WeChat use intensity and social support: The moderating effect of motivators for WeChat use

Abstract WeChat has gained increasing popularity worldwide and is regarded as a tool for receiving social support. This study aims to explore the impact of WeChat use intensity on online/offline social support and proposes that the relationship between the two is moderated by motivators for WeChat use. We conducted a survey with 432 valid respondents at 10 Chinese universities and performed OLS regression analyses to explore the hypotheses. The findings showed that participants’ WeChat use intensity is positively associated with online and offline social support, the information acquisition motive and interpersonal communication motive both have a relatively strong direct effect on the acquisition of online and offline social support, and the interpersonal communication motive further plays a moderating role between WeChat use intensity and online/offline social support. The results imply that online behavior facilitates offline supportive relationships and that an interpersonal communication motive may increase enthusiasm for using WeChat and significantly interact with WeChat use to increase online and offline social support.

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