How the instant messaging influences the satisfaction of virtual BY Yip Sin Ting, Beryl 05009944 Information Systems Management Option An Honours Degree Project Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Graduation Requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong April 2008-1 -
Acknowledgement I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tony Wong, for his support during the research process. He devoted his precious time and efforts in giving me guidance throughout the project. I am sure this project would not be completed without his kind help. Besides, I would like to express my special thanks to those who had helped me to distribute my questionnaires. Without their help, I would not capture this amount of questionnaires in the short period. Also, I would like to thanks all respondents, who spent their valuable time in filling out the questionnaire. - 2 -
Abstract Instant messaging (IM) has become one of the important communication tools, especially among the young people. However, there are few researches studying on how the IM can influence the virtual interpersonal relationship. Lin (2007) research has studied in this topic, focusing on the students from a college in Taiwan. This paper is intended to explore how the IM use of the university students in Hong Kong will affect their virtual interpersonal relationship. The result of this study revealed that the real interpersonal relationship will put a significant effect on the virtual interpersonal relationship. And the interaction of instant messaging can enhance the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship. In this study, we found out that the satisfaction of real interpersonal relationship of university students in Hong Kong is entirely higher than that of the virtual interpersonal relationship. It implied that the importance of real interpersonal relationship is placed much higher than the virtual interpersonal relationship. For real interpersonal relationship, Hong Kong university students are satisfied in getting recognition most, followed by building friendship and being understood. Satisfaction level of being understood is the highest in virtual interpersonal relationship, while that of building friendship is the lowest. Regarding to the interactive behavior from IM, university students satisfied most in mutual trust and being respected. And the satisfaction of mood sharing - 3 -
and mutual understanding are the least. From the result, we noticed that although virtual interpersonal relationship may substitute for some needs provided by real interpersonal relationship, it still cannot replace the face-to-face interaction in our real life. Also, we found that the maturity and educational level may also affect the IM use and satisfaction in virtual interpersonal relationship when we compare this result to Lin (2007) result. Older youngster with higher education background may have the need to establish deeper relationship online, such as mutual trust and being respected, while younger people just need mood sharing and variety of talk most. Besides, IM is only one of the tools for communication. It may provide the functions to fulfill some of the interpersonal needs. And its importance is much higher for maintaining relationship, when the buddies are in geographical separation. However, IM can just play a subsidiary role in maintaining relationship. We still have to satisfy different needs in both real and virtual relationship through a variety of different communication tools and methods. Thus, it is not reasonable to rely on IM too much for maintaining relationship. - 4 -
Table of Content Acknowledgement Abstract 1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 2. Objectives of Study ------------------------------------------------------------- 8 3. Literature Review----------------------------------------------------------------- 9 4. Methodology ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 5. Result and Finding -------------------------------------------------------------- 22 6. Discussions and Implications ----------------------------------------------- 36 7. Limitations and Future Research ------------------------------------------- 48 8. Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 Reference --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 51 Appendices Appendix A: Questionnaire Appendix B: Descriptive Data Appendix C: Measurements Appendix D: Reliability Result Appendix E: Factor analysis Appendix F: Path analysis - 5 -
1. Introduction Instant messaging is generally used for both social and work-related communication in our daily life. From Pew Research (2003), instant messaging programs allows Internet users to have real-time conversations with other buddies who are online at the same time. And the use of IM is continually increasing. Only from 2000 to 2002, it was increased by 33%. From Jeremy (2006) study, AOL had 53 million, MSN/Windows Live Messenger had 27 million and Yahoo Messenger had 22 million active subscribers worldwide in 2006. The IM programs, that are widely used in Hong Kong community, are Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Google talk and so on. And Pew (2003) pointed out that the young people are the majority of the IM users. And they use IM to satisfy their virtual interpersonal relationship. Unlike the high school students, university students have more freedom to access the internet. Rebecca (2002) study mentioned that the high school students have to share the computer with family members, while the university students have their computers and less predictable schedules. Therefore, compare to the high school students, university students will have more time spending on the internet. Besides, many university students in Hong Kong may live in hall, having a geographical separation with their families. Their situation is quite similar to the high school students studied by the Lin (2007) research. Kandell (1988) research stated that they may become more exposed to problematic internet - 6 -
