Examining SNS Users' Citizenship Behavior: A Social Capital Perspective

Social Network Service (SNS) has secured lots of users, and its scale and social influence are getting bigger and more powerful. At the same time, however, phenomena that cause social disruption also have increased with spreading false rumors on SNS and posting abusive comments. In order to resolve these negative phenomena, the research inquires into the citizenship behavior of SNS users and examines it from the social capital theory perspective. The research model suggests that the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital have impacts directly and indirectly on the SNS citizenship behavior. This study further examines how the key characteristics of SNS in terms of customer value theory affect the SNS social capital. We test the research model by collecting survey data: Facebook (N=148), Twitter (N=153), and the Internet forums (N=163). The testing results explain that the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital have significant effects on the SNS citizenship behavior directly and indirectly. The testing results also explain that three key characteristics (responsiveness, communication support, and playfulness) of SNS affect the structural dimension of social capital and then the cognitive and relational dimensions. The study contributes to the literature as it establishes the concept of SNS Citizenship Behavior and examines it from the social capital theory perspective. The findings also have practical implications because it provides guidance on how to develop SNS features and manage SNS for the citizenship behavior of its users, which is essential for the harmonious and productive SNS usage of people.