Gratifications and social network service usage: The mediating role of online experience

This paper incorporates dual theories from communication research (uses and gratifications) and psychology research (online flow) to examine consumer behavior in the use of social network services. In particular, the study proposes that consumers’ online experience of interaction and arousal serves as the mediator of the relationship between social motivations and use behaviors. The empirical results indicate that arousal fully mediates the relationship between social gratifications and problematic social network service use. Furthermore, both interaction and arousal are partial mediators of the relationship between social gratifications and the intention to revisit social networking websites.     

Leveraging Microsoft׳s mobile usability guidelines: Conceptualizing and developing scales for mobile application usability

This research conceptualizes mobile application usability and develops and validates an instrument to measure the same. Mobile application usability has attracted widespread attention in the field of human–computer interaction because well-designed applications can enhance user experiences. To conceptualize mobile application usability, we analyzed Microsoft’s mobile usability guidelines and defined 10 constructs representing mobile application usability. Next, we conducted a pilot study followed by a quantitative assessment of the content validity of the scales. We then sequentially applied exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to two samples (n=404; n=501) consisting of German consumers using mobile social media applications on their smartphones. To evaluate the confirmatory factor model, we followed a step-by-step process assessing unidimensionality, discriminant validity and reliability. To assess the nomological validity of our instrument, we examined the impact of mobile application usability on two outcomes: continued intention to use and brand loyalty. The results confirmed that mobile application usability was a good predictor of both outcomes. The constructs and scales associated with mobile application usability validated in this paper can be used to guide future research in human–computer interaction and aid in the effective design of mobile applications.     

The Social Media Use Integration Scale: Toward Reliability and Validity

The growing importance of social media and research interest in the field makes it imperative to consider the measures used to assess social networking site (SNS) use. The Facebook Intensity Scale has seen prolific use since its development; however, it has been criticized by some scholars. Jenkins-Guarnieri, Wright, and Johnson (2013) suggested another scale, the Social Media Use Integration Scale (SMUIS), which was developed to be suitable for use across different SNS platforms. They advised further research to confirm its psychometric properties, testing it on a more diverse sample than US college students and on social media other than Facebook. In this study, EFAs and a CFA were conducted to examine the validity of the SMUIS on Facebook and LinkedIn in the African context. The results provide preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the SMUIS for diverse age ranges. Further testing of the scale on LinkedIn is recommended.     

Policy makers’ perceptions on the transformational effect of Web 2.0 technologies on public services delivery

The growing participation in social networking sites is altering the nature of social relations and changing the nature of political and public dialogue. This paper contributes to the current debate on Web 2.0 technologies and their implications for local governance, identifying the perceptions of policy makers on the use of Web 2.0 in providing public services and on the changing roles that could arise from the resulting interaction between local governments and their stakeholders. The results obtained suggest that policy makers are willing to implement Web 2.0 technologies in providing public services, but preferably under the Bureaucratic model framework, thus retaining a leading role in this implementation. The learning curve of local governments in the use of Web 2.0 technologies is a factor that could influence policy makers’ perceptions. In this respect, many research gaps are identified and further study of the question is recommended.     

A validation study of the Keyboard Personal Computer Style instrument (K-PeCS) for use with children

This study examines a potential instrument for measurement of typing postures of children. This paper describes inter-rater, test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Keyboard Personal Computer Style instrument (K-PeCS), an observational measurement of postures and movements during keyboarding, for use with children. Two trained raters independently rated videos of 24 children (aged 7-10 years). Six children returned one week later for identifying test-retest reliability. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing ratings obtained using the K-PECS to scores from a 3D motion analysis system. Inter-rater reliability was moderate to high for 12 out of 16 items (Kappa: 0.46 to 1.00; correlation coefficients: 0.77-0.95) and test-retest reliability varied across items (Kappa: 0.25 to 0.67; correlation coefficients: r = 0.20 to r = 0.95). Concurrent validity compared favourably across arm pathlength, wrist extension and ulnar deviation. In light of the limitations of other tools the K-PeCS offers a fairly affordable, reliable and valid instrument to address the gap for measurement of typing styles of children, despite the shortcomings of some items. However further research is required to refine the instrument for use in evaluating typing among children.     

Make new friends or keep the old: Gender and personality differences in social networking use

The present study examined the influence of gender and personality on individuals’ use of online social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Participants were 238 undergraduate students who reported being members of Facebook, MySpace, or both. Based on prior research examining online behavior, we expected that gender and scores on the Big Five personality scale would moderate online social networking behavior. The results supported our predictions. Specifically, men reported using social networking sites for forming new relationships while women reported using them more for relationship maintenance. Furthermore, women low in agreeableness reported using instant messaging features of social networking sites more often than women high in agreeableness, whereas men low in openness reported playing more games on social networking sites compared to men high in openness. Overall, these results indicate the importance of examining individual differences in online behavior.     

Community Development Among Distance Learners: Temporal and Technological Dimensions

Internet self-efficacy, or the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute courses of Internet actions required to produce given attainments, is a potentially important factor in efforts to close the digital divide that separates experienced Internet users from novices. Prior research on Internet self-efficacy has been limited to examining specific task performance and narrow behavioral domains rather than overall attainments in relation to general Internet use, and has not yielded evidence of reliability and construct validity. Survey data were collected to develop a reliable operational measure of Internet self-efficacy and to examine its construct validity. An eight-item Internet self-efficacy scale developed for the present study was found to be reliable and internally consistent. Prior Internet experience, outcome expectancies and Internet use were significantly and positively correlated to Internet self-efficacy judgments. Internet stress and self-disparagement were negatively related to Internet self-efficacy. A path analysis model was tested within the theoretical framework of social cognitive theory ( Bandura (1997) .     

Information privacy concerns,antecedents and privacy measure use in social networking sites: Evidence from Malaysia

The research aims at gaining insights into information privacy concerns, its antecedents and privacy measure use in social networking sites. The Social Cognitive, Protection Motivation theories and gender factor were used as a basis to develop and confirm a research model. Using a cross-sectional survey design and cluster sampling technique, four-hundred thirteen questionnaires were distributed to undergraduates at a public Malaysian university; three-hundred forty were included in analyses. Data was analyzed using structural equation modeling technique. Results suggest that in order of importance only perceived severity, self-efficacy, perceived vulnerability, and gender are antecedents of information privacy concerns with social networking sites; response efficacy and rewards were not significant antecedents contrary to many past findings in the literature that used Social Cognitive and Protection Motivation Theory as a theoretical basis. Information privacy concerns explain privacy measure use in social networking sites. The implications of these results and study limitations are discussed.     

Assessing flow experience in social networking site based brand communities

The sustenance of the Social Networking Site (SNS)-based brand communities relies on user retention and their active participation. Therefore, understanding the intrinsic aspects of user behavior in such communities is important for devising strategies to ensure user retention and active participation. Especially, information about the elements that induce flow experiences—the intrinsically enjoyable and immersive experiences—of users in SNS has become important for organizations that host online communities. In our empirical study, we chose to focus especially on SNS-based brand communities, as they are increasingly interesting from an organization-community interaction perspective, but they lack the instruments needed for measuring user experience. The present study addresses this gap by developing an instrument aimed at measuring the user’s flow experience on SNS-based brand communities. A cross-sectional survey with 577 Facebook brand community users was carried out. The findings show that enjoyment, concentration, and social interaction are the components that constitute a user’s flow experience. In addition to providing a valuable tool for business practitioners, the developed instrument offers several theoretical and practical implications for improving user experience of social media.     

#gathercreateshare: How Research Libraries Use Pinterest

This work investigates social curating activities on the website Pinterest and relates them to the librarian's traditional role of curating information. Pinterest is a social curation site that combines features of gathering, creating, and sharing with the information management characteristics of successful data curation. Libraries have begun to think about pushing services into social networking sites and adding social networking features to their own services. This study evaluates the webpages of Association of Research Libraries member libraries for presence and use of Pinterest, and suggests ways research and academic libraries can use Pinterest to support their patrons.     

