Explaining personality and contextual differences in beneficial role of online versus offline social support: A moderated mediation model

Abstract

With more than three billion “Netizens” worldwide, online social support obtained through social networking sites (SNS) has a pervasive influence on their users’ affective experiences. Social support generally fosters affective well-being, but such support can also threaten some recipients’ self-esteem that compromises their affective well-being. However, little is known of whether (a) this self-esteem threat varied by the mode (i.e., online vs. offline) of supportive interactions, and (b) such variations were explained by public self-consciousness across distinct modes of supportive interactions. A moderated mediation model was formulated to test these hypothesized personality and contextual differences using a quasi-experimental design. The results revealed that the mode of supportive interactions moderated the relationship between self-esteem and public self-consciousness, indicating that individuals higher in self-esteem are less likely to feel exposed to the potentially unfavorable evaluations in online (vs. offline) supportive interactions. Moreover, the results showed that the heightened levels of public self-consciousness explained the positive link between self-esteem and negative affect in offline but not online supportive interactions, providing further evidence that social support obtained through SNS is likely superior to that obtained through face-to-face interactions.