Social Capital and internet use: Portuguese social capital scale

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1 Name: Manuel José Damásio, Diogo Morais, Sara Henriques Institution: CICANT - Centro de Investigação em Comunicação Aplicada, Cultura e Novas Tecnologias, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias Country: Portugal mjdamasio@ulusofona.pt; diogo.morais@ulusofona.pt; shenriques@ulusofona.pt Key Words: Capital Social, Social Networks, Community Working Group: Audience Interactivity and Participation Social Capital and internet use: social capital scale Manuel José Damásio, Diogo Morais and Sara Henriques The present paper intends to contribute to the understanding of the concept of social capital (SC) and its role in the analysis of contemporary s audience internet use experience by introducing a measure called Internet Social Capital Scale (ISCS - Williams, 2006), analysed and validated for the context. Social capital research has dealt in the past with the relation between social and local levels of political and economical development in southern European countries, namely in Italy (Putnam, 2000) and a number of studies have also approached the issue of the relation between online forms of interaction and civic participation (S. Valenzuela, N. Park, K. Kee, 2009). However, no research exists that considers the relation between internet use and social capital in these countries, namely considering the fact that heavy public and European funded investments have been made in several of them, namely in Portugal, in the past decade having, amongst others, as major goals to promote economical development and social cohesion. Our research emerges from the existing social environment where computermediated-communication has gained a central position as a form of inter-relation and communication, capable of supporting social and affective links between subjects. People are spending more time online and new social configurations are emerging from that fact. The forms of social organization known as virtual communities are often depicted as examples of new social constructs (Blanchard, 2007; Wellman & Gulia, 2002) that emerge from the use of the current forms of communicative expressions on the internet, the so-called technologies of social networking (Katz & Rice, 2002) Essay Cost Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies (IS0906) 1

2 Previous studies on the concept of social capital have pointed out information technologies (ITs) potential to reduce traditional forms of interaction, negatively affecting the levels of SC shared within a community (Blanchard, 2004, Kollock & Smith, 2002). Our study envisions new technologies, namely SNS social network sites - as capable of fostering the amount of interactions and relationships shared within a community. The central hypothesis proposed is that we can enhance the levels of SC produced in a particular community by introducing in its dynamics the use of technological devices that support communication and share information, but only if those technological devices consider the specificity of community activities and goals. By valuing the potential of technology to improve community interactions, we are not, neither is our intent, to center our analysis on the technology nature. Instead the heart of our concern is the community life, its objectives, relationships and activities. Though, we consider local cultural specificities, in this case Portugal s cultural reality, to have a definitive role in shaping different technological uses and associated SC outcomes. The concept of SC is essential at this point and we will proceed by presenting data from the analysis and validation of a measurement tool of SC applicable to an online environment. SC should be understood here as a multidimensional concept including such diverse dimensions as civic participation, satisfaction, social trust and engagement (Esser, 2008), helping to realize why people do better when they belong to social networks and are linked to more people. The idea is that the more links a subject maintain in a social network, more they share common values with other people in that network, the easier is to get information and the higher are the levels of social capital shared. A main distinction provided by Putnam (2000) concerns the separation of SC into two different types SC of bonding nature, related to homogeneity and identity; and the SC of bridging nature, more inclusive and tolerate, joining people of diverse backgrounds. The Williams ISCS (2006) present four sub-dimensions: bonding online/ offline, bridging online/ offline, with 10 items each. The items were translated and submitted to a sample of 380 subjects (mean age= 24,SD=6.5). In order to analyze if the model structure was appropriate for the context, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed, with SPSS 18. The preliminary assumptions for EFA were fulfilled (KMO=.892 and Bartlet s test of sphericity: (χ 2 = 6665, 84; p =, 000). An Oblimin rotation was chosen since, according to Putnam (2000), bridging and bonding must be considered related constructs. The initial solution extracted 7 factors; however given the conceptual framework, the structure was not suitable. Another extraction was performed forcing the solution to four factors, considering the Scree Plot and the original conceptual model. The solution found was 2010 Essay Cost Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies (IS0906) 2

