With the advent of social network sites (SNSs), people can efficiently maintain preexisting social relationships and make online friendships without offline encounters. While such technological features of SNSs hold a variety of potential for individual and collective benefits, some scholars warn that use of SNSs might lead to socially negative consequences, such as social isolation, erosion of social cohesion, or SNS addiction. This study distinguishes types of SNS relationships, and investigates their relationships with social isolation, interpersonal trust, and SNS addiction. We classify SNS relationships into two types: (a) social relationships based on reciprocity between a user and his/her friends, and (b) parasocial relationships in which an ordinary user is aware of activities of a celebrity (e.g., famous actors, athletes, and others) but not vice versa. Based on achievements in studies of media effect and social psychology, we constructed a set of hypotheses, and tested them using a subsample of SNS users drawn from representative survey data in South Korea. We found that dependency on parasocial relationships is positively related with loneliness but negatively correlated with interpersonal distrust, while dependency on social relationship is negatively correlated with loneliness but positively related with trust. However, more dependency on both social and parasocial relationships are positively related with SNS addiction. Implications based on findings are also discussed.

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This paper aims to examine the main factors that shape sustainable port development in a comparative analysis and generalize a typology of portstakeholder decision framework for sustainable port development. First, the main factors of sustainable port development were examined through a comprehensive literature review and a holistic conceptual framework underpinned by sustainable development and stakeholder management theories. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were then conducted with 69 port managers in Singapore and Korea. Lastly, FAHP was performed to analyze the priories of the proposed sustainable port development factors. All proposed factors should be used for evaluating sustainable port development. It was also indicated that Optimized Operation Planning is the most important factor while Internal Social Program and External Environmental Program are the least important factor in Korea and Singapore respectively. A typology of port stakeholder framework for sustainable development was also generalized to assist port managers in making phased investments decisions. This research contributes to theory building by empirically identifying and validating the sustainable port development factors considering all three aspects of sustainability. It has also generalized a typology of portstakeholder framework for sustainable development which can be used as a guideline for sustainable development decisions.