use than other people in the community. With increased freedom in the use of IM, they attempt to establish a personal identity and meaningful interpersonal relationship or even intimacy. Anyway, due to the increased freedom, interpersonal relationship among the students may also be influenced negatively. Kandell (1988) research also revealed that the high school students also think that they abused the Internet and it badly influenced their lives, such as school and parental relationship. Also, they understood the negative result from it, such as skipping meals, less revision and rest time, and disarrange their daily routines or even avoiding interpersonal interaction to spend more time in the Internet. However, there are few researches studying on how the IM can influence the virtual interpersonal relationship. Lin (2007) research has studied in this topic, focusing on the students from one college in Taiwan. Thus, this paper will focus on university students to find out whether IM can influence the virtual interpersonal relationship in Hong Kong community. - 7 -
2. Objectives of Study To examine the use of instant messaging and its influences in interpersonal behavior among Hong Kong university students 2.1. Sub-objective: 2.1.1. To study how and to what extent real interpersonal relationship affects satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship. 2.1.2. To study whether there is a mediation effect from IM between real interpersonal relationship and virtual interpersonal relationship. - 8 -
3. Literature Review 3.1. Interpersonal Relationship The definition of interpersonal relationship from the Heider (1959) research is interaction among a few people over their thoughts, expectations, perceptions, and reactions. Schutz (1960) study suggested three categories of needs induce the interaction between people. The first one is the need for tolerance, making friends and establishing as well as maintaining a harmonious relationship. The second one is the need for control, maintaining authority in a relationship. The third one is the need for expression of feelings, building and preserving a love and affection relationship. Diana (2000) research suggested the interpersonal relationships are friendship and closer relationships by asking the questions of why we need them, how they are formed, what we get out of them and the stages through which they go. - 9 -
3.2. Virtual relationship Virtual relationship is not the same as real relationship with face-to-face communication. Kevin (2004) suggested that people have to maintain two types of virtual relationship, i.e. Exclusively Internet-based (EIB) relationships and Primarily Internet-based (PIB) relationships. EIB is the relationship established in the online group or community and people do not have any communication out of the internet. PIB is more common than EIB. It is the relationship between those people who are geographically dispersed, using the CMC rather than the traditional communication methods. This paper will mainly study in the PIB relationship. Walther and Burgoon (1992) stated the satisfaction of the on-line relationship is depended on the amount of time people interacted with each other. And the online interaction will create the similarity, immediacy, depth, and trust among the users. Apart from that, Parks and Floyd (1996) suggested the factors to examine the interpersonal relationship on the internet, i.e., interdependence, breadth, depth, personalized way of communication (Code change), understanding, commitment and network convergence. - 10 -
3.3. Computer-mediated communication tool and human relationship Kevin (2004) suggested the computer-mediated communication have several features, such as limited nonverbal information, delayed feedback, more time to edit text before sending messages, idealized perceptions of the source, difficulty of locating people on-line, and greater opportunities for self-presentation and manipulation of information. And they will affect both EIB and PIB relationship. Thanks to reducing nonverbal information in the CMC tools, Walther and Burgoon (1992) and Walther (1992) pointed out that it will need more time to establish satisfied virtual relationships since more time for expressing socio-emotional content are needed in the virtual space, such as email, bulletin boards, and chat rooms. 3.3.1. Internet Hiltz & Turoff (1993) and Davis (2001) studies suggest that the internet can provide unlimited virtual space and instant communication thanks to spending more time on internet usage and less on traditional interpersonal communication. And Wilkins (1991), Mayer (1987), Mckenna & Bargh (1998) and Bruckman (1992) also pointed out that it can help the user to build up interpersonal relationships and provide a place for people with introversion to practice their social skills 3.3.2. Instant messaging IM is also a computer-mediated communication (CMC) tool. It can provide - 11 -
convenient way to satisfy different interpersonal relationship needs. Ramirez, Dimmick, & Lin (2004) mentioned that IM can put an effort in keeping in touch with those who are in geographical separation or do not have enough time to meet. And IM enable the quick, simple and convenient information exchange. Moreover, Peter, Schouten, & Valkenburg (2004) stated that IM can help in the self-exploration as using it can overcome shyness, and establish social relationships. From Leung (2001) research suggested IM can be used to express affection, to be fashionable, and for entertainment, relaxation, inclusion, sociality, and escape. From the Sean (2007) study, although IM is a CMC tool, it contains the emoticons in order to improve the lost of facial cues. And the emoticons are symbols with different letters and special characters. Rivera (1996) research also showed that the use of emoticons results in a positive impact on the communication. Furthermore, Minh (2005) research mentioned that the IM allow the users to express their emotions in their online status. Therefore, the interpersonal relationship can be influenced positively due to better ability to express mood online. From Rogers (1986) research, medium instrument caused the lost of social presence in the interpersonal communication via computer. Lin (2007) pointed out that the sense of social presence and two-way-communication from the communication medium has increased due to the technology advancement. The social presence theory from Sean (2007) research was defined that, Social presence is the perception of physical presence during an - 12 -
