Facebook Is a Source of Social Capital Building Among University Students

Abstract

This study analyzes the influence of Facebook usage on building social capital among university students in Karachi by using a modified framework of technology acceptance model. Important information was gathered utilizing organized questionnaire containing items of Facebook intensity, social self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived playfulness (independent variables), intention to continue use (mediating variables), bridging social capital, and bonding social capital (dependent variables), while the specimen size includes 560 university students. Furthermore, the procedures utilized as a part of the study are reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, partial least square-structural equation modeling to check the impact of these factors on the building of social capital. Findings show that Facebook intensity, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived playfulness, and social self-efficacy have a positive and significant impact on intention to continue use, while intention to continue use has a positive and significant impact on both dependent variables bridging social capital and bonding social capital concluding that social networking sites (Facebook) are helpful in building and maintaining social capital by creating intention to continue using them. This study provides useful insights about the youth experience of using Facebook and sharing information. Also, marketers would get benefit as this study would allow them to adopt effective marketing strategies.