahme [Web2.0 - an empirical inventory]. (pp. 233 - 258). Wiesbaden: Vieweg & Teubner.
• Utz, S. (2008). Social identification with virtual communities. In E. Konijn, S. Utz, M. Tanis, & S. Barnes (Eds.), Mediated interpersonal communication (pp. 252-270). New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
• Abdala, I. & Utz, S. (2007). Vertrouwen in online winkels. De rol van reputatie, consumenten reviews, en dispositioneel vertrouwen. [Trust in online shops: The role of reputation, consumer reviews and dispositional trust]. C. Laar, R. Ruiter, J. Karremans, W. Van Rijswijk, & F. Va Harreveld (Eds.), Jaarboek Sociale Psychologie 2006 (pp. 13-22): Groningen: ASPO Pers.
• Utz, S. (2007). Media use in long distance friendships. Information, Communication, and Society, 10, 693-712.

 Complete list of publications

Academic activities

• Editorial board member Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (2008-2010), Journal of Media Psychology (since 2008)
• Memberships: International Communication Association (ICA), European Association of Experimental Social Psychologists (EAESP), The Netherlands School of Communications Research (NESCoR), Dutch Society for Social Psychologists (ASPO), German Society for Psychology (DGPs)
• Reviewing activities for international journals including New Media & Society, Cyberpsychology & Behavior, European Journal of Social Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Media Psychology

CV

CV Sonja Utz