interaction. Besides, Minh (2005) study mentioned that presence awareness can provide information about the availability of the buddies. And it is also the cues to help the users to decide whether and when they should send a message. 3.3.3. Email From the Sean (2007) research, the university students agreed email is useful in building work and social relationships. And nearly 80 percent of them prefer to use email for work interaction. And the users are likely to use symbols with their instant messages and email to help communicate. Anyway, most of the users agree that instant messaging is better than e-mail for social interaction and is useful for social networking. - 13 -
3.4. Lin (2007) Model Lin (2007) research created a model to study how real interpersonal relationship affects satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship, how real interpersonal relationship affects the interactive behavior induced by IM, and how interactive behavior induced by IM affects the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship. It employed the indexes from Russell (1996) Research, UCLA Loneliness Scale (version 3) to test the satisfaction with the real and virtual interpersonal relationship. To examine the interactive behavior by IM, it based on the Interpersonal relationship index from Walther and Burgoon (1992) Research and relationship development index from Parks and Floyd (1996) Research. - 14 -
Building friendship Getting recognition Being unterstood Expressing mood Privacy discussion Vision discussion Real interpersonal relationship Being cared Being respected Interactive behaviors by using IM Being influenced Being persuasive Satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship Mutual understanding Mutual trust Variety of talks Building friendship Getting recognition Interaction enhancement Being unterstood Mood sharing Figure 1. Model of Lin (2007) study - 15 -
4. Methodology 4.1. Model This study adopts the model developed by Lin (2007) study. Lin (2007) study found out that there are a positive causal relationship between real interpersonal relationship and satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship among the Taiwan College students. It suggested that the better the real interpersonal relationship, the higher the satisfaction with the virtual interpersonal relationship. H1: Real interpersonal relationship will affect the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship positively. The real interpersonal relationship can be measured by three factors: i.e. building friendship, getting recognition and being understood. For the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship, it can be measured by building friendship, getting recognition, interaction enhancement and being understood, shown in Table 2. The measurement of the real interpersonal relationship will employ the UCLA Loneliness Scale (version 3) from Russell (1996) Research. It will measure the satisfaction with the real interpersonal relationship. By adding on the internet at the beginning of the UCLA Loneliness Scale, it can measure the satisfaction with the virtual interpersonal relationship on the internet. - 16 -
Besides, Lin (2007) Research also pointed out that the use of IM is a mediator between real and virtual interpersonal relationship. And it has a positive and significant medium effect on them. Therefore, real interpersonal relationship will affect the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship. And the interactive behaviors by using IM as the communication tool will put a positive mediation effect on the virtual interpersonal relationship. H2: Real interpersonal relationship will increase the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship via Interactive behaviors by using IM. The interactive behavior will be measured by vision discussion, being cared for, being respected, mutual understanding, mutual trust, variety of talks mood sharing, expressing mood, privacy discussion, being understood, and being persuasive (refer to Table 2). The measurement of examining whether the use of IM will put the same effect as face-to-face interaction will adopt the Relational message scale (Burgoon and Hale Research, 1987) and relationship development index (Parks and Floyd Research, 1996). The index covered affection, control, caring, trust, in-depth, width, understanding and respect. H1 Real interpersonal relationship will affect the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship positively. H2 Real interpersonal relationship will increase the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship via Interactive behaviors by using IM. Table 1. Hypotheses in this research - 17 -
The following table reveals the factors and variables in this research. Variables Real Interpersonal Relationship (RIR) Interactive of IM (IM) Virtual Interpersonal Relationship (VIR) Table 2. Variables and factors Factors Building friendship (RIR1) Getting recognition (RIR2) Being understood (RIR3) Vision discussion (IM1) Being cared for (IM2) Being respected (IM3) Mutual understanding (IM4) Mutual trust (IM5) Variety of talk (IM6) Mood sharing (IM7) Expressing mood (IM8) Privacy discussion (IM9) Being influenced (IM10) Being persuasive (IM11) Building friendship (VIR1) Getting recognition (VIR2) Being understood (VIR3) - 18 -
4.2. Survey method 4.2.1. Subject The target respondents in this study are the current university students who have IM experience mainly from ten different universities in Hong Kong: The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (UST), Hong Kong Polytechnic University (POLYU), Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), City University of Hong Kong (CITYU), Lingnan University (LU), Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIED), Hong Kong Shue Yan University (SYU), and Hong Kong Open University (OU). Both paper-based questionnaire and Internet-based questionnaire were distributed to the IM users in Hong Kong. English version of questionnaires was prepared. 405 university students had responded to this research. 382 had experience in instant messaging, while 23 questionnaires are unusable because some of them are not completed and some of the respondents are not the target in this research. Analysis in this study is based on those 382 subjects. 4.2.2. Instrument Subjects completed a questionnaire, including 83 items, shown in Appendix A. Questionnaire contains four sections: demographic information, satisfaction with their real interpersonal relationships, interpersonal interaction in IM, and satisfaction with their interpersonal relationships in the virtual space. - 19 -
