Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Full length article

Association of demographics, motives and intensity of using Social

Networking Sites with the formation of bonding and bridging social
capital in Pakistan
Saeed Ahmad a, *, Mudasir Mustafa b, Ahsan Ullah c
a
b
c

Department of Sociology, University of Gujrat, Pakistan

Department of Sociology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Department of Information Management, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 16 March 2015
Received in revised form
14 October 2015
Accepted 14 December 2015
Available online 21 December 2015

The objectives of this conrmatory study were to investigate the association of socio-economic demographics (age, education of respondent, gender, monthly family income, parentage education), motives (communication and information, self-actualization and outward looking) of using Social
Networking Sites (SNSs) and attitudinal and behavior variable (intensity of using SNS, self-esteem,
gratication with university life, duration of use, and number of ties) with the formation of bonding
and bridging social capital. Total 461 students, aged 18e35 years lled the questionnaire, from randomly
selected departments of University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Regression analysis was used to
assess the association among variables. The study indicated that Facebook is the most popular SNS
among university students in Pakistan. Intensity of using SNS, duration of using SNSs, and motives of
using SNSs were found to be positively associated with formation of bonding and bridging social capital.
Self-esteem and gratications with university life were found to be signicant predictors in formation of
bonding social capital only. The demographics variables (education, parentage education, monthly family
income) had no inuence on formation of both bonding and bridging social capital.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Bonding social capital
Bridging social capital
Motives of SNS
Intensity of SNS use
Social networking sites (SNS)
Self-esteem
Pakistan

1. Introduction
A Social Networking Site (SNS) allows the individuals to
construct a public or semi-public prole within a bounded system,
articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection,
view, and traverse their list of connections, and those made by
others within the system (boyd & Ellison, 2007). SNSs provide
plenty of services to the users, ranging from maintenance of relationships to expansion of social networks (Pornsakulvanich &
Dumorongsiri, 2013). SNSs have many orientations like sharing
work related context, articulating romantic relationship and
connection on the basis of common interests (Ellison, Steineld, &
Lampe, 2007). These sites refer to the platform that allows people
to connect with one another through different ways of communication (Powell, 2009). Scholarly literature is vast enough to provide

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: Mashaalbhatti@gmail.com (S. Ahmad), mudasir.sociologist@
gmail.com (M. Mustafa), ahsanullah_libr@yahoo.com (A. Ullah).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.027
0747-5632/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

evidence where use of SNS contributes in formation of bonding and

bridging social capital (Gilbert & Karahalios, 2009; Liu, Shi, Liu, &
Sheng, 2013; Phua, 2012; Steineld, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008;
Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009).
The term of social capital was rst mentioned by Hanifan
(1920). It was classied into bonding and bridging social capital
by Putnam (2000). Putnam (2000) described that bonding social
capital occurred when strongly tied individuals with little backgrounds diversity yet having stronger personal connections, provide substantive support to one another. Bridging social capital
occurred when individuals from different backgrounds make connections between social networks based on sharing information
(Putnam, 2000). Williams (2006) highlighted the difference between bonding social capital is knit of strong and close relations
that are generally homogenous and inclusive, while bridging social
capital is the relationship that is based on expansion social horizon
that lacks emotional support (Williams, 2006). Bonding social
capital refers to close relationship between individuals such as
families and close friends to form emotional, while to form weak
relationship between individuals by providing useful information

108

S. Ahmad et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

or new perspective but not close relationship is known as bridging

social capital (Ellison et al., 2007). Association based on internal
sense of belonging to a group of similar individuals is bonding social capital, while bringing social capital refers to the relationships
that existed between dissimilar people and groups just based on
acquaintances or not close friends or family members (Ling, 2007).
SNSs such as Facebook and twitter emphasized their importance
and role in occupying Wall Street movement and Arab spring. Now
it has emerged as a new reality that has increased the global
outreach of users and enhanced their number of ties for users in the
world. The role of social media in developing countries including
Pakistan has been just limited to as a source of communication
rather an agent of change in the society, however, it is suggested
that social media in developing countries including Pakistan will
evolve as a catalyst of change as the number of users continue to
rise (Kugalman, 2012).
A number of studies indicated that use of SNSs was higher
among young people as compared to elder population (boyd, 2008,
& Pfeil, Arjan, & Zaphiris, 2009). SNSs are playing a pivotal role in
changing the mind-set of the users especially youth, so it is very
important to investigate the behavior of youth on SNSs (boyd,
2008). In this regard, most of the research on social media particularly on the positive effect such as formation of bonding and
bridging social capital is conducted on the population in which it
was innovated. Though literature on social media on Pakistani society is growing, yet most of the studies highlighted the negative
effects of using media. Such as, Raq and Ameen (2012) indicated
that with the emergence of SNSs is rising, yet it was difcult to
differentiate entertainment and information activities. Farooqi
et al. (2013) concluded that use of SNSs had bad effects on youth
such as great loss of precious time. However, Small scholarship on
SNSs in Pakistan highlighted the positive aspects such as formation
of bonding and bridging social capital are not delved into by the
scientic community. In this backdrop, this research is an effort to
explore the positive aspects of using SNSs and presents the
perspective of users of SNSs from Pakistani society. This study
explored the association of socio-economic demographics, motives
of using SNS and attitudinal and behavior variable on the formation
of both bonding and bridging social capital among educated youth
who used SNS.
2. Literature review
2.1. Motives of SNS use and social capital
Scholarly literature found a signicant relationship between the
certain motives (i.e. informational, recreational, communicative
and entertainment) to use internet and social capital (Beaudoin,
2008; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008; Shah, Kwak, & Holbert,
2001). Another motive chain interaction was reported by Lin
and Lu (2011) that given rise to SNS use and ultimately created
social capital among users. Ji et al. (2010) explored that expert
searching, making connection and communication functions to use
Facebook inuenced the bonding and bridging social capital.
Moreover, expressive information sharing and relaxing entertainment are associated with bonding and bridging social capital
(Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2011). Davis, Piven, and Breazeale
(2014) revealed that social media community is engaged in specic functions such as social interaction and self-actualization
during usage.
2.2. Self-esteem and social capital
Scholarly literature proved the association between level of selfesteem and internet use (Aydn & Sar, 2011; Kim & Davis, 2009 &