3 now consistent with the original measure. However the item 9 of the Online Bonding subscale and the item 10 from the Offline Bridging sub-scale displayed low factor loadings (<.400) so they were removed. Since the sub-scales are constructed in mirror, the correspondent items were also removed. Therefore, a four factor solution can be also assumed in this version. The next step taken was to force the solution into two factors. The results seem to clearly differentiate between Online and Offline, which supports the original model. However the item 3 of the Bonding subscale and the item 7 of the Bridging subscale had to be removed, as both did not present significant factor loading in either factors. The internal consistency in all sub-scales and correlations between the four an two subdimensions were high (>.800) and significant. In order to validate the structure obtained through the EFA, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) via AMOS software was performed to test the data goodness of fit to the model achieved. The following indices of fit are reported, as suggested by several authors (Keith, 1997, Williams, 2006, Taub, 2001): the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), the Comparison Fit Index (CFI), the Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), the parsimony ratio (PR) and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). The chi-square statistic was not considered as it is a sensitive indicator to sample size. The structure model for the version presented good fit for the data (TLI=,91; GFI=,86; PR=,89; CFI=,92; RMSEA=.05), closing with 4 sub-scales, with 8 items each. In table 1 we present the final version and respective factor loadings. Regarding the results, the sub-scales can be used independently to measure either Online or Offline contexts or all together to measure SC. As main differences from the original measure, the version presents only 32 items, against 40 items. Final results indicate a strong relation between cultural background, levels of SC outcomes and technology use. References A. Blanchard (2004), The effects of dispersed virtual communities on face-toface social capital in M. Huysman & V. Wulf (Eds.), Social Capital and Information Technology, Massachussets, MA: MIT Press, pp:53-74 A. (2007). Developing a Sense of Virtual Community Measure. CyberPsychology & Behavior. 10 (6), p P. Bourdieu (1986), The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (ed.) Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Grennwood press Essay Cost Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies (IS0906) 3

4 J. Coleman (1994). Foundations of Social Theory, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. H. Esser (2008), The two meanings of social capital in D. Castiglione, J. Van Deth & G. Wolleb (eds.), The Handbook of social capital, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp Halpern (2005). Social Capital. London: Polity Press J. Katz & R. Rice (2002), Social Consequences of internet use, Cambridge: MIT Press H. Keith (1997) Using confirmatory factor analysis to aid in understanding the constructs measured by intelligence tests. In D.Flanagan, J. Genshaft & P.Harrison (Eds.), Contemporary intellectual assessment: Theories, testes, and issues (pp ). New York: Guilford Press. Kollock & Smith (2002). Communities in cyberspace. M. Smith and P. Kollock (Eds.). In Communities in Cyberspace. Kindle Edition: London Rheingold, H (1993). The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier. New York: Harper & Collins. Pp 3-28 Putnam (2000). Bowling Alone: the collapse and revival of American Community, New York: Simon&Schust Taub (2001). A confirmatory factor analysis of the Wechsler adult intelligence scale-third edition: Is the verbal/performance discrepancy justified?. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(22). S. Valenzuela, N. Park, K. Kee (2009), Is There social capital in social network site? Facebook and college students life satisfaction, trust and participation, Journal of computer mediated communication, 14, pp: Wellman & Gulia (2002). Virtual communities as communities. In Smith M. & Kollock P. Communities in Cyberspace. London: Kindle Edition, pp Williams (2006). On and Off the net: Scales for social capital in an online era. Journal of Computer-mediated-communication, 11(2) Essay Cost Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies (IS0906) 4

5 SCS Question text, with online/offline version difference indicated Online Bonding Offline Bonding Bonding subscale There are several people online/offline I trust to help solve my problems. There is someone online/offline I can turn to for advice about making very important decisions. When I feel lonely, there are several people online/offline I can talk to. If I needed an emergency loan of $500, I know someone online/offline I can turn to. online/offline would put their reputation on the line for me. online/offline would be good job references for me. online/offline would share their last dollar with me. online/offline would help me fight an injustice. Question text, with online/offline version difference indicated Bridging subscale makes me interested in things that happen outside of my town alpha=.896 alpha=.884 alpha=.859 alpha= , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,600 Online Bridging alpha=.896 alpha=.855 Offline Bridging alpha=.859 alpha= , , Essay Cost Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies (IS0906) 5

6 makes me want to try new things makes me interested in what people unlike me are thinking Talking with people inline/offline makes me curious about other places in the world. makes me feel part of a larger community. makes me feel connected to the bigger picture I am willing to spend time to support general online/offline community activities. gives me new people to talk to , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Essay Cost Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies (IS0906) 6

How gaming communities differ from offline communities

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