Exploring the associations of youth Facebook addiction with social capital perceptions

Abstract

Purpose Although Facebook addiction has been found to be a key motive for using Facebook, scant research has explored the association of Facebook addiction with social capital. While researchers addressed how Facebook use strengthened social capital, they did not address the resultant excessive and uncontrollable Facebook use, which is a key sign of Facebook addiction. Therefore, the authors develop this project to study this research gap. Design/methodology/approach This research explores the motive of Facebook addiction by using a questionnaire to examine the relationships between Facebook addiction and two types of social capital: cognitive and bonding social capital. The authors recruited Hong Kong youth through Facebook and peer groups to complete a set of questionnaires on Facebook addiction, cognitive social capital, bonding social capital and the degree of extraversion. Hierarchical regression is used for analyzing the data collected. Findings Hierarchical regression results indicated that the more addicted one was to Facebook, the lower the cognitive social capital one perceived. Such a negative relationship was particularly significant for female participants. A similar but marginally significant effect is also found for bonding social capital. Originality/value This research sheds light on the impact of Facebook addiction on how one perceives shared meanings and the sense of belongingness with other people on social networks.