3.3 Measurement
A questionnaire was designed as the data collection instrument (see Appendixes). Before the questionnaires were uploaded in the online communities, a series of interviews with 20 individuals and 4 professors in the research areas of psychology, social network, and information management, this pre-test was conducted to make the questionnaires more understandable and readable for the subjects. Then, the operational definitions for variables and their sub-factors for this study are presented in Table 3-1 and Table 3-2.
The questionnaire was designed with five major parts: (1) positive emotions (PE), (2) negative emotions (NE), (3) online social network adoption, (4) individual benefits (IB), and (5) moderators. First, thirty items were developed for two variables in positive and negative emotions (Watson et al., 1986; Thompson, 2007). For example, an item “I perceive that I am generally inspired by my daily life.” is used for the variable of positive emotions.
Second, the variable of trust were developed into three questions to test the trust degree on OSN (Acquisti and Gross, 2006; George, 2006; Kornblum and Marklein, 2006; Dwyer et al., 2007; Jagatic et al., 2007; Sherchan, 2013), for example, the item “I use online social network to help my work/study (Discussion, contact, seeking and sharing information, etc.)”.
Third, for online social network adoption, there were three items developed for subjects who perceive that they like to adopt OSN by considering the arguments of Boyd and Ellison (2008), Donelan et al. (2010), and Dutton (2013). For example, the item “I use online social network to help my work/study” is used for this variable.
Fourth, this study also added the variable of individual benefits (Szymanski and Hise, 2000;
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Dalcher and Shine, 2003; Wixom and Todd, 2005; Zhang and Tanniru, 2005; Wasko and Faraj, 2005; Chiu et al., 2006; Yang and Chen, 2008; Boyd and Ellison, 2008; Donelan et al., 2010; Wang and Noe, 2010; Dutton, 2013), and developed nine items based on this variable.
For example, the item “Overall, I am satisfied with the use of online social network.” is used for use satisfaction of individual benefits.
Finally, eight items for moderators: gender and involvement were used according to Sherif and Cantril (1947), Dutton et al. (1987), LaRose and Atkin (1988), Zaichkowsky (1994), Jeffres and Atkin (1996), Young (1999), Venkatesh et al. (2003), Lenhart and Madden (2007), Crunchies (2008), Zywica and Danowski (2008), Lenhart (2009), Pempek et al. (2009), and Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2009). Each variable was measured based on the Likert five-digit rating scale (from 1 to 5) using bipolar descriptors for each question.
The basic information included age and education level. There are 51 questions in total for variables that were included in the research model. The data analysis was divided into three parts: (1) descriptive statistics, (2) reliability and validity analysis, and (3) structure equation model using partial least-square technique for hypothesis testing.
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Table 3-1: Operational Definitions (I)
Constructs Sub-factors Operational Definitions Source
Positive Emotions
Alert Subjects perceive that they are alert.
Watson et al., (1986) and Thompson (2007).
Inspired Subjects perceive that they are inspired.
Determined Subjects perceive that they are determined.
Attentive Subjects perceive that they are attentive.
Active Subjects perceive that they are active.
Negative Emotions
Upset Subjects perceive that they are upset.
Watson et al., (1986) and Thompson (2007).
Hostile Subjects perceive that they are hostile.
Ashamed Subjects perceive that they are ashamed.
Nervous Subjects perceive that they are nervous.
Afraid Subjects perceive that they are afraid.
Trust The degree that subjects trust online social network.
Acquisti and Gross (2006), George (2006), Kornblum and Marklein (2006), Dwyer et al. (2007), Jagatic et al. (2007), and Sherchan (2013).
Online Social Network Adoption
Subjects perceive that they are continuously to use the online social network.
Boyd and Ellison (2008), Donelan et al.
(2010), and Dutton (2013).
Subjects perceive that they use the online social network to help their relationships.
Boyd and Ellison (2008), Donelan et al.
(2010), and Dutton (2013).
Information and knowledge sharing
Subjects perceive that they use online social network to share information and
knowledge is beneficial.
Zhang and Tanniru (2005), Wasko and Faraj (2005), Yang and Chen (2008), and Wang and Noe (2010).