The effect of communication and social motives on E-government services through social media groups

ABSTRACT

E-government on social media has received much attention lately. Despite a recent call for further research into social interaction and communication aspects of e-government on social media, there is still limited empirical evidence regarding why individuals participate in the social aspect of e-government services and how that relates to their expectations and satisfactions. The present work addresses this gap by extending the Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT) to study communication and social interactions in government Facebook groups. The results show that communication quality and responsiveness are two key elements that contribute to the perceived level of usefulness. These two variables together with social interaction had a statistically significant effect on the overall confirmation of expectations. Perceived usefulness and satisfaction predict continuance use intention of e-government social networking services with satisfaction influencing such intention more than perceived usefulness. Further multi-group analyses show that generational difference and usage frequency moderates the relationships of the extended model. Managerial implications are provided.     

Excessive use of Twitter among college students in the UK: Validation of the Microblog Excessive Use Scale and relationship to social interaction and loneliness

Microblogging on sites like Twitter is a growing and popular trend among young people. Apparently, some users of these microblogs exhibit addiction-like symptoms. Until recently, there was no psychometric scale to measure the excessive use of Twitter. The development of the Microblog Excessive Use Scale (MEUS) in 2014 proved a positive step in assessing this phenomenon. In the current study, we employed the MEUS to assess excessive use of Twitter in a sample of 256 college students (53.1% female; mean age 21.4 years) in the UK. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), calculation of criterion-related and concurrent validity and reliability were performed to assess the scale's psychometric properties. The MEUS was found to be a valid instrument for assessing excessive use of Twitter among UK college students. In addition, we found that real life social interaction was negatively associated with excessive use of Twitter and this relationship was mediated by loneliness. We compared our results with results from a previous study in which the MEUS was developed and noted some interesting differences, which might be explained by cultural differences between samples in the two studies.     

Cross-community context management in Cooperating Smart Spaces

Recently, social networks have become the most prevalent IT paradigm, as the vast majority of Internet users maintain one or multiple social networking accounts. These accounts, irrespectively of the underlying service, contain rich information and data for the owner’s preferences, social skills, everyday activities, beliefs and interests. Along with these services, the computation, sensing and networking capabilities of the state of the art mobile and portable devices, with their always-on mode, assist users in their everyday lives. Thus, the integration of social networking services with current pervasive computing systems could provide the users with the potential to interact with other users that have similar interests, preferences and expectations; and in general, the same or similar context, for limited or not time periods, in order to ameliorate their overall experience, communicate, socialise and improve their everyday activities with minimal effort. This paper introduces a cross-community context management framework that is suitable for Cooperating Smart Spaces, which couple the advantages of pervasive computing and social networking. This framework goes beyond the state of the art, among others, in that cross-community context from a multitude of sources is collected and processed to enhance the end user experience and increase the perceived value of the services provided.     

The Effect of Network Characteristics on Online Identity Management Practices

As online social networking permeates all aspects of personal and professional lives, users of social networking sites (SNSs) are more motivated than ever to manage their online identities to project a favorable impression of themselves to online audiences. This research builds on the boundary management perspective to gain a better understanding of online identity management practices by examining the relationship between characteristics of the online social network, including cognitive homogeneity and social tie variety and the use of identity management practices such as segmentation and self-enhancement. The proposed research model is tested using survey data. The findings suggest cognitive homogeneity is positively related to the use of both identity management practices, segmentation and self-enhancement, whereas social tie variety is positively related to segmentation, but not self-enhancement practices. We conclude with implications of the study results for research and practice, as well as a discussion of directions for future research.     

SDN-aware federation of distributed data

The introduction of software defined networking (SDN) has created an opportunity for file access services to get a view of the underlying network and to further optimize large data transfers. This opportunity is still unexplored while the amount of data that needs to be transferred is growing. Data transfers are also becoming more frequent as a result of interdisciplinary collaborations and the nature of research infrastructures. To address the needs for larger and more frequent data transfers, we propose an approach which enables file access services to use SDN. We extend the file access services developed in our earlier work by including network resources in the provisioning for large data transfers. A novel SDN-aware file transfer mechanism is prototyped for improving the performance and reliability of large data transfers on research infrastructure equipped with programmable network switches. Our results show that I/O and data-intensive scientific workflows benefit from SDN-aware file access services.     