The first section of the questionnaire included 10 questions about demographic data and IM usage. Subjects were asked to report their information such as gender, age and university they studying in. All subjects were asked whether they had used instant messaging. Those who had were asked to report how long they had used it, average usage of IM per week and which IM application they had used. Second, the measurement of the real interpersonal relationship will employ the UCLA Loneliness Scale, version 3, (Russell Research, 1996). It will measure the satisfaction with the real interpersonal relationship. There are 20 Likert-type questions, 10 for satisfaction and 10 for dissatisfaction with social relationship, on a four-point scale with 1 to 4 (never to always). From the third part, the measurement of examining whether the use of IM will put the same effect as face-to-face interaction will adopt the Relational message scale (Burgoon and Hale Research, 1987) and relationship development index (Parks and Floyd Research, 1996). The index covered interdependence, breadth, depth, personalized way of communication (Code change), understanding, commitment and network convergence. This part contained 33 items and was designed in five-point scale with 1 to 5 (strongly disagree to strongly agree). The last part of the questionnaire used the same questions from the second part. By adding on the internet at the beginning of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (version 3) from Russell (1996) Research, it can measure the - 20 -
satisfaction with the virtual interpersonal relationship on the internet. In the Appendix C, it shows the measurements in the study 4.2.3. Procedure During 20 th February, 2008 to 1 st April, 2008, a total of 405 questionnaires were distributed to the students from 10 universities. In each university, students were recruited online or in the campus (libraries, canteens, computer labs etc.) randomly to fill out the 83-item questionnaires. 4.2.4. Analysis method This study employed Visual PLS and SPSS for examining the relationship among real interpersonal relationships, virtual interpersonal relationships, and interactive behaviors by using IM. First, Factor analysis will be adopted in this research to group the factors in IM. Also, reliability will also be calculated for the RIR and VIR to test the internal consistence. Then, PLS will be used for analyzing the extent of how the measures relate to the factors and how the independent variables influence the dependent variable. - 21 -
5. Result and Finding 5.1. Participants During the past six-week data collection period, 405 questionnaires were collected while 23 of them were unusable. Therefore, they were discarded from further analysis. A total of 382 usable questionnaires will be analyzed in this research. From the Table 3, the sample was made up of 159 (41.5%) of males and 223 (58.4%) females. 350 (91.6%) of the respondents are studying in bachelor degree. Only 32 (8.4%) of them are studying in other programme (such as Master degree). Many of them, 171 (44.7%) out of 382 students, have 7-9 years of experience on using IM. 238 (62%) of them will use IM for 1-10 hours per week. MSN messenger is the most famous IM application around the respondents, 380 (99.5%) of them had the experience on using it. Second is ICQ, with 198 (51.8%) of them having the experience. Measure Value Frequency Percent Gender Age University Male 159 41.6 Female 223 58.4 20 or below 76 19.9 21-24 292 76.4 25-28 13 3.4 29 or above 1.3 HKU 11 2.9 HKBU 145 38.0 LU 8 2.1 CityU 89 23.3 SYU 14 3.7 CU 68 17.8 PolyU 35 9.2-22 -
UST 8 2.1 OU 3.8 Other 1.3 Programme School Year Experience in IM Using IM per week MSN messenger * Yahoo messenger * ICQ * Google talk * Associate Degree 8 2.1 Higher Diploma 6 1.6 Bachelor Degree 350 91.6 Master Degree 12 3.1 PHD 2.5 Other 4 1.0 Year 1 73 19.1 Year 2 95 24.9 Year 3 191 50.0 Year 4 15 3.9 Other (Year 5) 8 2.1 1-3 Years 39 10.2 4-6 Years 110 28.8 7-9 Years 171 44.7 10 Years or above 60 15.7 Less than 1 hour 6 1.6 1 10 hours 238 62.2 11 20 hours 60 15.9 21 40 hours 55 14.5 More than 40 hours 22 8.56 With experience 380 99.5 Without experience 2.5 With experience 53 13.9 Without experience 329 86.1 With experience 198 51.8 Without experience 184 48.2 With experience 17 4.5 Without experience 365 95.5 Other * With experience 27 7.1 Without experience 355 92.9 * Multiple checked Table 3. Demographic Statistics of Respondents - 23 -
5.2. Factor analysis of subjects satisfaction with their real and virtual interpersonal relationship Section two and four (real and virtual interpersonal relationship) is based on the UCLA Loneliness Scale, version 3, Russell Research (1996). According to Kaiser (1970, 1974) study, this research adopted the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO), measurement of sample adequacy, which can evaluate the appropriateness of applying exploratory factor analysis. From the result, both sections (RIR and VIR) have exceed 0.5 criteria (0.91 and 0.92 respectively, shown in Table 4). Hence, it can imply that factors in two of the variables are with high correlation and it is suitable to do factor analysis for both variables. Section in questionnaire Variable name KMO Section 2 Real interpersonal relationship 0.920 Section 4 Virtual interpersonal relationship 0.910 Table 4. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy 5.2.1. Real interpersonal relationship Factor analysis (Eigenvalue >1) is conducted to these two sections. It revealed three factors: building friendship, getting recognition and being understood with 53.448% total explained variance (Table 5). Factor Name No. of items Eigenvalues Explained variance (%) Building friendship (RIR1) 10 7.314 38.495 Getting recognition(rir2) 5 1.744 9.179 Being understood(rir3) 3 1.097 5.774 Total 18 53.448 Table 5. Factor analysis result for satisfaction of university students real interpersonal relationship - 24 -
