Supporters in Deed - Studying Online Support Provision from the Perspective of Social Capital

The phenomenon of social support – aid and assistance exchanged through social relationships and interpersonal transactions – has been studied for decades with a focus on discovering the mechanism that lies between support exchange and personal wellbeing. In the age of the Internet, researchers also have shifted their focus to online support exchange. However, little attention has been paid to conceptualizing the determinants of support provision in virtual support communities. Drawing from social capital theory, this study attempts to bridge this gap by presenting a model that applies the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital to theorize the determinants of the provision of informational and emotional support in virtual support communities. Through the use of social network analysis and machine learning techniques, messages from a virtual support community for women with breast cancer are analyzed. The analysis results are used for empirically testing the framework modeling support provision.

[1]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[2]  S. Schachter.  The Psychology Of Affiliation , 1959 .

[3]  S. Cobb.  Presidential Address-1976. Social support as a moderator of life stress. , 1976, Psychosomatic medicine.

[4]  Anthony J. Vattano.  The Strength in Us: Self-Help Groups in the Modern World. By Alfred H. Katz and Eugene I. Bender. New York: New Viewpoints, 1976. 258 pp. $12.50 cloth, $6.95 paper , 1976 .

[5]  J. House.  Work stress and social support , 1981 .

[6]  M. Barrera,et al.  The structure of social support: a conceptual and empirical analysis. , 1983, Journal of community psychology.

[7]  Mark S. Granovetter.  T H E S T R E N G T H O F WEAK TIES: A NETWORK THEORY REVISITED , 1983 .

[8]  T. Wills,et al.  Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  J. House,et al.  Measures and concepts of social support , 1985 .

[10]  S. Shoptaw,et al.  Social support, support groups, and the cancer patient. , 1986, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[11]  Manuel Barrera,et al.  Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models , 1986 .

[12]  J. Richardson.  Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education , 1986 .

[13]  P. Thoits.  Social support as coping assistance. , 1986, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[14]  R. Hays,et al.  Social network development and functioning during a life transition. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  E. Molleman,et al.  Social comparison processes among cancer patients. , 1986, The British journal of social psychology.

[16]  J. Coleman,et al.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[17]  J. House,et al.  Social relationships and health. , 1988, Science.

[18]  S. E. Taylor,et al.  Social comparison activity under threat: downward evaluation and upward contacts. , 1989, Psychological review.

[19]  C. Dunkel-schetter,et al.  Determinants of Social Support Provision in Personal Relationships , 1990 .

[20]  B. Wellman,et al.  Different Strokes from Different Folks: Community Ties and Social Support , 1990, American Journal of Sociology.

[21]  R. Eccles,et al.  Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form, and Action , 1992 .

[22]  J. M. McPherson,et al.  Social Networks and Organizational Dynamics , 1992 .

[23]  Steven B. Andrews,et al.  Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition , 1995, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[24]  J. Suhr,et al.  Controllability of Stressful Events and Satisfaction With Spouse Support Behaviors , 1992 .

[25]  Alain Pinsonneault,et al.  Survey Research Methodology in Management Information Systems: An Assessment , 1993, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[26]  Guy G. Gable,et al.  Integrating case study and survey research methods: an example in information systems , 1994 .

[27]  S. Duck,et al.  Everyday communicative contexts for social support. , 1994 .

[28]  Daniel J. McAllister.  Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations , 1995 .

[29]  R. Putnam.  Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital , 1995, The City Reader.

[30]  F. Fukuyama.  Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity Penguin London , 1995 .

[31]  P. Thoits,et al.  Stress, coping, and social support processes: where are we? What next? , 1995, Journal of health and social behavior.

[32]  P. Kollock,et al.  Managing the virtual commons : Cooperation and conflict in computer communities , 1996 .

[33]  S. Kiesler,et al.  The kindness of strangers: on the usefulness of electronic weak ties for technical advice , 1996 .

[34]  W. Galston.  Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity , 1996 .

[35]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Social capital, income inequality, and mortality. , 1997, American journal of public health.

[36]  Vladimir Cherkassky,et al.  The Nature Of Statistical Learning Theory , 1997, IEEE Trans. Neural Networks.

[37]  B. Burleson,et al.  Communication of social support: Messages, interactions, relationships, and community. , 1997 .

[38]  Thorsten Joachims,et al.  Text Categorization with Support Vector Machines: Learning with Many Relevant Features , 1998, ECML.

[39]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[40]  P. Klemm,et al.  A nontraditional cancer support group. The Internet. , 1998, Computers in nursing.

[41]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital and Value Creation: The Role of Intrafirm Networks , 1998 .

[42]  I. Kawachi,et al.  Social capital and self-rated health: a contextual analysis. , 1999, American journal of public health.