Yang & Tung, 2007) and particularly self-esteem was found a strong
predictor in the formation of bonding and bridging social capital
(Johnston, Tanner, Lalla, & Kawalski, 2013). Similar association between self-esteem and bonding and bridging social capital has been
noted by Ellison et al. (2007). But contrary to these associations, the
study conducted by Steineld et al. (2008) revealed that the use of
Facebook did not interacted with self-esteem to inuence bridging
social capital Phua and Jin (2011) revealed that collective selfesteem also had a stronger impact on bonding social capital than
bridging social capital.
2.3. Socio-economic status and social capital
Previous literature shows that socio-economic status has a
relationship with the use of internet (Aerschot & Rodousakisb,
2008; Wangberg et al., 2008). Choi, Kim, Sung, and Sohn (2011)
found that culture has a strong inuence on formation of bonding
and bridging social capital. While, Ji et al. (2010) indicated that
cultural differences inuence the formation of bridging social
capital more than bonding social capital. Brandtzg, Heim, and
Kaare (2010) examined modern SNSs seemed to preserve traditional social networking patterns and gender-differentiated social
capital. Brooks, Welser, Hogan, and Titsworth (2011) indicated that
educational and economic dimensions of socio-economic status
might have inuenced the development of social capital among
college students. Smith (2013) examined that ethnicity inuenced
social capital on use of SNSs proles. Gender was considered being
signicant predictors of bonding social capital (Johnston et al.,
2013).
2.4. Intensity of SNS use and social capital
Intensity of social networking site usage had a signicant impact
on bridging and bonding social capital (Phua & Jin, 2011). Papacharissi & Mendelson (2011) has noted that the more the people
used Facebook, the greater the afnity they developed for it. It has
also been reported that argued that certain specic features of
Facebook enable users to engage in behaviours that contribute to
their social capital. Among teenagers, spending more time in SNSs
was related to bridging capital but not bonding relationships (Ahn,
2012). Chang & Hsiao (2013) veried that users with different
amounts of SNS usage had different user behaviours and perceptions of social capital. Liu et al. (2013) found that the more individuals used social network sites, the more bridging and bonding
social capital they would obtain.
2.5. Gratication towards university life and social capital
Chang and Zhu (2012) found that perceived bridging social
capital has a signicant effect on SNS users' satisfaction while
perceived bonding social capital had no signicant effect on SNS
users' satisfaction. Phua (2012) constructed the association of
satisfaction of life with gained bridging social capital as a result of
more intensive SNS usage. Satisfaction with university life is signicant predictor in formation of bridging social capital (Johnston
et al., 2013).
2.6. Conceptual model of the study
The review of the literature guides the researchers to identify a
number of variables which lead to formulate the bonding and
bridging social capital. Keeping the research objectives in view, a
set of independent variables were selected from previously conducted studies. Fig. 1 precisely shows the conceptual model of the
present study.

S. Ahmad et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

109

Fig. 1. Conceptual model.

3. Methodology
Socio-economic demographics included in this study were: age,
education of respondent, gender, monthly family income, father's
education, and mother's education. Three variables were included
for assessing motives of using SNS, which were: communication
and information, self-actualization and outward looking. Attitudinal and behavioral variables included intensity of using SNS, selfesteem, gratication towards university life, duration of use, and
number of ties. All these mentioned variables were taken as independent variables, while the dependent variables included only
two variables, bonding social capital and bridging social capital.
Based on dependents and independent variables, the below hypothesis were developed for this study.
H1a. Greater the intensity of using SNSs, greater the formation of
bonding social capital.
H1b. Greater the intensity of SNSs, greater the formation of
bridging social capital.
H2a. . Higher the self-esteem, greater the formation of bonding
social capital.
H2b. Higher the self-esteem, greater the formation of bridging
social capital.
H3a. Higher the gratication towards university life, greater the
formation of bonding social capital.
H3b. Higher the gratication towards university life, greater the
formation of bridging social capital.
H4a. Higher the level of motives of using SNSs (communication
and information, self-actualization, and outward looking), greater
the formation of bonding social capital.
H4b. Higher the level of motives of using SNSs (communication
and information, self-actualization, and outward looking), greater
the formation of bridging social capital.
H5a. Higher the duration of using SNSs, greater the formation of
bonding social capital.

