The e‐SOCAPIT scale: a multi‐item instrument for measuring online social capital
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
ISSN: 2040-7122
Article publication date: 16 August 2013
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the increasing importance of online social networks (OSN), there is little empirical research available to address different measurement scales derived from this new type of communication and interaction. The purpose of this study is to build on and extend the measurement scale of social capital proposed by Williams.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a quantitative approach, a survey was undertaken among a sample of 274 individuals to empirically test a proposed measurement scale of social capital within OSN. In order to test this scale, a confirmatory factor analysis was used.
Findings
Findings from this study provide valuable insights into the proposed scale of social capital within OSN, which reproduces the same distinctive dimensions of William's study, particularly bridging and bonding dimensions. This study went a step further and uncovered two of three further dimensions of social identity: affective/evaluative and cognitive dimension of social capital.
Practical implications
This study may assist other researchers with a new instrument to measure social capital within SNs.
Originality/value
A review of the literature on OSN (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln and others), which have become a new phenomena in human communication and interaction, illustrates that there is a need for improvement of scale measurements.
Keywords
Citation
Carlos Pinho, J. (2013), "The e‐SOCAPIT scale: a multi‐item instrument for measuring online social capital", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 216-235. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-May-2012-0020
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited