دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی درک اثرات برنامه وی چت بر سرمایه اجتماعی درک شده و بهبود روانشناختی در میان دانشجویان - امرالد 2018

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how the intensity use of WeChat is associated with perceived social capital and psychological well-being factors among Chinese international students in Germany. Design/methodology/approach – Based on an online survey data collected from 212 Chinese international college students in Germany, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were sequentially implemented to deal with the research questions. Findings – The correlation analysis results indicate that the intensity of WeChat use is positively correlated with bridging, bonding, and maintained social capital. Additionally, a path model demonstrates that bonding social capital is positively related to life satisfaction and negatively related to the sense of loneliness. Furthermore, both bonding and maintained social capital mediate the relationship between WeChat use and these two well-being outcomes. Research limitations/implications – Theoretically, the research is an initial study contributing to the existing social media literature on evaluating the effects of WeChat use on social capital and well-being. Practically, these obtained results can be beneficial to the understanding the dynamics of how social media may potentially impact students’ social connectedness and life quality. Originality/value – Although WeChat has become the most prevalent social networking site in Mainland China, the social and psychological implications of the emerging technology are not completely understood. The paper offers evidence that WeChat has functioned as an efficient platform for sojourners to develop diverse types of social capital and promote well-being in an intercultural setting.

Conclusion

To summarize, this present study makes an early effort to systematically investigate the questions about whether the intensity of WeChat use is associated with three types of social ties by differentiating bonding, bridging, and maintained social capital, and discover how these distinct forms of social capital are related to psychological well-being among Chinese students studying abroad in Germany. The obtained results provide robust evidence that WeChat functions as an efficient and cost-effective platform for sojourners to maintain and develop diverse types of social capital. Moreover, the study constructed a hypothesized model to identify that interacting with WeChat would exert influence on well-being outcomes through bonding and maintained social capital among these sojourners in a host country. The results of this empirical study shed a more nuanced insight for further research in a new media context.