H5b. Higher the duration of using SNSs, greater the formation of

bridging social capital.
Except demographic variables, the rest of all factors (motivations of using SNS, attitudinal and behaviour variable, bonding and
bridging social capital) were assessed by adapting scales. To assess
the gratication with university life, we used the scale after adaption of the satisfaction with life scale propounded by Diener et al.
(1985). Scales of bonding social capital and bridging social capital
were constructed by using the scale of the bridging and bonding
social capital scales proposed by Ellison et al. (2007), Lee and Tsai
(2010), and Williams (2006). Researchers developed scale for predictors of motives (information and communication, selfactualization and outward looking) to use SNSs. Scale of intensity
of SNSs was constructed by using the scale of the intensity of
Facebook use propounded by Ellison et al. (2007). All scales used
ve-point Likert scales anchored between strongly disagree and
strongly agree.
In order to explore the association of socio-economic demographics, motives of using SNS, attitudinal and behavioral with
formation of social capital on the educated youth. The reason of
conducting information from youth because the usage of SNSs was
higher among young people as compared to elder population
(boyd, 2008, & Pfeil et al., 2009). This study selected young students
aged 18e35 from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. The
University of the Punjab was selected because it has diverse range
of students with varied background of socio-economic status. There
were total 33, 258 students, 51.2 percent males and 48.8 percent
females. There are 43 percent in BS, 42.6 percent in MA/MSc and 7.5
percent in MPhil/Ph.D, while rest is enrolled diplomas and
certicates.
This research used quantitative method of research in which the
main focus is on the quantication of data. The researcher used
survey as a technique of data collection while self-structured
questionnaire as tool of data collection. Data was collected by using cluster sampling technique. Faculties were divided into
different four clusters on the basis arts and humanities, natural
sciences, social sciences and applied and professional sciences. A
total 461 self-administered questionnaires were lled from the

110

S. Ahmad et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

randomly selected two departments in each aforementioned faculty. Questionnaire was lled from students enrolled in all the
discipline to have veried results. The self-administered questionnaire was lled by 199 male students and 262 female students.
The sample was a non-random, convenience sample due to the
availability of the participants as well as the likelihood.
A descriptive analysis specically frequency and percentages for
demographic variable, mean and standard deviation were used for
gauging the scales of motivation of using SNS, bonding and bridging
social capital, attitudinal and behavioral variables. Multivariate
Regression analysis (Ahn, 2012; Valenzuela et al., 2009) was used to
assess the association among variable of attitudinal and behavioral
variables, formation of bonding and bridging social capital and
motivation of using SNS. Two different models were tested, in the
rst model bonding social capital as the rst dependent variable
and in second model bridging social capital was dependent
variable.
4. Results
4.1. Analysis demographics
A majority (53.8%) of the respondents were from 22 to 25 years
of age group. The participation of female students was higher
(56.6%) as compared to male students. Most of the respondent
(42.1%) was undergraduates, having 14 years of education. A majority (53%) of the respondents belonged to middle income families
as monthly family income ranged from 20,000 to 60,000 Pakistani
rupees. This study highlighted that people would like to connect
with friends/colleagues/family members via Facebook more (96%)
as compared to any other SNS. The study reported that people
added only selected people or probably the people whom they
recognized in their SNS friend list, as the majority of the respondents have less than 50 ties on SNS. Moreover, this study
highlighted an interesting aspect regarding duration of using SNS
per day; as on one side, almost one quarter (27.5%) of respondents
would like to stay less than 30 minutes on SNS, while similar percentage of (26.2%) spent almost two hours per day on SNS. (see
Table 1).
4.2. Descriptive analysis: motivation of using SNS and bonding and
bridging social capital
This study assessed the perceived bonding and social capital
using modied subscale of the SNS proposed and developed by
Williams (2006). Eight questions were included to measure
bonding social capital using 5-point Likert scale. The reliability test
showed a relatively high reliability (Cronbach's a_0.701). The
question the people I interact with on SNS would put their reputation on the line for me has a neutral mean 3.29 with low standard deviation (0.98). This indicated that the majority of students
agreed with this question. With one more question I know people
on SNS well enough to get them to do anything important the
student agreed with mean 3.37 (SD 0.99). The rest of the questions showed a neutral results with mean values ranged 3.18 to
3.96. Nonetheless, the standard deviation of all for rest of questions
was relatively high, that is above 1. (Table 2).
Bridging social capital was measured using the scale developed
by Ellison et al., (2007). Eight questions were used to assess
bridging social capital. Each question has 5-point Likert scale and
the subscale showed a high reliability (Cronbach's a_0.812). The 5point Likert questions provided neutral results for rst ve statements (enlisted in Table 3) with mean values ranged 3.58 to 3.80
with lower standard deviation ranged from 0.94 to 0.95. These
ndings indicated that students were agreed that SNS were helping

Table 1
Demographic details of the respondents (N 461).
Socio-demographics Variables

