IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i9p3503-d350221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Networks Use Patterns among University Youth: The Validity and Reliability of an Updated Measurement Instrument

Author

Listed:
  • Melchor Gómez-García

    (Department of Pedagogy, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain)

  • Luis Matosas-López

    (Department of Financial Economics, Accounting and Modern Language, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28032 Madrid, Spain)

  • Julio Ruiz-Palmero

    (Department of Didactics and School Organization, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain)

Abstract

This article addresses the design and validation of an updated questionnaire that makes it possible to understand the use patterns and attitudes of university youth on social networks. The authors utilized a panel of 20 judges who were social media experts and a sample of 640 university students. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) explained 66.523% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), carried out to verify the dimensional structure of the instrument, reflected the appropriate parameters. The reliability study showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.864. These data corroborated the development of a robust and reliable questionnaire. The resulting instrument did not contain items alluding to specific social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn), but rather students’ usage patterns of them. The exclusion of items that referred to particular social networks during the research demonstrated a convergence in behavior on social media regardless of the nuances of each platform. This fact suggested that the platform was of secondary importance in the context of a new paradigm in which the type of use (viewing, posting, participating, or interacting) took precedence over the name of the network itself.

Suggested Citation

  • Melchor Gómez-García & Luis Matosas-López & Julio Ruiz-Palmero, 2020. "Social Networks Use Patterns among University Youth: The Validity and Reliability of an Updated Measurement Instrument," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-14, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3503-:d:350221
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3503/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3503/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ming Yuan Hsieh, 2020. "The Most Sustainable Niche Principles of Social Media Education in A Higher Education Contracting Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Hugo Liu & Pattie Maes & Glorianna Davenport, 2006. "Unraveling the Taste Fabric of Social Networks," International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems (IJSWIS), IGI Global, vol. 2(1), pages 42-71, January.
    3. Luis Matosas-López & Cesar Bernal-Bravo & Alberto Romero-Ania & Irene Palomero-Ilardia, 2019. "Quality Control Systems in Higher Education Supported by the Use of Mobile Messaging Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-14, October.
    4. Henry Kaiser, 1974. "An index of factorial simplicity," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 39(1), pages 31-36, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Moussa Boumadan & Roberto Soto-Varela & Myriam Ortiz-Padilla & César Poyatos-Dorado, 2020. "What Factors Determine the Value of an Online Teacher Education Experience from a Teacher’s Perspective?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Jorge Lorenzo Calvo & Jorge García-González & Monica Flo García & Daniel Mon-López, 2020. "Development and Validation of a Well-Being Measure on Young Basketball Players: The NFAPW Scale," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-12, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lillemo, Shuling Chen, 2014. "Measuring the effect of procrastination and environmental awareness on households' energy-saving behaviours: An empirical approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 249-256.
    2. Xiaoxu Dong & Huawei Zhao & Tiancai Li, 2022. "The Role of Live-Streaming E-Commerce on Consumers’ Purchasing Intention regarding Green Agricultural Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Governance, capital flight and industrialisation in Africa," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Pamela E. Ofori & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2021. "The Synergy between Governance and Economic Integration in Promoting Female Economic Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 21/071, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    5. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Knowledge Economy and Financial Sector Competition in African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 333-346, June.
    6. Chimere O. Iheonu, 2019. "Governance and Domestic Investment in Africa," Working Papers 19/001, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    7. Rodríguez-Fuentes, Carlos Javier & Hernández-López, Montserrat, 1997. "Análisis de diferencias estructurales interregionales determinantes en el impacto de la política monetaria," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 7, pages 141-157, Junio.
    8. Asongu, Simplice & Tchamyou, Vanessa & Asongu, Ndemaze & Tchamyou, Nina, 2018. "The Comparative African Economics of Governance in Fighting Terrorism," MPRA Paper 92346, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Omar A. Alismaiel & Javier Cifuentes-Faura & Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi, 2022. "Online Learning, Mobile Learning, and Social Media Technologies: An Empirical Study on Constructivism Theory during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-15, September.
    10. Leiv Gabrielsen & Pål Ulleberg & Reidulf Watten, 2012. "The Adolescent Life Goal Profile Scale: Development of a New Scale for Measurements of Life Goals Among Young People," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(6), pages 1053-1072, December.
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Rexon T. Nting & Joseph Nnanna, 2020. "Linkages between Globalisation, Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(11), pages 949-963, August.
    12. Simplice A Asongu, 2013. "Modeling the future of knowledge economy: evidence from SSA and MENA countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 612-624.
    13. Megha Gupta & Suhasini Verma & Smita Pachare, 2023. "An analysis of Conventional and Alternative financing—Customers' perspective," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2404-2414, July.
    14. Xiangfei Yuan & Haijing Hao & Chenghua Guan & Alex Pentland, 2022. "Which factors affect the performance of technology business incubators in China? An entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, January.
    15. Naznin Sultana & Thao T. P. Nguyen & Ahmed Hossain & Md. Asaduzzaman & Minh H. Nguyen & Ishrat Jahan & Kien T. Nguyen & Tuyen Van Duong, 2022. "Psychometric Properties of the Short-Form Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-SF) and Its Associated Factors among the Elderly in Bangladesh," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-14, June.
    16. Orkhan Sariyev & Tim K. Loos & Manfred Zeller & Tulsi Gurung, 2020. "Women in household decision-making and implications for dietary quality in Bhutan," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Chang, Yuan-Chieh & Chen, Min-Nan, 2016. "Service regime and innovation clusters: An empirical study from service firms in Taiwan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1845-1857.
    18. Romero, Pascual & Botía, Pablo & del Amor, Francisco M. & Gil-Muñoz, Rocío & Flores, Pilar & Navarro, Josefa María, 2019. "Interactive effects of the rootstock and the deficit irrigation technique on wine composition, nutraceutical potential, aromatic profile, and sensory attributes under semiarid and water limiting condi," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    19. Ivana BLEŠIÆ & Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI & Uglješa STANKOV & Igor STAMENKOVIÆ & Milan Bradiæ, 2011. "Research Of Expected And Perceived Service Quality In Hotel Management," Revista de turism - studii si cercetari in turism / Journal of tourism - studies and research in tourism, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 11(11), pages 6-14, December.
    20. Mohd Hizam Hanafiah, & Sheikh Usman Yousaf, & Bushra Usman,, 2017. "The influence of psychological capital on the growth intentions of entrepreneurs: A study on Malaysian SME entrepreneurs," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 13(5), pages 556-569, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3503-:d:350221. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.