From the Rotated Component Matrix for real interpersonal relationship (Appendix E) shows that the individual item loadings and internal consistencies exceed the 0.5 (except the item11). All the factors with more than 0.5 are grouped into the factors, building friendship, getting recognition and being understood. Thus, item11 will be dropped from the following analysis due to their low validity. Also, due to the high missing rate of item30, it was also dropped from the research. Therefore, the further analysis will base on these 18 items. 5.2.2. Virtual interpersonal relationship Factor analysis was also done for the satisfaction with virtual interpersonal relationship. It has revealed three factors: building friendship, getting recognition and being understood with 54.74% total explained variance (Table 6). Factor Name No. of items Eigenvalues Explained variance (%) Building friendship (VIR1) 10 6.506 34.243 Getting recognition (VIR2) 7 2.879 15.150 Being understood (VIR3) 1 1.016 5.347 Total 18 54.740 Table 6. Factor analysis result for satisfaction of university students virtual interpersonal relationship From the Rotated Component Matrix for virtual interpersonal relationship (Appendix E) shows that the individual item loadings and internal consistencies exceed the 0.5 (except the item81). All the factors with more - 25 -
than 0.5 are grouped into the factors, building friendship, getting recognition and being understood. Thus, item81 will be dropped from the following analysis due to their low validity. Also, due to the high missing rate of item83, it was also dropped from the research. Therefore, the further analysis will base on these 18 items. - 26 -
5.3. Reliability of the Instrument To assess the internal consistency of the IM factors (i.e. Vision discussion (IM1), Being cared for (IM2), Being respected (IM3), Mutual understanding (IM4), Mutual trust (IM5), Variety of talk (IM6), Mood sharing (IM7), Expressing mood (IM8), Privacy discussion (IM9), Being influenced (IM10), and Being persuasive (IM11)), Cronbach s alphas were used in this study (refer to Appendix D). From Nunnally and Berstein (1994), the reliability coefficients should meet 0.70 or higher. Hence, high reliability was showed in the factors, IM1-7, while the factor, IM8-11, had a low reliability (Table 7). Thus, the further study will focus on the 7 factors with high reliability to ensure this study with a high internal consistency. IM Factors No. of items Cronbach s Alpha Vision discussion (IM1) 3 0.830 Being cared for (IM2) 3 0.729 Being respected (IM3) 3 0.794 Mutual understanding (IM4) 3 0.724 Mutual trust (IM5) 3 0.837 Variety of talk (IM6) 3 0.746 Mood sharing (IM7) 3 0.828 Expressing mood (IM8) 3 0.224 Privacy discussion (IM9) 3 0.420 Being influenced (IM10) 3 0.616 Being persuasive (IM11) 3 0.281 Table 7. Reliability of the IM factors - 27 -
5.4. Analysis of the university students real and virtual interpersonal relationship and their interactive behavior using IM Table 8 showed the mean and standard deviation of each factor. Variable Factor Mean Standard deviation Scale Real Interpersonal Getting recognition (RIR2) 3.228 0.503 4-point Relationship (RIR) Building friendship (RIR1) 2.937 0.532 4-point Being understood (RIR3) 2.866 0.507 4-point Interactive of IM (IM) Mutual trust (IM5) 3.869 0.653 5-point Being respected (IM3) 3.815 0.577 5-point Variety of talk (IM6) 3.779 0.676 5-point Being cared for (IM2) 3.702 0.594 5-point Vision discussion (IM1) 3.683 0.679 5-point Mood sharing (IM7) 3.526 0.752 5-point Mutual understanding (IM4) 3.423 0.600 5-point Virtual Interpersonal Being understood (VIR3) 2.864 0.685 4-point Relationship (VIR) Getting recognition (VIR2) 2.721 0.532 4-point Building friendship (VIR1) 2.633 0.566 4-point Table 8. Mean and standard deviation of each factor All the means of real interpersonal relationship factors are more than 2.86 (in a Likert 4-point scale). And one mean of the factors, getting recognition, is even above 3.22. Thus, this means that building friendship, getting recognition and being understood can build the respondents real interpersonal relationship. For the means of virtual interpersonal relationship factors, they are also more than 2.6 (in a Likert 4-point scale). This statistic from the respondents - 28 -
also revealed that they can improve their real interpersonal relationship by building friendship, getting recognition and being understood. All of the means in the real interpersonal relationship, with at least 2.866, are totally higher than that in virtual interpersonal relationship, with at most 2.864. It revealed that the satisfactions of real relationship are much higher than that of the virtual interpersonal relationship. For the factor of interactive of IM, the means are at least higher than 3.42 (in a Likert 5-point scale). From the factors, means of being respected and also mutual trust are even greater than 3.81. This statistic also indicated that IM can improve their interactive behavior by mutual trust and being respected most, while it can improve mood sharing and mutual understanding (3.526 an 3.423) least. - 29 -
5.5. Measurement model Convergent validity is to measures the degree of all measurement items of a factor are actually loaded onto a single variable. It can be measured by composite reliability (CR) and the average variance extracted (AVE). According to Fornell & Larcker research (1987), there are three criteria should be fulfilled to verify convergent reliability. First, the critical value of CR must be higher than 0.7. Second, the critical value of AVE should be more than 0.5. Also, the item loading should be higher than 0.7, which is also suggested by Hulland (1999) research. Variable Factor Loading Standard Standard T-Statistic Mean error deviation RIR RIR1 0.8848 0.0166 53.28* 2.937 0.532 CR= 0.882398 RIR2 0.8746 0.0146 59.70* 3.228 0.503 AVE= 0.715102 RIR3 0.773 0.0406 19.04* 2.866 0.507 IM CR= 0.911974 AVE= 0.599729 IM1 0.8068 0.0292 27.67* 3.683 0.679 IM2 0.8323 0.0237 35.17* 3.702 0.594 IM3 0.8147 0.0237 34.31* 3.815 0.577 IM4 0.5667 0.0508 11.17* 3.423 0.600 IM5 0.8152 0.0224 36.36* 3.869 0.653 IM6 0.7599 0.0234 32.54* 3.779 0.676 IM7 0.7921 0.0239 33.11* 3.526 0.752 VIR VIR1 0.7317 0.0509 14.38* 2.633 0.566 CR= 0.810548 VIR2 0.844 0.0241 35.03* 2.721 0.532 AVE= 0.589096 VIR3 0.7209 0.0483 14.92* 2.864 0.685 CR: Composite reliability AVE: Average variance Extracted * highly significant Table 9. Measurement of the variables and factors - 30 -
