Why Creators Break Rules: Quantitative Evidence on Moral Disengagement and Self-Control

Social video platforms such as YouTube and Twitch increasingly moderate noncompliant video content, yet we know little about what psychological factors drive creators to produce such videos. Drawing on theories of self-control and moral disengagement, we examine how self-control and moral disengagement influence creators’ production of noncompliant videos, their moderation experience, and, once moderated, their perceived fairness of moderation decisions and their coping strategies. By analyzing data from a survey with 400 video creators, we find that moral disengagement increases the creation of noncompliant videos and moderation experience, while self-control reduces them. Self-control and moral disengagement influence creators’ adoption of coping strategies in response to moderation decisions, but in distinct ways. The effects of moral disengagement and self-control are moderated by creators’ reliance on video creation for income. These findings offer a fuller account of why creators offend. We discuss implications for better supporting punished creators’ behavioral improvement.