Frequency

Age of the respondents

18-21 Years
177
22-25 Years
248
26-29 Years
36
Gender
Male
200
Female
261
Respondent's education
14 years of education
194
16 years of education
170
More than years of education
97
Father's education
Illiterate
18
Less than 10 years of education
102
Less than 14 years of education
226
Above 16 years of education
114
Monthly family Income (in PKR)
1-20,000
68
20,001e40,000
118
40,001e60,000
128
60,001e80,000
79
Above 80,000
68
Mostly Used SNS
Facebook
443
Twitter
10
LinkedIn
4
Other
4
Duration of Using SNS Per Day
Less than 30 minutes
127
Less than 1 Hour
81
Less than 2 Hours
121
Less than 3 Hours
61
4 Hours or above
71
Number of Ties or Number of Friends on SNS
Less than 50
149
50e100
95
101e150
72
151e200
41
201e250
32
251e300
22
above 300
50

Percentage
38.4
53.8
7.8
43.4
56.6
42.1
36.9
21.0
3.9
22.1
49.0
24.7
14.8
25.6
27.8
17.1
14.8
96.1
2.2
0.9
0.9
27.5
17.6
26.2
13.2
15.4
32.3
20.6
15.6
8.9
6.9
4.8
10.8

them in bridging social capital. While students though agreed with

the statements such as SNS gives me chance to talk with new
people, from different racial or ethnic backgrounds and
different gender as me at satisfactory level with mean 3.59, 3.48,
and 3.23 respectively, yet standard deviation was above 1. (see
Table 3).
Motivation of using SNS, attitudinal and behaviour variables are
presented in Table 4. Values of Cronbach's alpha for all scales
showed reliability as: intensity of social networking site (Cronbach's a_0.734), self-esteem (Cronbach's a_0.824), and gratication
towards university life (Cronbach's a_0.761) self-actualization
(Cronbach's a_0.721), communication and information (Cronbach's a_0.741) and outward looking (Cronbach's a_0.832). The 5point Likert questions provided neutral results for all scales, the
values for most of the statements ranged from 3.01 to 3.98, which
indicated that students were agreed with the statements. (see
Table 4).

4.3. Regression analysis: bonding social capital

Regression analysis showed that demographics, behavioral,
attitudinal and SNS factors could statistically predict in bonding
social capital (F 35.00, p 0.000) and all the selected factors or
variables accounted for 50% (adjusted R2 0.499) of the explained
variability in bonding social capital. The results of the model tness

S. Ahmad et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

111

Table 2
: Bonding social capital (N 461).
Items or scale (Cronbach's a_0.701)

Mean

SD

There are several people on SNS I trust to help solve my problems.

When I feel lonely, there are several people on SNS I can talk to.
The people I interact with on SNS would put their reputation on the line for me.
The people I interact with on SNS would be good job references for me.
I know people on SNS well enough to get them to do anything important.
The people I interact with on SNS would help me ght an injustice.
I nd that I connect most with people and groups who share my interests.
I only care and trust about my close friends

3.18
3.45
3.29
3.24
3.37
3.34
3.66
3.96

1.11
1.03
0.98
1.04
0.99
1.05
1.00
1.12

Notes: Each item ranged from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree, scales constructed by taking mean of items.

Table 3
: Bridging social capital (N 461).
Items or scale (Cronbach's a_0.812)

Mean

SD

Interacting with people makes me interested in things that happen outside of my town.
Talking with people makes me curious about other places in the world.
Interacting with people makes me feel like part of a larger community.
Interacting with people reminds me that everyone in the world is connected.
I am willing to spend time to support general community activities.
Interacting with people gives me new people to talk to.
I interact with people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds.
I interact with people who are mostly the different gender as me.

3.79
3.73
3.80
3.77
3.58
3.59
3.48
3.23

0.95
0.94
0.95
0.95
0.94
1.05
1.14
1.15

Notes: Each item ranged from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree, scales constructed by taking mean of items.

Table 4
Mean and Standard Deviation (SD) for Motive of using SNS, Behavioral, and Attitudinal Variables.
Items or scales
Intensity of SNS use (Cronbach's a_0.734)
I am proud to tell people that I am on SNS
SNS has become part of my daily routine
I feel out of touch when I haven't logged onto SNS for a day
I feel I am part of the SNS community at the campus
I would be sorry if SNS shut down
Communication and interaction (Cronbach's a_0.741)
To communicate with family
To interact with friends
To share music videos or other work.
To share and consume information.
Outward looking (Cronbach's a_0.832)
To know updates about fashion.
To connect with other people who my hobbies or interest.
To feel involved with what's going on with other people.
To know about what is happening around the globe
Self-actualization (Cronbach's a_0.721)
To read comments of socio-political issues.
To update my latest status
To express my opinion and character
To express my feelings and emotions.
Self-esteem (Cronbach's a_0.829)
I feel that I'm a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others.
I feel that I have a number of good qualities.
I feel that I have a number of good qualities.
I am able to do things as well as most other people.
I take a positive attitude toward myself.
I take a positive attitude toward myself.
On the whole, I am satises with myself.
Gratication towards university life (Cronbach's a_0.761)
In most ways my life at University is close to my ideal.
The conditions of my life at University are excellent.
I am happy with my life at University
So far I have gotten the important things I want at University
If I could live my time at University over, I would change almost nothing

