Openness Personality and the Use of Social Networking Sites in College Students: The Mediating Role of Perceived Media Richness and the Moderating Role of Self-Monitoring

Gong Jian; Niu Bingyu; Liu Xiaofei; Li Ye; Zhou Bingping; Hai Man

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230521

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (5) : 1196-1203. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230521

Social，Personality & Organizational Psychology

Openness Personality and the Use of Social Networking Sites in College Students: The Mediating Role of Perceived Media Richness and the Moderating Role of Self-Monitoring

Gong Jian^1,2, Niu Bingyu^1,2, Liu Xiaofei³, Li Ye^1,2, Zhou Bingping^1,2, Hai Man^1,2

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Abstract

Using social networking sites to communicate and maintain interpersonal relationships is an important part of modern life. However, the use of social networking sites is a double-edged sword that the active and passive use will lead to opposite consequences. Since social networks are essentially driven by the human interaction, to truly understand this phenomenon, it is necessary to clarify the personality structure of users on social networking sites. As the basic personality trait representing openness to experience in the Big Five personality model, openness has a stable predictive effect on general Internet use. But previous studies have shown that it has low correlation or even no correlation with social networking sites use. This may because previous studies did not take into account the fact that openness perhaps has opposite effects on active and passive use. In addition, previous studies have also ignored the significant changes that the terminals and usage scenarios of social networking sites in recent years, as well as the lack of attention to the media properties of social networking sites. The most significant media characteristic of social networking sites is their high media richness. Compared with ordinary websites, social networking sites are able to deliver richer and more natural information and are more functional in promoting users' self-portrayal. Based on the media richness theory, the current study suggests that perceived media richness should be an mechanism by which openness influences the active use and passive use of social networking sites among college students, and that this mediating mechanism will be moderated by self-monitoring.
A questionnaire survey among 563 college students was administered to explore whether, how, and when openness affects the use of social networking sites. Participants with random responses and a short answering time were excluded, and 508 valid samples were finally recovered (valid recovery rate of 90.23%). All participants were college students aged between 18~25 (M = 20.78, SD = 1.33), including 186 (36.6%) males and 322 (63.4%) females. The results showed that :(1) Openness positively predicted active use of social networking sites, and negatively predicted passive use of social networking sites. (2) Perceived media richness partially mediated the relation between openness and active use of social networking sites (the ratio of mediating effect was 48.73%). (3) Self-monitoring moderated the relation between perceived media richness and the active use of social networking sites, resulting in a stronger mediating effect among participants with high self-monitoring than those with low self-monitoring. (4) Self-monitoring also moderated the relation between openness and passive use of social networking sites, as evidenced by the significant negative predictive effect of openness on passive use of social networking sites for high self-monitoring participants, but not for low self-monitoring participants. This study not only elucidated the specific pathways through which high openness college students benefit from the use of social networking sites, but also revealed the underlying psychological mechanism through which openness affected the use of social networking sites. It also examined the important role of self-monitoring as a boundary condition in the above mechanisms from the perspective of social cognition.

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openness personality / perceived media richness / self-monitoring / active social networking sites use / passive social networking sites use

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Gong Jian, Niu Bingyu, Liu Xiaofei, Li Ye, Zhou Bingping, Hai Man. Openness Personality and the Use of Social Networking Sites in College Students: The Mediating Role of Perceived Media Richness and the Moderating Role of Self-Monitoring[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2023, 46(5): 1196-1203 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230521

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