Abstract
Building upon the perspectives of social capital theory, social support, and experience, this study developed a theoretical model to investigate the determinants of subjective well-being on social media. This study also examined the moderating role of experience on the relationship between subjective well-being and social support. Data collected from 267 social media users in Taiwan were used to test the proposed model. Structural equation modeling analysis was used to test the measurement model and the structural model. The findings reveal that receiving online support and providing online support are the key predictors of subjective well-being. Furthermore, social capital positively influences the reception and provision of online support. Finally, providing online support has a significant effect on the subjective well-being of users with low levels of use experience, while receiving online support exerts a stronger influence on the subjective well-being of users with high levels of use experience.
Highlights
With increasing popularity, social media has become a useful channel for socializing [1,2,3]
Discriminant validity was evaluated by using the criteria recommended by [64]: the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) should exceed the correlation shared between the construct and other constructs in the model
The results show that the relationship between receiving online support and subjective well-being is stronger for users with high levels of experience, while providing online support has a stronger influence on subjective well-being for users with low levels of experience (t = 28.79, 40.39, respectively)
Summary
Social media (e.g., virtual communities, weblogs, wiki, and social networking sites) has become a useful channel for socializing [1,2,3]. It enables people to create and maintain their social networks regardless of the limitation of geographic location [4,5] People build their online social networks to satisfy their needs for social support [1]. Existing studies have examined the link between social capital and subjective well-being [7,8], as well as the influence of receiving social support on one’s quality of life [9]. These studies have provided valuable insights into the nature of social capital; close connections with others allows users to obtain information and support from others [7,10]. Only a few studies have explored the relationships among social capital, online social support, and subjective well-being on social media
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