From the Table 9, all the CR and AVE values met that requirement. Most of the items contribute to the factors significantly. Only one factor, IM4, in IM, is 0.5667. However, 0.7 is a high standard and the data in real life may not meet this criterion. Raubenheimer (2004) suggested that 0.4 is for central factor and 0.25 is for other factors. Therefore, this result demonstrated a high convergent validity in the research. From real interpersonal relationship (RIR), building friendship (RIR1) contributes most (0.8848) and has a highest mean (3.22 on 4-point scale). It may be because building friendship is the primary and main aim for the youngsters to participate in the community. Getting recognition (VIR2) contributes the most among the factors in the Virtual interpersonal relationship (VIR) with a loading of 0.844. However, the mean within the VIR factors are very similar, with a much narrow range from 2.6-2.8 than that within RIR factors. For the interactive behavior induced by using IM (IM), vision discussion (IM1), being cared for (IM2), being respected (IM3), mutual trust (IM5) contributed most with a high loading (more than 0.8). However, Mutual understanding (IM4) contributed the least, with 0.5667 loading. Discriminant validity is to study the differences between groups of objects. From Fornell and Larcker (1981) study, the diagonal elements in the factors correlation matrix must be larger than off-diagonal elements in corresponding - 31 -
rows and columns. In the Table 10, it showed that this study has fulfilled the requirement. Thus, there was sufficient convergent and discriminant validity in the measurement model. RIR IM VIR RIR 0.845637 IM 0.526 0.774422 VIR 0.457 0.4 0.767526 Notes: Shaded diagonal elements are the square root of AVE for each variable off-diagonal elements are the correlations between variables. Table 10. Correlation Matrix and the Key Variables - 32 -
5.6. Structural Model Building friendship Getting recognition Being unterstood Vision discussion 0.8848 0.8746 0.773 0.8068 Being cared Real interpersonal relationship 0.507*** (t = 11.469) 0.8323 0.8147 Being respected 0.318*** (t = 6.064) Interactive behaviors by using IM 0.5667 Mutual understanding 0.8152 Satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship 0.228*** (t = 4.345) 0.7599 0.7921 Mutual trust Variety of talks 0.7317 0.844 0.7209 Mood sharing Building friendship Getting recognition Being unterstood Figure 2. Result for the research model Notes: ***p<0.01 Figure 2 showed the overall explanatory power, estimated path coefficients, and t-value of the paths of the research model. All of the paths are found highly significant in the research model. - 33 -
5.6.1. Relationship between real and virtual interpersonal relationship The model shows a positive casual relationship between real and virtual interpersonal relationship. The path coefficient of direct effect is 0.318. And the T-value is 6.064, which is highly significant (shown in Appendix F). 5.6.2. Interactive behavior of IM In this model, subjects used IM to cause interactive behavior to influence the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationships. From the result, there is a positive mediation relationship between real and virtual interpersonal relationship from the path coefficient of 0.1156 (0.507 x 0.228) and the sum of 0.4336 (0.318 + 0.1156), illustrated in Figure 2. It means that subjects in this study using IM to communicate in a virtual community has helped in enhancing their virtual interpersonal relationship. Also, from this result, real interpersonal relationship places 0.318 direct effect on the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship, while the interactive behavior induced by using IM place 0.1156 mediator effect on it. Thus, the impact of real interpersonal relationship is greater than the effect of interactive behavior induced by using IM. The R 2 of satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship from real interpersonal relationship and the interactive behavior induced by using IM is 0.257, while the R 2 of interactive behavior induced by using IM from real interpersonal relationship is 0.226 (refer to Appendix F). Thus, 25.7% of satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship is predicted by the real - 34 -
interpersonal relationship and interactive behavior induced by using IM, while 22.6% of interactive behavior induced by using IM is predicted by the real interpersonal relationship. - 35 -
6. Discussions and Implications 6.1. Real and virtual interpersonal relationship This study employed Lin (2007) model, the first objective is to explore to what extent the real interpersonal relationships of the university students in Hong Kong will put an impact on their virtual interpersonal relationship. From the result, there was a positive casual relationship between them with a path coefficient of 0.341, refer to Figure 2. That means the higher the level of real interpersonal relationship they have, the more the satisfaction they can get from the virtual interpersonal relationship. From the result, the real relationship has put a positive effect on the satisfaction of virtual relationship. It may be because the youngsters with better interpersonal relationship with others in real life. They will have more confidence to communicate with others on the internet. Another reason is that their needs and expectation of the interpersonal relationship in the virtual community is less than those who with worse real interpersonal relationship and relying more on the virtual interpersonal relationship. Therefore, they may satisfy with the virtual interpersonal relationship much easier. In this research, all of the means in the real interpersonal relationship (RIR), with at least 2.866, are much higher than that in virtual interpersonal relationship (VIR), with at most 2.864, shown in Table 10. It implied that real interpersonal relationship is more important than virtual interpersonal relationship from Hong Kong university students view. And they satisfied in the real interpersonal relationship much more than virtual interpersonal - 36 -
