Assessing Validity and Reliability of Social Media as An Empowerment Tool For A Group at Risk in Malaysia

Abstract

This article discusses a study on empowerment of a group at risk via social media in Malaysia which focuses on five important dimensions namely economy, social and cultural, legal, political, and psychology. The group at risk focused in the study refers to women. The study employed a survey that uses a set of online questionnaire distributed to women who are actively using social media, particularly social networking sites. This study involves a sample of 1,307 respondents in an exploratory study, in which a 5-factor 24-item instrument to measure empowerment comprising of the five hypothesised dimensions were being developed. Results confirm factor structures of the empowerment model and suggest a more parsimonious instrument for each; a 5-factor 15-item scale for social media empowerment, as compared to the result of pilot study conducted. Goodness-of-fit indices for the model are presented. The result shows that the five dimensions are significant to the empowerment model of women in Malaysia. The findings can contribute greatly to a better understanding of the empowerment mechanism behind social media issues pertaining to women.

Ladies First: The Influence of Mobile Dating Applications on the Psychological Empowerment of Female Users

“…Past studies have also found that social media can improve the level of self-confidence and resilience of women (Hamid et al, 2016) and that repeated rejection can further reduce a person's feeling of self-perceived mate value (Charlot, 2018) However, this current study further suggests that depending on the female users' point of view or personality, self-confidence can either be boosted or reduced. This finding is applicable to other mobile dating applications that also rely on the 'swiping' feature to trigger a match.…”

“…Stavrositu and Sundar (2012) believe that social media platforms are gradually tapping into the Internet's claimed ability to empower. This is supported by Hamid, Ishak, and Yusof, (2016) who claim that social media plays a part in enabling women to gain control over their lives as well as improve its quality, which is in line with the definition of psychological empowerment provided by Tahir and Rana (2013). Women feel that social media can be used to improve their levels of self-confidence, resilience (Hamid et al, 2016) and gain peace of mind (Hamid et al, 2016;Stavrositu & Sundar, 2012).…”

“…This is supported by Hamid, Ishak, and Yusof, (2016) who claim that social media plays a part in enabling women to gain control over their lives as well as improve its quality, which is in line with the definition of psychological empowerment provided by Tahir and Rana (2013). Women feel that social media can be used to improve their levels of self-confidence, resilience (Hamid et al, 2016) and gain peace of mind (Hamid et al, 2016;Stavrositu & Sundar, 2012). Mobile dating applications (e.g., Bumble and Tinder) are often referred to as social media platforms (Mason, 2016).…”

“…Because of the positive vibes it gave out, and because of the "Oh look, empowerment," and because of the hope that you won't be spammed as much, and I think it just in general had a more positive vibe with its yellow look and Bumble sounded happier and nicer. (Participant A) Hamid et al (2016) stated that social media has the ability to enable women to take control and improve the quality of their lives. The study found that female users were aware of this reputation when it comes to Bumble, which further informed their decision relative to their choice of an online dating application.…”