Role of social anxiety on high engagement and addictive behavior in the context of social networking sites
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DTA-09-2018-0076 |
| Pages | 156-170 |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| Author | Wen-Shan Lin,Hong-Ren Chen,Tony Szu-Hsieh Lee,Joyce Yen Feng |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Role of social anxiety on high
engagement and addictive
behavior in the context of social
networking sites
Wen-Shan Lin
Research Center For Humanities and Social Sciences,
Academia Sinica, Taipei, ROC;
National Taiwan University Children and
Family Research Center Sponsored by CTBC Charity Foundation,
Taipei, ROC and
Department of Management Information Systems,
National Chiayi University, Chiayi, ROC
Hong-Ren Chen
Department of Digital Content and Technology,
National Taichung University of Education, Taichung, ROC
Tony Szu-Hsieh Lee
Department of Health Promotion and Health Education,
National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, ROC and
National Taiwan University Children and Family Research Center Sponsored by
CTBC Charity Foundation, Taipei, ROC, and
Joyce Yen Feng
Department of Social Work,
National Taiwan University, Taipei, ROC and
National Taiwan University Children and Family Research Center Sponsored by
CTBC Charity Foundation, Taipei, ROC
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to tackle the problem of technology addiction by investigating the
differences between the antecedences of addictive (problematic technology usage) and high-engagement
behavior (non-problematic technology usage). The case of social networking site usage (SNS, e.g. Facebook,
Instagram or Twitter) is taken as the case out of the reason of prevalent user population.
Design/methodology/approach –It is revealed that people tend to use SNS not only for building a
relationship, but also for communicating. In other words, there are inner needs of adopting the SNS
technology. However, no clear definitions can be followed for determining the problematic SNS usage,
addictive behavior and the high-engagement behavior. Therefore, this study adopts the notion of uses and
gratification theory (U&G theory) for investigating the SNS usage behavior. Also, the social anxiety is also
first introduced to integrate into the research for an empirical study.
Findings –Results reveal that gratification sought and relationship maintenance are associated with the
addictivebehavior, whereas the relationshipmaintenance is significantly relatedto high-engagement behavior.
Research limitations/implications –First, the selected data represents a sample of SNW users in the
Asian Pacific region and mainly from the group of young college users. Therefore, caution must be taken
when generalizing the findings to other SNW users or groups. Second, the time aspect related to social media
dependence may need to be considered in future studies. Third, the authors found marginal support for the
Data Technologies and
Applications
Vol. 53 No. 2, 2019
pp. 156-170
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2514-9288
DOI 10.1108/DTA-09-2018-0076
Received 10 September 2018
Revised 27 November 2018
Accepted 15 January 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2514-9288.htm
This work is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under Grant No. MOST
103-2410-H-415-030.
156
DTA
53,2
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