Which Factors Determine Our Online Social Capital? An Analysis Based on Structural Equation Modelling

Abstract

The relationship between social network sites and social capital has received much research attention. However, two research gaps can be identified in the existing literature. First, only few studies have examined online social capital as a resource in online social networks. In this regard, it is not clear how to validly measure online social capital. Second, while the factors influencing social capital, among them properties of an individual’s social network, have been investigated in offline settings, such factors have not yet been investigated in terms of online social capital. Addressing these gaps, we asked 1000 Facebook users to provide information on their Facebook usage and online friendship network. Employing structural equation modelling for analysing the survey data, we show that Williams’ Internet Social Capital Scales, which are commonly used to assess social capital in offline settings, can be used to validly measure online social capital. Moreover, we find that some of the variables influencing offline social capital, among them similarity in terms of sociodemographic attributes, seem less important in an online setting.

Impactos del confinamiento por el COVID-19 entre universitarios: Satisfacción Vital, Resiliencia y Capital Social Online

“…En la era Internet diferentes medios como son los blogs, foros en webs, redes sociales y similares se han convertido en el espacio de una nueva forma de capital social: el capital social virtual (Nguyen et al, 2013), o capital social online. Así, el uso de las redes sociales virtuales ha contribuido al desarrollo del capital social (Abbas & Mesch, 2018), jugando un papel clave en el desarrollo de la identidad de los jóvenes (Stokes & Price, 2017;Heidari et al, 2020), siendo en la actualidad un importante tópico de investigación (Grottke et al, 2018). A nivel de redes, Putnam (2000) establece dos dimensiones de capital social: bonding (vínculo) y bridging (puente).…”

“…La influencia de internet en estas dos dimensiones del capital social ha sido abordada en diferentes estudios obteniendo tanto resultados positivos (Abbas & Mesch, 2018;Grottke et al, 2018) como negativos (Arampatzi et al, 2018;Faucher, 2018); quedando así patente la importancia del uso individual que cada uno hace de internet (Heidari et al, 2020).…”

Capital social e redes sociais online na perspectiva de gênero: um estudo com gerentes da área de tecnologia da informação

“…Bridging social capital -Emotional support -Breadth of view -Access to scarce or limited resources -View of yourself as part of a larger group -Antagonism with people outside the group -Contact with many people -Ability to mobilize solidarity -Diffuse reciprocity with a larger community Source: Williams (2006). The Williams Social Capital Scale (2006) has been used as a methodology in recent studies (Jurkevičienė & Butkevičienė, 2018;Grottke, Hacker and Durst, 2018;Singh, Ghosh, 2017), which address social capital but are only related to online social networks, trust, or impact on socioeconomic capital.…”

Determining Boundary Conditions of Social Influence for Social Networks Research

“…Aspect discussed in relation to social influence and SNSs Grottke et al (2018) How online interactions influence individuals in terms of generating social capital. How SNS users influence news consumption in social broadcasting networks.…”

“…Moreover, the social influence generated by individuals in SNSs has been discussed in various sectors, including the automobile industry , music , and the film industry . In particular, in the special issue on Recent Advances in Social Media in the Australasian Journal of Information Systems in 2018, many of the published studies (e.g., Grottke, Hacker, & Durst, 2018;Morgan, Cheong, & Bedingfield, 2018;Wang, Alahakoon, & De Silva, 2018;Whiteside, Aleti, Pallant, & Zeleznikow, 2018) have discussed the importance of social influence generated in SNSs on various aspects of attitudinal and behavioral change (refer to Table 1).…”