relationship. Within the variables in real interpersonal relationship (RIR), building friendship (RIR1) contributes most (0.8848). It may be because building friendship is the primary and main aim for the youngsters to participate in the community in our daily life. Also, building friendship (RIR2) is the factor in RIR with a highest mean, 3.228 (on 4-point scale), while other factors, building friendship and being understood, are only with 2.937 and 2.866. It is a quite wide range. And it can show that the youngsters in Hong Kong satisfied in getting recognition most. However, the mean values among the three variables in virtual relationship are much closer, ranged from around 2.6-2.8. Being understood become the highest one in the virtual relationship with 2.864, while Building friendship is the lowest one, with only 2.633. It can show that university students in Hong Kong are most satisfied in being understood but less satisfied in building friendship on the internet. Besides, getting recognition contributes the most among the factors in the virtual interpersonal relationship with a loading of 0.844, which is much more than building friendship (0.7317) and getting recognition (0.7209), refer to the Table 10. The reason may be the main use of IM is not to build friendship since most of the friendship between IM buddies has already established before get the IM connection with the others. Accord with Kevin (2004) research, Primarily Internet-based (PIB) relationship is more common than Exclusively Internet-based (EIB) relationship, which is the relationship established in the online group or - 37 -
community and people do not have any communication out of the internet. Hence, compare to real interpersonal relationship, building friendship become less important factor in virtual interpersonal relationship. - 38 -
6.2. IM as a mediator between real and virtual interpersonal relationship Another objective of this study is to access how the use of IM can affect the virtual interpersonal relationship of the university students in Hong Kong. The result proved that the use of IM is a mediator between real and virtual interpersonal relationships and brings a positive as well as significant medium effect on them. This result is consistent with Pew (2003) research, revealing that young people use IM to satisfy their virtual interpersonal relationship. From the result, there is a positive mediation relationship from the path coefficient of 0.116 (0.526 x 0.221) in Figure 2. This result implied IM has induced the interactive behavior to influence the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship of the university students in Hong Kong. However, the impact on it is less than the direct effect from the real interpersonal relationship with 0.341 path coefficient. In fact, the university students have different sections of lessons in their university lives, therefore, their lesson become not as structural as the lessons in secondary school. And most of the university students also have their part time jobs. Many of them will not spend much time staying in the campus. Due to the stress on individualism in university life, less times for the university students to communicate with each other or discuss the group project. Instant messaging may become a useful tool for them to communicate with each other. However, it is reasonable that the one with better interpersonal relationship in university may obtain much more buddies in university on IM applications. Hence, the more the buddies they add, the more likely they can have more - 39 -
interaction on IM. Thanks to more interaction on IM with the others, it is likely to have more substantial feeling on virtual interpersonal relationship. Thus, the satisfaction on it may be raised. For the factors in the interactive behavior induced by using IM (IM) in Table 10, vision discussion, being cared for, being respected, mutual trust contributed most with a high loading (more than0.8). Only the factor, Mutual understanding, on interaction by using IM is 0.5667, which contributes less on it. Moreover, the mean of IM5, mutual trust, is the highest among the IM factors, with 3.869 in 5-point scale. And IM4, mutual understanding, is the lowest one, with 3.42. These data can reveal that the subjects are satisfied in mutual trust the most but they are satisfied in mutual understanding the less. This result can be explained by the IM hidden some of the emotional or behavior aids, buddies may be easy to trust the others and also be trusted by others much easier than the face-to-face communication. It may lead to the higher satisfaction in IM. Also thanks to the hide in some of the emotional or behavior aids in IM, buddies users may need more time to understand the meaning with each other. Kevin (2004) suggested the computer-mediated communication have the feature of limited nonverbal information. Burgoon (1992) and Walther (1992) also pointed out that more time are needed to develop satisfaction on virtual relationship since more time for expressing socio-emotional content are needed in the virtual space. Therefore, in some situations, IM may induce misunderstanding in the buddies communication. - 40 -
This may result in the lower satisfaction on mutual understanding in IM among the university students in Hong Kong. For the final finding, all the impacts are significant of both relationship between real and virtual interpersonal relationship and the IM interactive behavior. However, the R squares are not too large (R 2 = 0.257 and 0.226). 25.7% of satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship is predicted by the real interpersonal relationship and interactive behavior induced by using IM, while 22.6% of interactive behavior induced by using IM is predicted by the real interpersonal relationship. Hence, the virtual interpersonal relationship may be not only measured by real interpersonal relationship and the IM interaction, but also may be affected by other factors, such as online communities, forum, and the perception of internet use. Further researches may study on more different factors on the virtual relationship. - 41 -
