WeChat has become the most popular type of social media among youngsters in China. They use it for various reasons including communicating in intimate relationships. This study aims to investigate the impact of the density of individuals’ social networks on WeChat Usage in Intimate Relationships among Chinese youngsters, guided by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB).
An online questionnaire was constructed and disseminated to respondents online. In total, 923 undergraduate students from Chinese universities completed the questionnaires. Utilizing Structural Equation Modelling, findings show that the density of individuals’ social networks has a limited impact on WeChat usage.
On the other hand, TPB factors such as subjective norms and perceived control bring a substantial impact on WeChat usage, while attitude has a less significant impact. These results indicate that Chinese youngsters exhibit strong attributes of the collective culture. This study also suggests that future social media research should place more emphasis on cultural and social factors.
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1. Introduction
Social media enables users to create and share information and is widely used by people around the world, particularly among youngsters. In the context of this work, youngsters refer to people who were born between 1990 and 2010.
They have grown up with the internet and portable digital devices, which make them digital natives. According to a global survey, youngsters have the highest social media usage rate, which was 90% in the year 2022 (GWI 2022). They have been reported to spend more than 3 h per day on average on social media, which is nearly twice as much as other generations.