[43]  Vincent R. Waldron,et al.  Communication of social support in computer-mediated groups for people with disabilities. , 1999, Health communication.

[44]  Sheldon Cohen,et al.  Social support theory and measurement. , 2000 .

[45]  M. McLure Wasko,et al.  "It is what one does": why people participate and help others in electronic communities of practice , 2000, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[46]  Vladimir N. Vapnik,et al.  The Nature of Statistical Learning Theory , 2000, Statistics for Engineering and Information Science.

[47]  Benjamin H. Gottlieb,et al.  Social support measurement and intervention: A guide for health and social scientists. , 2000 .

[48]  David Gefen,et al.  Some antecedents and effects of trust in virtual communities , 2002, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[49]  B. Buunk,et al.  Social comparison and patient information: what do cancer patients want? , 2002, Patient education and counseling.

[50]  P. Bourdieu.  Forms of Capital , 2002 .

[51]  P. Adler,et al.  Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept , 2002 .

[52]  J. Moody,et al.  Structure and Sentiment: Explaining Emotional Attachment to Group , 2003 .

[53]  Dennis F. Galletta,et al.  Individual Centrality and Performance in Virtual R&D Groups: An Empirical Study , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[54]  Kevin B. Wright,et al.  Health-related Support Groups on the Internet: Linking Empirical Findings to Social Support and Computer-mediated Communication Theory , 2003, Journal of health psychology.

[55]  H. Montgomery,et al.  Empathy as an Interpersonal Phenomenon , 2003 .

[56]  H. Tajfel,et al.  The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior. , 2004 .

[57]  R. Lazarus,et al.  The health-related functions of social support , 1981, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[58]  J. Powell,et al.  Primary care Health related virtual communities and electronic support groups : systematic review of the effects of online peer to peer interactions , 2004 .

[59]  Samer Faraj,et al.  Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice , 2005, MIS Q..

[60]  Neil S. Coulson,et al.  Receiving Social Support Online: An Analysis of a Computer-Mediated Support Group for Individuals Living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome , 2005, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[61]  P. Drentea,et al.  Social capital and social support on the web: the case of an internet mother site. , 2005, Sociology of health & illness.

[62]  Jennifer Preece,et al.  A multilevel analysis of sociability, usability, and community dynamics in an online health community , 2005, TCHI.

[63]  V. Ryan,et al.  Making Sense of Voluntary Participation: A Theoretical Synthesis* , 2005 .

[64]  Eric T. G. Wang,et al.  Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories , 2006, Decis. Support Syst..

[65]  Suzanne Pingree,et al.  Effects of Insightful Disclosure Within Computer Mediated Support Groups on Women With Breast Cancer , 2006, Health communication.

[66]  Starr Roxanne Hiltz,et al.  Trust and Privacy Concern Within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and MySpace , 2007, AMCIS.

[67]  Stanley Wasserman,et al.  Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications , 1994, Structural analysis in the social sciences.

[68]  A. Bambina.  Online Social Support: The Interplay of Social Networks and Computer-Mediated Communication , 2007 .

[69]  Panayiotis Zaphiris,et al.  Patterns of empathy in online communication , 2007, CHI.

[70]  John Suler,et al.  Fostering empowerment in online support groups , 2008, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[71]  Christopher E. Beaudoin,et al.  Modeling the impact of online cancer resources on supporters of cancer patients , 2008, New Media Soc..

[72]  Masumi Iida,et al.  Modeling support provision in intimate relationships. , 2008, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[73]  Ulrike Pfeil,et al.  Online Support Communities , 2009 .

[74]  Kuang-Yuan Huang,et al.  Informational Support or Emotional Support: Preliminary Study of an Automated Approach to Analyze Online Support Community Contents , 2010, ICIS.

[75]  Chih-Jen Lin,et al.  LIBSVM: A library for support vector machines , 2011, TIST.

[76]  P. D. Nicola,et al.  Personal Networks as Social Capital: a Research Strategy to Measure Contents and Forms of Social Support , 2011 .

[77]  Dhavan V. Shah,et al.  Empathic Exchanges in Online Cancer Support Groups: Distinguishing Message Expression and Reception Effects , 2011, Health communication.

[78]  Brian S. Butler,et al.  Research Note - The Impact of Community Commitment on Participation in Online Communities , 2011, Inf. Syst. Res..

[79]  Chieh-Peng Lin,et al.  Assessing the mediating role of online social capital between social support and instant messaging usage , 2011, Electron. Commer. Res. Appl..

[80]  Kuang-Yuan Huang.  Exploring Social Behavior in Virtual Support Communities: Social Support and Companionship Activity , 2012 .