Mean

SD

4.93
3.80
3.28
3.40
3.76

0.36
1.23
1.40
1.02
1.03

3.40
4.06
3.63
3.84

1.18
0.90
1.04
0.94

3.45
3.45
3.60
3.98

1.14
1.12
1.06
0.93

3.58
3.48
3.63
3.60

1.11
1.06
1.06
1.07

3.71
3.82
3.79
3.77
3.94
3.95
4.08

0.92
0.88
0.89
0.94
0.90
0.90
0.90

3.50
3.62
3.91
3.72
3.31

1.06
0.98
0.94
0.94
1.16

Notes: Each item ranged from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree, scales constructed by taking mean of items.

test supported the hypothesis (H1a) that intensity of using SNS

would lead to greater the formation of bonding social capital
(standardised beta 0.17, p 0.000). Similarly, results conrmed

the hypothesis (H3a) that gratication towards university life

would lead to greater the formation of bonding social capital
(standardised beta 0.10, p 0.006).

112

S. Ahmad et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

The hypothesis (H4a) indicated that motives of using SNSs are

signicantly associated with formation of bonding social capital.
The motives of using SNSs were group of three variables namely
communication and information, outward looking, and selfactualization. Regression analysis revealed that the communication and information motive would lead to a greater formation
bonding social capital (standardised beta 0.15, p 0.000), and
similar trends were found for outward looking (standardised
beta 0.21, p 0.000) and self-actualization (standardised
beta 0.38, p 0.000). The hypothesis (H5a) was also accepted
which indicated that duration of using SNSs is positively associated
in bonding social capital.
Other hypothesis were not conrmed in the overall model
tness. The factors which were not signicantly related in bonding
social capital were self-esteem (standardised beta 0.04,
p 0.298), gender of respondent (standardised beta 0.04,
p 0.382), age of respondent (standardised beta 0.00, p 0.964),
education of respondents (standardised beta 0.03, p 0.398),
father's education (standardised beta 0.01, p 0.790), mother's
education (standardised beta 0.06, p 0.174), monthly family
income (standardised beta 0.00, p 0.891), and number of ties
(standardised beta 0.07, p 0.089). (see Table 5).
4.4. Regression analysis: bridging social capital
The ndings of this study showed that the factors including
demographics, behavioral, attitudinal and SNS are signicant in
predicting the association with bridging social capital (F 39.485,
p 0.000) and the association among them accounted for 54%
(adjusted R2 0.540). The hypothesis (H1b) conrmed that intensity of SNS use would lead to greater the formation of bridging
social capital (standardised beta 0.14, p 0.001). Similarly, hypothesis (H2b) supported that higher the self-esteem would
contribute to greater formation of bridging social capital (standardised beta 0.13, p 0.000). Age of respondent (standardised
beta 0.08, p 0.031), and duration of use (standardised
beta 0.16, p 0.000) were also associated with bridging social
capital. The hypothesis (H4b) of motives of using SNSs indicated
that higher communication and information motive would
contribute to formation of bridging social capital (standardised
beta 0.10, p 0.015) and similar patterns were found with outward looking (standardised beta 0.25, p 0.000) and selfTable 5
Association of demographics, behavioral, Attitudinal and SNS variables with
bounding and bridging social capital (N 461).
Independent variables

Intensity of using SNS

Self-esteem
Gratication of University life
Communication & Information
Outward looking
Self-actualization
Duration of using SNS
Gender
Age
Education
Father education
Mother education
Monthly family Income
Number of ties

Note: *p < 0.05,

**

p < 0.01,

***

Bonding social
capital

Bridging social
capital

Stand. Beta

P Value

Stand. Beta

****

****
0.14
****
0.13
0.06
**
0.10
****
0.25
****
0.31
****
0.16
****
0.12
*
0.08
0.04
0.05
0.01
0.02
0.05
F 39.58(0.000)
Adjusted R2 0.540

0.17
0.04
**
0.10
****
0.15
****
0.21
****
0.38
*
0.09
0.04
0.00
0.03
0.01
0.06
0.00
0.07
F 35.00 (0.000)
Adjusted R2 0.509

p < 0.001,

****

p < 0.0001.

P Value

actualization (standardised beta 0.31, p 0.000).

