The Influence of Gender Factors on Cyber Bullying Behavior in Social Media

Abstract

Malaysia is the 9th country to record the most active use of social media in the world, which is almost 80 % of its total population. The explosion of information and communication technology (ICT) has greatly facilitated the life of society. However, there are a handful of parties who misuse cyber platforms for criminal purposes such as cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is increasingly becoming a culture among netizens by making an individual as a source of jokes aimed at gaining attention and pleasure on social media. On that basis, the government has introduced the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 to monitor offenses that exist on social media, especially involving digital communications. Thus, this study aims to analyze the influence of gender factors on cyber bullying behavior in social media. The study was conducted quantitatively using a survey design. A set of questionnaires was distributed to 436 respondents in Melaka via Google Form, and then analyzed through SPSS software. The T-Test concluded significant differences in the mean scores of cyberbullying behaviors based on gender among the respondents. The mean value for males is 2.08 while the mean value for females is 1.64. (F = 4,628); (p <0.05). Thus, all parties need