Linking Psychological Attributes, Gratifications and Social Networking Site Use to Social Capital of the Net Generation in China

How narcissism, communication anxiety, and gratifications impact SNS use and social capital was examined through a survey of Net-geners in China N=568. Firstly, factor analysis identified four gratifications-sought from SNS: self-presentation, peer pressure, social network maintenance, and information seeking. Then regression analyses showed that narcissism significantly predicted all gratifications and intensity of SNS use, while communication anxiety only related to peer pressure and information seeking motivations. Narcissism, network maintenance motive, and intensity of SNS use were positively related to social capital, whereas communication anxiety and peer pressure motivation negatively predicted social capital. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

[1]  Junqi Shi,et al.  The Moderating Role of Attachment Anxiety on Social Network Site Use Intensity and Social Capital , 2013, Psychological reports.

[2]  Homero Gil de Zúñiga,et al.  Social Media Use for News and Individuals' Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Participation , 2012, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[3]  Keith N. Hampton,et al.  Neighboring in Netville: How the Internet Supports Community and Social Capital in a Wired Suburb , 2003 .

[4]  T. Parsons.  The Social System , 1953 .

[5]  Louis Leung,et al.  Impacts of Net-generation attributes, seductive properties of the Internet, and gratifications-obtained on Internet use , 2003, Telematics Informatics.

[6]  Gina Masullo Chen,et al.  Tweet this: A uses and gratifications perspective on how active Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[7]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship , 2007, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[8]  Harry C. Triandis,et al.  Individualism-Collectivism , 1986 .

[9]  Petter Bae Brandtzæg,et al.  Social Networking Sites: Their Users and Social Implications - A Longitudinal Study , 2012, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[10]  R. Raskin,et al.  A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[11]  W. K. Campbell,et al.  Comparing clinical and social-personality conceptualizations of narcissism. , 2008, Journal of personality.

[12]  Andrew Campbell,et al.  Internet Use by the Socially Fearful: Addiction or Therapy? , 2006, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[13]  Robert D. Putnam,et al.  Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community , 2000, CSCW '00.

[14]  D. Tapscott.  Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation , 1984 .

[15]  J. Rowley,et al.  Young people's use of online social networking sites – a uses and gratifications perspective , 2010 .

[16]  R. LaRose,et al.  Understanding Internet Usage , 2001 .

[17]  Andree E. Widjaja,et al.  The Effect of Online Participation in Online Learning Course for Studying Trust in Information and Communication Technologies , 2016, Int. J. Cyber Behav. Psychol. Learn..

[18]  Judith Donath,et al.  Public Displays of Connection , 2004 .

[19]  P. Earley.  Social Loafing and Collectivism: A Comparison of the United States and the People's Republic of China. , 1989 .

[20]  William B. Gudykunst,et al.  Communication in everyday interpersonal and intergroup encounters , 1996 .

[21]  Wenhong Chen,et al.  Facebook or Renren? A comparative study of social networking site use and social capital among Chinese international students in the United States , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[22]  Cynthia L. Turk,et al.  The Internet: home to a severe population of individuals with social anxiety disorder? , 2004, Journal of anxiety disorders.

[23]  J. Slevin.  Internet and Society , 2000 .

[24]  D. Goh,et al.  Narcissism, extraversion and adolescents' self-presentation on Facebook. , 2011 .

[25]  Jong‐Young Kim.  Social Interaction in Computer‐Mediated Communication , 2005 .

[26]  Louis Leung,et al.  Net-Generation Attributes and Seductive Properties of the Internet as Predictors of Online Activities and Internet Addiction , 2004, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[27]  Mary Beth Rosson,et al.  Community Networks: Where Offline Communities Meet Online , 2005, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[28]  Alcides Velasquez,et al.  Motivations to participate in online communities , 2010, CHI.

[29]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  Connection strategies: Social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices , 2011, New Media Soc..

[30]  Jonathon N. Cummings,et al.  The quality of online social relationships , 2002, CACM.

[31]  F. Crosby,et al.  Recent unobtrusive studies of Black and White discrimination and prejudice: A literature review. , 1980 .

[32]  A. Rubin.  USES-AND-GRATIFICATIONS PERSPECTIVE ON MEDIA EFFECTS , 2009 .

[33]  Teena Willoughby,et al.  A longitudinal study of the relation between adolescent boys and girls' computer use with friends and friendship quality: Support for the social compensation or the rich-get-richer hypothesis? , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[34]  L. R. Goldberg,et al.  Conceptions of states and traits: dimensional attributes with ideals as prototypes. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

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

[36]  Diana G. Oblinger.  Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials: Understanding the "New Students.". , 2003 .

[37]  N. Cutler,et al.  Process Gratification in Aging Cohorts , 1980 .

[38]  Don Tapscott,et al.  Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World , 2008 .

[39]  Pavica Sheldon,et al.  The Relationship Between Unwillingness-to-Communicate and Students' Facebook Use , 2008, J. Media Psychol. Theor. Methods Appl..

[40]  Louis Leung.  Gratifications, chronic loneliness and internet use , 2001 .

[41]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  The Benefits of Facebook "Friends: " Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[42]  Francis L. K. Hsu,et al.  Americans and Chinese : passage to differences , 1981 .

[43]  Aaron Smith,et al.  Social Media & Mobile Internet Use among Teens and Young Adults. Millennials. , 2010 .

[44]  Cheri A. Levinson,et al.  Profiling Predicting Social Anxiety From Facebook Profiles , 2012 .

[45]  Dmitri Williams,et al.  On and Off the 'Net: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[46]  Lee Sproull,et al.  Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization , 1991 .

[47]  Laura E. Buffardi,et al.  Narcissism and Social Networking Web Sites , 2008, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[48]  W. Keith Campbell,et al.  Are there such things as “Narcissists” in social psychology? A taxometric analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory , 2007 .

[49]  Yadong Luo,et al.  Guanxi and organizational dynamics: organizational networking in Chinese firms , 2001 .

[50]  Tamyra Pierce,et al.  Social anxiety and technology: Face-to-face communication versus technological communication among teens , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[51]  Louis Leung,et al.  The Net Generation , 2012 .

[52]  S. Booth-Butterfield,et al.  The communication anxiety inventory: Validation of state‐and context‐communication apprehension , 1986 .

[53]  John Dimmick,et al.  The Gratification Niches of Personal E-mail and the Telephone , 2000, Commun. Res..

[54]  Otto F. Kernberg,et al.  Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism , 1975 .

[55]  H. Kohut,et al.  The analysis of the self , 1971 .

[56]  Ana Margarida Veiga Simão,et al.  Cyber-Victimization and Cyber-Aggression among Portuguese Adolescents: The Relation to Family Support and Family Rules , 2016, Int. J. Cyber Behav. Psychol. Learn..

[57]  N. Ellison,et al.  Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis , 2008 .

[58]  S. Utz,et al.  The privacy paradox on social network sites revisited: The role of individual characteristics and group norms , 2009 .

[59]  E. Katz,et al.  The Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications Research. Sage Annual Reviews of Communication Research Volume III. , 1975 .

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

[61]  Heather M. Coon,et al.  Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. , 2002, Psychological bulletin.

[62]  Neil J. McKenna,et al.  Combinatorial Control of Gene Expression by Nuclear Receptors and Coregulators , 2002, Cell.

[63]  Rebecca B. Rubin,et al.  OLDER PERSONS' TV VIEWING PATTERNS AND MOTIVATIONS , 1982 .

[64]  Thomas F. Stafford,et al.  Determining Uses and Gratifications for the Internet , 2004, Decis. Sci..