6.3. Comparison with Lin (2007) Model 6.3.1. Mean value Table 11 shows the mean values in this research and Lin (2007) research. Variable Factor Mean (HK) Mean (TW) Scale Real Interpersonal Getting recognition 3.228 3.14* 4-pt Building friendship 2.937 3.02* 4-pt Relationship Being understood 2.866 2.70* 4-pt Interactive of IM Mutual trust 3.869 3.64 5-pt Being respected 3.815 3.44 5-pt Variety of talk 3.779 3.91 5-pt Being cared for 3.702 3.59 5-pt Vision discussion 3.683 3.43 5-pt Mood sharing 3.526 4.09 5-pt Mutual understanding 3.423 3.86 5-pt Virtual Interpersonal Being understood 2.864 2.63* 4-pt Getting recognition 2.721 2.86* 4-pt Relationship Building friendship 2.633 2.87* 4-pt * Transfer to 4-point scale Table 13. Mean values from university students in Hong Kong and college students in Taiwan 6.3.1.1. Real interpersonal relationship For the real interpersonal relationship in both Taiwan college students in Lin (2007) research and Hong Kong university students in this research, satisfaction in getting recognition is the highest among three factors in two places, shown in Table 13. And it can show that the youngsters in Hong Kong satisfied in getting recognition little more than the Taiwan students (3.228 > 3.14). Moreover, both students in two places are also satisfied in being understood least since this factor got the lowest means both in these two - 42 -
results. And the youngsters in Hong Kong satisfied in being understood more than the Taiwan students (2.866 > 2.70). Nevertheless, the pattern among the factors in two results can show the satisfaction of real interpersonal relationship is very similar among the Hong Kong and Taiwan youngsters. It implied that the satisfaction in real interpersonal relationship is alike, no matter the people are in different geographical locations, cultures, educational background or ages. 6.3.1.2. Virtual interpersonal relationship For the virtual interpersonal relationship, the results are completely different. The university students in Hong Kong have the highest satisfaction in being understood, while the Taiwan students are satisfied in it the least. However, building friendship is the highest in virtual relationship among the Taiwan college students, while Hong Kong students are satisfied in it the least. This may be caused by the cultural difference between the Hong Kong and Taiwan students. From the Hong Kong young people points of view, being understood is the most satisfied, such as they may find those who with same interests and opinion with them in the forum. And the Taiwan young people may be more satisfied in building friendship with buddies or strangers online. Also, this may also result in the age and educational difference between two samples. Ages of Taiwan college students are from 13 to 16. Most of the respondents in this study are more than 21 years old and all of them are studying in university. Compare to Lin (2007) result, it can also show the aims of youngsters in the virtual space may be different during growing up. In fact, teenagers in the college and at the age of 13-16 may like to chat with buddies - 43 -
or strangers online to new friendship. When they grow older and accept higher education, their needs change to much deeper. Thus, they may chat with those who with same interests and opinion in IM, forum or other online communities. Their satisfaction in being understood may be increased. In this research, all of the means in the real interpersonal relationship (RIR) are higher than that in virtual interpersonal relationship (VIR). This result is also similar with Lin (2007) study. It implied that real interpersonal relationship is more important than virtual interpersonal relationship both from the Taiwan college students and Hong Kong university students views. And both of them satisfied in the real interpersonal relationship much more than virtual interpersonal relationship. Thus, it told us that although virtual interpersonal relationship may substitute for some needs provided by real interpersonal relationship, it still cannot replace the face-to-face interaction in our real life, no matter the people are in different geographical locations, cultures, educational background or ages. We should plan our time in the real and virtual interpersonal relationship in an appropriated proportion in order to have a healthy interpersonal relationship in both of the real world and virtual space. It can avoid the problematic outcome from addiction in IM mentioned in Kandell (1988) research but improve the virtual relationship by IM. 6.3.1.3. Interactive behavior induced by IM From the mean of IM in this study, mutual trust with a mean of 3.869 (on 5-point scale) is the most satisfied factor, followed by being respected (3.815) among the Hong Kong university students, while the Lin (2007) study find out - 44 -
the Taiwan college students are much more satisfied in mood sharing and variety of talk, with a mean of 4.09 and 3.91. And the Hong Kong young people are least satisfied in mutual understanding (3.423) and mood sharing (3.526). The Taiwan youngsters are satisfied in vision discussion (3.43) and being respected (3.44) least. This result can indicate the culture difference between students in two places. Also, the difference of age and education background may also a reason of this difference in two results. The young people change their needs while they are growing and accepting higher education. Younger people will enjoy most on mood sharing and variety of talk in IM conversation. They chat with others just for getting fun. When they matured and highly educated, mutual trust and being respected become more important in their IM interaction since these two factors can fulfill deeper interpersonal needs for them. 6.3.2. Path coefficient From the result, there was a positive casual relationship between them with a path coefficient of 0.341, in figure 1. This result is similar to Lin (2007) study, stating that the real interpersonal relationship of college students from Taiwan may increase the satisfaction of virtual interpersonal relationship, with a path coefficient of 0.35. That means the real interpersonal relationship can improve the satisfaction from the virtual interpersonal relationship, no matter people in different cultures, age and so on. Besides, there is a positive mediation relationship from the path coefficient of 0.116 (0.526 x 0.221) in Figure 2. The result is also similar to the Lin (2007) - 45 -