Motivations for social network site use and users' well-being: mediation of perceived social support, positive self-presentation and honest self-presentation
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-08-2021-0224 |
| Published date | 28 March 2022 |
| Date | 28 March 2022 |
| Pages | 171-191 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
| Author | Wen Gao,Jianhua Wei,Yu Li,Dongxue Wang,Lele Fang |
Motivations for social network site
use and users’well-being:
mediation of perceived social
support, positive self-presentation
and honest self-presentation
Wen Gao, Jianhua Wei, Yu Li, Dongxue Wang and Lele Fang
School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
Abstract
Purpose –This study aimed to investigate positive associations between three main motivations (social
interaction, information and entertainment) for the use of social network sites (SNSs) and users’well-being, as
well as the multiple mediating effects of perceived social support, positive and honest self-presentation.
Design/methodology/approach –A sample of 759 active users of SNSs (WeChat Moments, Qzone and
Weibo) aged 14–43 years was measured with online questionnaires. Correlation analysis and structural
equation modeling were implemented to examine the corresponding hypotheses.
Findings –The results showed the overall intensity of motivations was positively associated with users’well-
being; perceived social support and positive self-presentation played intermediary roles and honest self-
presentation and perceived social support had a chain mediation effect. However, the motivations of social
interaction, information and entertainment indirectly affected users’well-being through three different
mediation paths.
Originality/value –Although some studies have investigated the effects of motivations (including social
interaction, information and entertainment) for SNS use on users’well-being, there has not been a consistent
conclusion. The findings may shed light on the motivations for SNS use and how they may affect people’s well-
being in the digital era, thereby promoting their healthy use of SNSs as well as improved interface design and
user management of SNSs.
Keywords Motivation for SNS use, Well-being, Perceived social support, Positive self-presentation, Honest
self-presentation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
In nations with Internet access, social network sites (SNSs) are well established. Facebook is
the most popular social media platform, with 2.85 billion monthly active users worldwide
followed by YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram (Statista, 2021). The number of Internet
users and SNSs in China has exploded in the last decade, owning primarily to the mobile
Internet. There are 1.01 billion Chinese Internet users, with 99.6% using the mobile Internet,
and 271,000 social messaging apps (CNNIC, 2021). WeChat Moments, Qzone and Weibo are
the top three SNSs in China (CNNIC, 2017) and are among the top 10 most popular social
Social network
site use and
users’well-
being
171
© Wen Gao, Jianhua Wei, Yu Li, Dongxue Wang and Lele Fang. Published by Emerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone
may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and
non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full
terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Liaoning Normal University.
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical
standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration
and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-3806.htm
Received 12 August 2021
Revised 6 November 2021
29 January 2022
Accepted 4 February 2022
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 75 No. 1, 2023
pp. 171-191
Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-08-2021-0224
media platforms in the world, with over 2.37 billion monthly active users (Statista, 2021).
Users can post (including text, photographs and videos) and update their status on WeChat
Moments and Qzone, but they can only browse and engage with content provided by online
friends or public accounts (including likes, comments and private messages). Weibo allow
users to create different types of posts, as well as view and engage with others’profiles and
public posts. Moreover, according to a recent poll conducted in 46 regions, global netizens
spend an average of 144 min each day on social media, with Chinese netizens spending
117 min (Statista, 2020). This shows that an increasing number of people in China and the
world have integrated SNSs into their daily lives.
A great deal of studies from various disciplines have investigated the influence of SNSs on
people’s adjustment, with a focus on the relationship between SNS use and well-being, which
is frequently quantified using life satisfaction as a major indicator (e.g. Kim and Lee, 2011;Oh
et al., 2014;Verduyn et al., 2017). It is a common assumption that using SNSs leads to
decreased well-being or other undesirable consequences. Excessive or problematic use
patterns, fear of “missing out,”and upward social comparisons have been linked to SNS
addiction, social isolation or overload, low self-esteem and some negative feelings such as
depression, anxiety and envy (e.g. Satici and Uysal, 2015;Wang et al., 2018a;Schmuck et al.,
2019). However, some encouraging findings suggest that using SNSs may help people find
fulfillment in various ways. This is because enhanced perceived social support, relational
certainty and social capital from online friends can lower psychological stress, promote
problem-solving and improve happiness among SNS users (e.g. Nabi et al., 2013;Verduyn
et al., 2017;Lian et al., 2020;Brailovskaia and Margraf, 2019). As the co-existence of these two
distinct connections, researchers are looking into potential mediators in the relationship
between SNS use and well-being.
These studies were based on diverse SNS usage behaviors, which are broadly divided into
two types: active and passive. This explains the inconsistency. Generally, passive SNS use
refers to the observation of other people’s lives by browsing their profiles, status and posts,
whereas active use comprises interactions with other SNS friends in a private or public
setting, such as posting on one’s wall, updating status and commenting (Burke et al., 2010;
Frison and Eggermont, 2015a). Directed communication may encourage content creation,
information exchange and social interactions among SNS users, whereas content
consumption will more likely minimize social engagement and boost comparison. Active
SNS use is positively connected with well-being, whereas inactive SNS use has the opposite
effect (Verduyn et al., 2017;Wang et al., 2018a).
Another cause may be the various motivations underlying SNS use behaviors (Lin et al.,
2017;Wang et al., 2019;Brailovskaia and Margraf, 2019). Although extensive research has
explored why people use SNSs (Yang and Brown, 2013;Syn and Oh, 2015;Wen et al., 2016),
few studies have examined the consequences (Boyle and Johnson, 2010;Krishnan and Hunt,
2015;Pittman and Reich, 2016). Most discussions on the relationship between SNS use and
well-being have addressed motivations or needs driving SNS use behaviors. SNS users who
consume content, for example, are often motivated by a desire to relax or escape from the real
world (Wang et al., 2018a); those seeking information and entertainment are not likely to
make social comparisons (Schmuck et al., 2019). Initiating interactions or active posting on
SNSs is associated with a desire for belongingness and self-presentation (Lian et al., 2020).
Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the associations between motivations for active
SNS use and well-being, as well as the mediating role of self-presentation and perceived social
support, which were consistently linked to active SNS use and positive outcomes (Meng et al.,
2017;Pang, 2020). Self-presentation is central in active SNS use, whether for information-
sharing, communications with others or just posting a photo or status update (O’Donnell et al.,
2021). Self-presentation on SNSs could benefit users’well-being directly or indirectly through
the perception of social support on SNSs (Pang, 2020). As a vital source of human well-being,
AJIM
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