Investigating the influence of age,social capital affinity,and flow on positive outcomes reported by e-commerce site users |
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Authors: | Toby Hopp |
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Affiliation: | Department of Advertising and Public Relations, College of Communication and Information Sciences (CIS), University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA |
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Abstract: | This study investigated the role of social capital affinity (the sense of community and likeness felt for people online) and the experience of flow (concentrated engagement in/enjoyment of an activity) as antecedents to a variety of positive outcomes associated with the use of e-commerce sites. Also, based on socio-emotional selectivity theory, the current study assessed the influence of age on social capital affinity and flow. As a subset of data from a telephone sample of Internet users in the USA, 282 e-commerce users responded to questions about site satisfaction, perceived focused and incidental knowledge-gains, and affirmation, in addition to flow and social capital affinity. As predicted by socio-emotional selectivity theory, there was a negative relationship between age and social capital affinity and flow. Flow, for its part, mediated the effects of age and social capital affinity on perceived focused and incidental knowledge-gain, satisfaction and affirmation among participants reporting e-commerce use. Finally, the current results indicated that satisfaction and perceived incidental learning predicted participant affirmation for their chosen e-commerce site. |
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Keywords: | Flow social capital affinity satisfaction affirmation knowledge-gain |
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