Among the demographics of respondents, the age and gender of
respondents were signicantly associated in formation of bridging
social capital. The analysis showed that the increase in age lead to
greater formation of bridging social capital. Though the gender of
respondent (standardised beta 0.12, p 0.002) was reported to
be signicant in formation of bridging social capital, yet this was
negativity related.
The non-signicant factors in bridging social capital were gratication with university life (standardised beta 0.06, p 0.108),
education of the respondents (standardised beta 0.04,
p 0.332), father's education (standardised beta 0.05, p 0.236),
mother's education (standardised beta 0.01, p 0.728),
monthly family income (standardised beta 0.02, p 0.525), and
number of ties (standardised beta 0.05, p 0.222). (see Table 5).
5. Discussion
The objective of this study was to assess the intensity of using
SNS and contributing factors in formation of bonding and bridging
social capital among students of colleges/universities in Pakistan.
The factors were categorized into socio-economic demographic,
attitudinal and behavioral factors, and motives of using SNSs. It was
interesting to note that among all SNSs, students aged 18e29 were
more likely to use Facebook. The study conducted by Ellison et al.
(2007) also reported the similar result, while it contradicted with
study carried out by Johnston et al. (2013) which reported the
lowest number of users of Facebook. The ndings of this study
indicated that students had less than 50 friends on SNSs which
suggested that students only added the people whom they recognized. Regarding spending time on SNS, the study found that
almost one quarter of student maximum spent 30 minutes and
similar number of student spent 120 minutes on SNSs. This nding
is contrary with study of Miller, Parsons, and Lifer (2010) which
elucidated that students visited the sites not more than 10 minutes.
Our study found the signicance association between the use of
SNSs and bonding and bridging social capital. This nding is aligned
with previously conducted studies which found that the use SNSs is
signicantly related to bonding and bridging social capital among
students (Ellison et al., 2007; Steineld et al., 2009; Steineld et al.,
2008; Valenzuela et al., 2009).
We found that duration of use were positively associated in
forming both bonding and bridging social capital. Ahn (2012) found
similar results regarding the duration of use and bridging social
capital but our ndings are contrary with association of duration of
use with bonding social capital as his study found that spending
more time in SNSs was though positively related to bridging social
capital yet not for bonding social capital.
Likewise, our study found the different ndings regarding intensity of using SNS as compared to previously conducted studies.
Our study found that intensity of using SNS was positively associated in forming both bonding and bridging social capital. While,
Ellison, and Steineld (2011) and Burke, Kraut, and Marlow (2011)
reported that intensity of use Facebook (SNS) predicts bridging
capital, but does not predict bonding relationships. They elucidated
a reason for the association between bridging social capital and
intensity of using SNS that is spending more time in SNSs and
interacting with broader social networks might keep the people
readily in touch with acquaintances rather than developing close
relations.
Gratication with university life was found to be signicant
predictor in formation of bonding social capital, yet this had not
been reported a signicant predictor for bridging the social capital.
This nding is similar with the study conducted by Ellison et al.
(2007) which asserted that satisfaction with university life was a

S. Ahmad et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

signicant predictor for bonding social capital. He further elaborated that less satisfaction life had much lower bridging social
capital.
Though the factors self-esteem and age of respondent were
found to be signicantly related in bridging social capital only,
while these both factors were found to be negatively associated in
bonding social capital. Ellison et al. (2007) reported the self-esteem
as a signicant and positively associated predictor for bonding social capital, thus, our ndings are contradicted.
One of reason highlighted by Lall (2014) was that a youth used
forums on SNSs to participate and express views. In this backdrop,
the present study tried to assess the motives of using SNSs. This
study found that motives of using SNSs included communication
and information, outward looking, self-actualization are positively
associated with both bonding and bridging social capital. These
ndings are aligned with the results of previous study which reported that social-information seeking behaviors/motives are
signicantly and positively related to bonding social capital (Ellison
et al. (2007)).
This study found that education of the respondents, father's
education, mother's education, monthly family income, and number of ties is not the signicant predictors in formation of both
bonding and bridging social capital. Chu and Choi (2010) argued
that use of SNSs though related to bonding and bridging social
capital yet which type of social capital is more fortied depends on
the demographics and cultural context.
6. Conclusion
The patterns of social media use in Pakistan appear to be no
different than the rest of world. Facebook is the most popular social
media website in Pakistan while Twitter and LinkedIn are less
popular in Pakistan as compared to their global rating. Our study
found the signicance association between the use of SNSs and
bonding and bridging social capital. Intensity of using SNS and
duration of use were found to be positively associated in forming
both bonding and bridging social capital. Moreover, motives of
using SNSs (, communication and information, outward looking,
and self-actualization) are positively associated with both bonding
and bridging social capital. Gratication with university life was
found to be signicant predictor in formation of bonding social
capital, yet this had not been reported a signicant predictor for
bridging the social capital. Though the factors self-esteem and age
of respondent were found to be signicantly related in bridging
social capital only, while these both factors were found to be
negatively associated in bonding social capital. Nevertheless, Education of the respondents, father's education, mother's education,
monthly family income, and number of ties are not the signicant
predictors in formation of both bonding and bridging social capital.
7. Research implications
Our research differentiated the role of users of SNSs on the basis
of their motives to use online communities and formation of social
capital. As per the best knowledge of the researchers, this is the rst
conrmatory study which investigated the association of using SNS
with bonding and bridging social capital in Pakistani society. A
number of ndings were not aligned with studies conducted on
western population, because it is widely acknowledged that social
and cultural milieu affects the attitude and behaviour of the population (Chu & Choi, 2010). While ndings of current study should
soothe the concerns of those (parents, academician and policy
makers) who were of the view those SNSs such as Facebook and
twitter has mostly negative inuence on educated youth
(Valenzuela et al., 2009).

