Students' orientation towards interpersonal communication in online social networking sites

Abstract

PurposeAs computer‐mediated communication has diffused, successive technological variations raise new questions about interpersonal impressions and several standardized instruments have been advanced in literature to asses various aspect of interpersonal attraction phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to examine the claims for reliability and validity of the attraction scales by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the light of research since 1974 which has employed the scales, and then improve the measures if needed.Design/methodology/approachRandom sampling procedure was carried out in two kulliyahs (Faculty) at International Islamic university Malaysia (IIUM), in which 340 students were selected from a population of 2,000 undergraduate students. A total of 26 items were tested from an instrument that has been used in previous studies; each item is expected to measure one of the three orientations' dimensions.FindingsThe analysis result confirms that the orientation of students towards interpersonal communication in online social network sites (SNS) is a multi‐dimensional construct consisting of social attraction, physical attraction and task attraction. In addition, since substantial numbers of research studies have been reported to have employed one or more of these measures, this research was examined to evaluate their reliability and validity.Research limitations/implicationsSince the reliabilities found in literatures have been highly varied, it was determined that improved measures should be used in the future. Thus, a revised and improved version of these measures, using CFA, are reported and recommended in this paper for future research.Originality/valueThe paper has produced a second‐generation measure with substantially improved internal reliability and validity. The paper's most important and obvious conclusion is that interpersonal attraction does appear to be a multidimensional construct.