Use satisfaction Subjects perceive that they are satisfied with the use of online social network.
Szymanski and Hise (2000), Dalcher and Shine (2003), Wixom and Todd (2005), and Chiu et al. (2006).
Gender Male and Female.
Dutton et al. (1987), LaRose and Atkin (1988), Jeffres and Atkin (1996), Young (1999), Lenhart and Madden, (2007), Crunchies (2008), Zywica and Danowski (2008), Lenhart (2009), Pempek et al.
(2009).
Involvement The degree that subjects experience the use of online social network.
Sherif and Cantril (1947), Zaichkowsky (1994), Venkatesh et al. (2003), and Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2009).
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Table 3-2: Operational Definitions (II)
Constructs Sub-factors Question Items
Positive Alert PE101. I perceive that I am generally alert in my daily life.
Emotions PE102. I perceive that I am generally alert in my working or studying time.
PE103. Overall, I perceive that I am generally on alert.
Inspired PE201. I perceive that I am generally inspired by my daily life.
PE202. I perceive that I am generally inspired by my work or study.
PE203. Overall, I perceive that I generally feel inspired.
Determined PE301. I perceive that I am generally determined to do things in my daily life.
PE302. I perceive that I am generally determined to do things in my working or studying time.
PE303. Overall, I perceive that I am generally a determined person.
Attentive PE401. I perceive that I am generally attentive in my daily life.
PE402. I perceive that I am generally attentive in my working or studying time.
PE403. Overall, I perceive that I am generally attentive.
Active PE501. I perceive that I am generally active in my daily life.
PE502. I perceive that I am generally active in my working or studying time.
PE503. Overall, I perceive that I am generally an active person.
Negative Upset NE101. I perceive that I am generally upset about my daily life.
Emotions NE102. I perceive that I am generally upset about my work or study.
NE103. Overall, I perceive that I generally feel upset.
Hostile NE201. I perceive that I am generally hostile to people or things in my daily life.
NE202. I perceive that I am generally hostile to people or things in my working or studying time.
NE203. Overall, I perceive that I generally feel hostile.
Ashamed NE301. I perceive that I am generally ashamed of myself in my daily life.
NE302. I perceive that I am generally ashamed of myself in my working or studying time.
NE303. Overall, I perceive that I generally feel ashamed.
Nervous NE401. I perceive that I am generally nervous in my daily life.
NE402. I perceive that I am generally nervous in my working or studying time.
NE403. Overall, I perceive that I am generally a nervous person.
Afraid NE501. I perceive that I generally feel afraid in my daily life.
NE502. I perceive that I generally feel afraid in my working or studying time.
NE503. Overall, I perceive that I generally feel afraid.
Trust TRU1. How confident are you with the people you contact in online social network?
(Users, friends, classmates, co-works…etc.)
TRU2. How confident are you with the contents you contact in online social network?
(Information, comments, opinions…etc.)
TRU3. How confident are you with the privacy security of online social network?
OSN
Adoption OSN1. I use online social network to share things of my daily life. (Thinking, feeling, daily things, activities…etc.)
OSN2. I use online social network to help my work/study. (Discussion, contact, seeking and sharing information… etc.)
OSN3. Overall, I am generally a user of online social network.
Individual Relationship IB101. I maintain good relationship with users in online social network.
Benefits IB102. I develop new relationship with users in online social network.
IB103. Overall, I have good relationship with users in online social network.
Information IB201. For my daily life, I feel information/knowledge helpful in online social network.
IB202. For my work/study, I feel information/knowledge helpful in online social network IB203. Overall, I feel information/knowledge beneficial in online social network.
Satisfaction IB301. For my daily life, I am satisfied with the use of online social network.
IB302. For my work/study, I am satisfied with the use of online social network.
IB303. Overall, I am satisfied with the use of online social network.
Gender GEN1. Male
GEN2. Female
Involvement INV. How many years have you been in online social network?
NOTES: OSN: Online Social Network; Relationship: Relationship Maintenance and Development, Information: Information and Knowledge Sharing, Satisfaction: Use Satisfaction.
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