113

In scholarly literature, the area of social impacts of online

technologies has grown largely. It has emerged as an important
area of research through accruing substantiation from different
cultures and societies. Current conrmatory study would add
empirical evidence from Pakistan on social impacts of SNSs.
Augmentation of perspective from different cultures and societies
can be helpful in the development of global approach regarding
social impacts of online technologies on human behavior.
8. Research limitations
This study has some research limitations. Firstly, this is a selfreported survey, so there is probability of biasness and incorrectness in responses given by users of SNSs as also reported by
Subrahmanyama, Reich, Waechter, and Espinoza (2008). Secondly,
the target population of current study was skewed toward specic
age group of 18e30 years, so the generalizability of ndings are
limited to young users of SNSs and could not be applied to general
population of users of SNSs.
9. Future research
As this was self-reported study, so to avoid the biasness and
incorrectness of self-reported behavior, future research can use mix
methodology such as collecting data through online questionnaire,
content analysis of the prole of users, focus group discussion
(FGD) and in-depth interviews. Qualitative method may contribute
to understand that how individuals choose their networks and how
they interact with their networks. Moreover, their experience of
using online communities can make a signicant impact on understanding the inuence of SNSs on human behavior and
relationships.
This study considered three variables as motives of using SNSs
such as communication and interaction, outward looking and selfactualization. Future researches can increase the base of construction of motives of using SNSs and then have a veried result. Future
research should also explore the role of demographic factors such
as age, gender, education, cultural background and household
monthly income rstly in using SNSs and concomitantly its association with formation of bonding and bridging social capital. These
demographic factors can lead to different responses in social media
use as indicated by Jin (2013).
Previous research also indicated that differences existed in online usage between young and old people (Zaphiris & Sarwar,
2006), therefore it is suggested to explore the role of distinction
in behavioral and attitudinal differences or similarities in usage,
understanding of SNSs, and formation of bonding and bridging
social capital (Pfeil et al., 2009). Likewise, future research can
explore the similarities and differences (if any existed) between the
users of societies where these SNSs were invented and users of
societies where these SNSs were adopted. Empirical evidence of the
similarities and differences would be helpful in the development of
global approach regarding SNSs.
References
Aerschot, L.,V., & Rodousakisb, N. (2008). The link between socio-economic background and Internet use: barriers faced by low socio-economic status groups
and possible solutions. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science
Research, 21(4), 317e351.
Ahn, J. (2012). Teenagers' experiences with social network sites: relationships to
bridging and bonding social capital. The Information Society: An International
Journal, 28(2), 99e109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2011.649394.
Aydn, B., & Sar, S. V. (2011). Internet addiction among adolescents: the role of selfesteem. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 3500e3505.
Beaudoin, C. E. (2008). Explaining the relationship between Internet use and
interpersonal trust: taking into account motivation and information overload.

114

S. Ahmad et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 57 (2016) 107e114

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 550e568.

boyd, D. (2008). Why youth (heart) social network sites: the role of networked
publics in teenage social life. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital
media. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: denition, history, and
scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communications, 13(1), 210e230.
Brandtzg, P. B., Heim, J., & Kaare, B. H. (2010). Bridging and bonding in social
network sites e investigating family-based capital. International Journal of Web
Based Communities, 6(3), 231e253.
Brooks, B., Welser, H. T., Hogan, B., & Titsworth, S. (2011). Socioeconomic status
updates family SES and emergent social capital in college student facebook
networks. Information Communication & Society, 14(4), 529e549. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2011.562221.
Burke, M., Kraut, R., & Marlow, C. (2011). Social capital on Facebook: differentiating
uses and users. In Proceedings of the 2011 annual Conference on human factors in
Computing systems (pp. 571e580). New York: ACM: Association for Computing
Machinery.
Chang, Y. P., & Zhu, D. H. (2012). The role of perceived social capital and ow
experience in building users' continuance intention to social networking sites
in China. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(3), 995e1001. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.chb.2012.01.001.
Choi, S. M., Kim, Y., Sung, Y., & Sohn, D. (2011). BRIDGING OR BONDING? A crosscultural study of social relationships in social networking sites. Information
Communication & Society, 14(1), 107e129.
Chu, S. C., & Choi, S. M. (2010). Social capital and self-presentation on social
networking sites: a comparative study of Chinese and American young generations. Chinese Journal of Communication, 3(4), 402e420. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1080/17544750.2010.516575.
Davis, R., Piven, I., & Breazeale, M. (2014). Conceptualizing the brand in social media
community: the ve sources model. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,
21, 468e481. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.03.006.
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Grifn, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life
Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71e75.
Ellison, N. B., Steineld, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benets of facebook friends:
social capital and college students use of online social network sites. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143e1168.
Ellison, N. B., Steineld, C., & Lampe, C. (2011). Connection strategies: Social capital
implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. New Media & Society, 13(6), 873e892.
Farooqi, H., Patel, H., Aslam, H. M., Ansari, I. Q., Khan, M., Iqbal, N., et al. (2013).
Effect of Facebook on the life of Medical University students. International Archives of Medicine, 6, 40.
Gilbert, E., & Karahalios, K. (2009). Predicting tie strength with social media. In In:
Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on human factors in Computing
systems (pp. 211e220).
Hanifan, L. (1920). The community center. Boston: Silver, Burdette & Co.
Ji, Y. G., Hwangbo, H., Yi, J. S., Rau, P. L. P., Fang, X., & Ling, C. (2010). The Inuence of
cultural differences on the use of social network services and the formation of
social capital. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 26(11e12),
1100e1121.
Jin, H. C. (2013). The perspective of a revised TRAM on social capital building: the
case of facebook usage. Information & Management, 50, 162e168. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2013.03.002.
Johnston, K., Tanner, M., Lalla, N., & Kawalski, D. (2013). Social capital: the benet of
facebook 'friends'. Behaviour & Information Technology, 32(1), 24e36. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144929x.2010.550063.
Kim, H.-K., & Davis, K. E. (2009). Toward a comprehensive theory of problematic
Internet use: evaluating the role of self-esteem, anxiety, ow, and the self-rated
importance of Internet activities. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 490e500.
Kugalman, M. (2012). Social media in Pakistan: Catalyst for communication, not
change. Retrieved 20th September, 2013 from http://www.peacebuilding.no/
Regions/Asia/Pakistan/Publications/Social-media-in-Pakistan-catalyst-forcommunication-not-change.
Lall, M. (2014). Engaging the youth-citizenship and political participation in
Pakistan. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 52(4), 535e562. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2014.959288.
Lee, M. H., & Tsai, C. C. (2010). Exploring teachers perceived self-efcacy and
technological pedagogical content knowledge with respect to educational use
of the World Wide Web. Instructional Science, 38, 1e21.
Ling, R. (2007). Informal social capital and ICTs. In B. Anderson, M. Brynin,
J. Gershuny, & Y. Raban (Eds.), Information and communication technologies in

society. E-Living in digital Europe (pp. 150e162). Routledge.

Lin, K.-Y., & Lu, H.-P. (2011). Intention to continue using facebook fan pages from the
perspective of social capital theory. Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social
Networking, 14(10), 565e570. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0472.
Liu, H., Shi, J., Liu, Y., & Sheng, Z. (2013). The moderating role of attachment anxiety
on Social network Site use intensity and Social Capital. Psychological Reports,
112(1), 252e265. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/21.02.17.pr0.112.1.252-265.
Miller, R., Parsons, K., & Lifer, D. (2010). Students and social networking sites: the
posting paradox. Behaviour & Information Technology, 29(4), 377e382. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/01449290903042491.
Papacharissi, Z., & Mendelson, A. (2011). Toward a new(er) sociability: uses, gratications, and social capital on Facebook: Media perspectives for the 21st century
edited by Stylianos Papathanassopoulos, New York (pp. 212e230).
Pfeil, U., Arjan, R., & Zaphiris, P. (2009). Age differences in online social networking
e a study of user proles and the social capital divide among teenagers and
older users in MySpace. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 643e654. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2008.08.015.
Phua, J. (2012). Use of social networking sites by Sports Fans: Implications for the
creation and maintenance of social capital. Journal of Sports Media, 7(1),
109e132.
Phua, J., & Jin, S. A. A. (2011). 'Finding a home away from home': the use of social
networking sites by Asia-Pacic students in the United States for bridging and
bonding social capital. Asian Journal of Communication, 21(5), 504e519. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2011.587015.
Pornsakulvanich, V., & Dumorongsiri, N. (2013). Internal and external inuences on
social networking site usage in Thailand. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(6),
2788e2795.
Powell, J. (2009). 33 million people in the Room: How to create, inuence, and run a
successful business with social networking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community.
New York: Simon and Schuster.
Raacke, J., & Bonds-Raacke, J. (2008). MySpace and Facebook: applying the uses and
gratications theory to exploring friend-networking sites. Cyberpsychology
Behavior, 11(2), 169e174. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.0056.
Raq, M., & Ameen, K. (2012). Use of digital media and demand for digitized contents in higher education sector of Pakistan. The International Information &
Library
Review,
44(3),
116e122.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/
10572317.2012.10762922.
Shah, D. V., Kwak, N., & Holbert, R. L. (2001). Connecting and disconnecting with
civic life: patterns of Internet use and the production of social capital. Political
Communication, 18, 141e162.
Smith, D. T. (2013). African Americans and network disadvantage: enhancing social
capital through participation on social networking sites. Future Internet, 5,
56e66.
Steineld, C., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of
online social network sites: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology,
29(6),
434e445.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.appdev.2008.07.002.
Steineld, C., DiMicco, J. M., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2009). Bowling online: Social
networking and social capital within the organization. In Proceedings of the
Fourth International Conference on Communities and technologies (pp. 245e254).
New York: ACM.
Subrahmanyama, K., Reich, M. S., Waechter, N., & Espinoza, G. (2008). Online and
ofine social networks: use of social networking sites by emerging adults.
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 420e433. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.appdev.2008.07.003.
Valenzuela, S., Park, N., & Kee, F. K. (2009). Is there social capital in a social network
site?: Facebook use and college students' life satisfaction, trust, and participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 875e901.
Wangberg, S. C., Andreassen, H. K., Prokosch, H. U., Santana, S. M., Srensen, T., &
Chronaki, C. E. (2008). Relations between Internet use, socio-economic status
(SES), social support and subjective health. Health Promotion International,
23(1), 70e77.
Williams, D. (2006). On and off the net: scales for social capital in an online era.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 593e628.
Yang, S. C., & Tung, C. J. (2007). Comparison of Internet addicts and non-addicts in
Taiwanese high school. Computers in Human Behavior, 23, 79e96.
Zaphiris, P., & Sarwar, R. (2006). Trends, similarities and differences in the usage of
teen and senior public online newsgroups. ACM Transactions on ComputerHuman Interaction (TOCHI), 13(3), 403e422.