WeChat Moments Among International Students: Building Guanxi Networks in China

IF 3 4区管理学 Q1 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

Journal of Global Information Technology Management Pub Date : 2023-01-02 DOI:10.1080/1097198X.2023.2166752

Xuhui Wang, M. Alauddin, Abaid Ullah Zafar, Qilin Zhang, Tanveer Ahsan, Zapan Barua

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引用次数: 5

Abstract

ABSTRACT China is a collectivist nation that varies socially and culturally from most Western countries. Recently, the country has been an attractive destination for international students. A contemporary digital platform such as WeChat Moments (WMs) is a leading social media platform among locals and international students to communicate and interact in cross-cultural settings for various purposes, including maintaining friendships and establishing new social capital. Prior research has overlooked the beneficial effects of such domestic social media platforms on international students in China, especially for strengthening their existing friendship quality and guanxi networking. Based on the self-disclosure theory, this study examines the relationship between international students’ WMs use intensity, online self-disclosure, closeness to friends, and guanxi network building using data from 445 international students employing structural equation modeling. This study reveals that WMs use has a substantial effect on the formation of guanxi networks and that online self-disclosure mediates the connection between WMs use and friendship closeness and guanxi network building. Several theoretical and practical recommendations are provided in the context of the guanxi network.

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留学生微信朋友圈:在中国建立关系网络

中国是一个集体主义国家，在社会和文化上都与大多数西方国家不同。最近，这个国家一直是吸引国际学生的目的地。微信朋友圈等当代数字平台是本地和国际学生在跨文化环境中进行交流和互动的主要社交媒体平台，用于各种目的，包括维持友谊和建立新的社会资本。以往的研究忽视了此类国内社交媒体平台对中国留学生的有益影响，特别是在加强他们现有的友谊质量和关系网络方面。基于自我表露理论，本研究以445名国际学生为研究对象，采用结构方程模型分析了国际学生微博使用强度、网络自我表露、朋友亲密度和关系网络构建之间的关系。本研究发现，社交媒体使用对关系网络的形成有实质性影响，网络自我表露在社交媒体使用与友谊亲密度、关系网络构建之间起中介作用。在关系网络的背景下，提出了一些理论和实践建议。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Global Information Technology Management INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

10.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM) is a refereed international journal that is supported by Global IT scholars from all over the world. JGITM publishes articles related to all aspects of the application of information technology for international business. The journal also considers a variety of methodological approaches and encourages manuscript submissions from authors all over the world, both from academia and industry. In addition, the journal will also include reviews of MIS books that have bearing on global aspects. Practitioner input will be specifically solicited from time-to-time in the form of invited columns or interviews. Besides quality work, at a minimum each submitted article should have the following three components: an MIS (Management Information Systems) topic, an international orientation (e.g., cross cultural studies or strong international implications), and evidence (e.g., survey data, case studies, secondary data, etc.). Articles in the Journal of Global Information Technology Management include, but are not limited to: -Cross-cultural IS studies -Frameworks/models for global information systems (GIS) -Development, evaluation and management of GIS -Information Resource Management -Electronic Commerce -Privacy & Security -Societal impacts of IT in developing countries -IT and Economic Development -IT Diffusion in developing countries -IT in Health Care -IT human resource issues -DSS/EIS/ES in international settings -Organizational and management structures for GIS -Transborder data flow issues -Supply Chain Management -Distributed global databases and networks -Cultural and societal impacts -Comparative studies of nations -Applications and case studies