A tale of two sites: Twitter vs. Facebook and the personality predictors of social media usage

Social networking sites (SNS) are quickly becoming one of the most popular tools for social interaction and information exchange. Previous research has shown a relationship between users’ personality and SNS use. Using a general population sample (N = 300), this study furthers such investigations by examining the personality correlates (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness-to-Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Sociability and Need-for-Cognition) of social and informational use of the two largest SNS: Facebook and Twitter. Age and Gender were also examined. Results showed that personality was related to online socialising and information seeking/exchange, though not as influential as some previous research has suggested. In addition, a preference for Facebook or Twitter was associated with differences in personality. The results reveal differential relationships between personality and Facebook and Twitter usage.     

An empirical examination of a process-oriented IT business success model

The value of information technology (IT) to modern organizations is almost undeniable. However, the determination of that value has been elusive in research and practice. We used a process-oriented research model developed using two streams of IT research to examine the value of IT in business organizations. One stream is characterized by examining how IT and non-IT variables affect other so-called IT success variables. The second stream is commonly referred to as IT business value, defined as the contribution of IT to firm performance. The resulting research model is referred to in our paper as the IT business success model. Data was collected from 225 top IS executives in fairly large organizations to empirically examine several hypotheses derived from theory concerning the causal nature of the IT business success model. A set of measures for the IT business success model was developed through an intense investigation of the IT literature. The measures were tested for validity and reliability using confirmatory factor analysis. The hypotheses that resulted from past research and conceptually illustrated in the research model were assessed using structural equation analysis. The implications of these findings and the limitations of the study are discussed in an effort to contribute to building a process-oriented theory base for IT business success at the organizational level of analysis.     

Measuring satisfaction with business-to-employee systems

Marketing the products of other companies within an individual company Intranet can benefit both employees and the company itself. Understanding what constitutes a satisfying experience on the part of the employees is crucial for developing successful business-to-employee systems. While end-user computing satisfaction has been studied extensively, new aspects such as purchasing convenience, product prices in the system and product delivery have to be included. This study develops an instrument for reliably and accurately measuring business-to-employee success. Test–retest reliability and construct validity are examined. The results of this study show that convenience, delivery, interface, accuracy, price and security influence employee assessments of satisfaction. Managers can use the instrument developed here to assess the success of their business-to-employee systems.     

Attitudes toward the computer: construct validation of an instrument with scales differentiated by content

In the present study, the construct validity of an instrument for the content-differentiated assessment of attitudes toward the computer is examined. The instrument is designed primarily for university students of the humanities and the social sciences. It contains eight scales related to different content aspects which are based on three dichotomous distinctions: (1) the computer as an instrument for learning and working versus the computer as an instrument for entertainment and communication; (2) personal experience with the computer versus consequences of computer technology for society; and (3) the computer as a ‘beneficial tool’ versus the computer as an ‘autonomous entity’ (cf. Brock & Sulsky, 1994. Attitudes toward computers: construct validation and relations to computer use. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 17–35). For validation purposes, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted (n=232). The measurement model of content-differentiated scales was contrasted with five more restrictive (nested) models assuming bidimensionality (‘beneficial tool’ vs. ‘autonomous entity’), and estimates for the reliability and discriminant validity of the eight attitude scales were computed. The results fully corroborate the measurement model of content-differentiated scales. Consequences for the assessment of attitudes toward the computer in general are discussed.     

Exploring the continuance intention of social networking websites: an empirical research

Despite the increasing popularity of social networking websites, very little is known about users’ extrinsic and intrinsic motivations that influence their continued use of these websites. The long-term development of social networking websites depends on their users’ continuance of use. To examine the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, this study integrates the technology acceptance model, the theory of planned behavior, the expectation disconfirmation model, and flow theory to construct a research model which investigates the factors that motivate users to continue to use social networking websites. The research model was tested empirically within the context of Facebook and 482 samples of data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. The analysis showed that the proposed theoretical model provided a deep understanding of user continuance behavior towards social networking websites. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.