Online social networking a study of facebook users in vietnam

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

Nguyen Thi Thu Hang

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING: A STUDY
OF FACEBOOK USERS IN VIETNAM

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City – 2015


UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

Nguyen Thi Thu Hang

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING: A STUDY
OF FACEBOOK USERS IN VIETNAM

ID: 22130020

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)
SUPERVISOR: Associate Prof. Dr. NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG

Ho Chi Minh City – 2015

i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This thesis could not be accomplished without the help, advise, support,
guidance, and encouragement of many people.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor – Associate Professor,
Doctor Nguyen Thi Mai Trang. She gave me clear and careful direction, guidance and
correction to my research. Especially, I highly appreciate her enthusiasm help and
support.
Secondly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Associate Professor,
Doctor Nguyen Dinh Tho, Associate Professor, Doctor Tran Ha Minh Quan and
Doctor Nguyen Thi Nguyet Que for their valuable time as the members of the proposal
examination committee. Their comments and meaningful suggestions were
significantly contributed to my completion of this research.
Next, I would like to thank my dear family, colleagues, friends, and classmates
for their valuable advice and support during the time I was doing my research.
Last but not least, I would like to express my great thanks to ISB for their
support during the time I was studying and doing my proposal. It is a big
encouragement for me to overcome all obstacles facing during my Master course.
With sincere thanks.


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ABSTRACT
Social networking sites including Facebook have become a freely instrumental
for people to enter and keep in touch with what they are concerned. Until now,
Facebook has quickly grow and become one of the most popular online social
networking site for adolescence, especially university students. Online social
networking use in Vietnam is growing rapidly and occupying approximately 45.2% of
population in 2015 according to Kemp (2015). In other countries, there are some
evidences show that social networking use can affect university students’ academic

performance. Then, the lower academic performance the students get, the lower their
satisfaction. In Vietnam, there are also some articles mentioned these relationships. As
a result, this study would like to mention following factors: social trust, social selfefficacy and social capital that leads to Facebook use and its influence on university
students’ academic performance, life satisfaction. The data is collected by online,
email survey and delivered questionnaires directly to respondents from over seven
universities in Ho Chi Minh City. Some research analysis were used to test the
relationship among factors with expectation of strengthen evidence in Ho Chi Minh
City and also in Vietnam. The study’s results show that social trust and social selfefficacy have positive influence on social capital. Social capital also has positive
influence on stickiness. Then, stickiness has negative impact on academic
performance. Finally, it makes the level of life satisfaction becomes lower. This study
also points out practical implications which support educators in educating and helping
their students in life. Then, this study points out some implication for managers and
marketers for purpose of using Facebook as a channel of communication. In addition,
this study also points out some new future researches relating to this study which
should be seriously concerned.
Key words: Facebook, online social networking site, students, academic
performance, life satisfaction


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF APPENDIXES
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1
1.1. Background of the study ...................................................................................... 1

1.2. Research problem ................................................................................................ 4
1.3. Research objectives ............................................................................................. 5
1.4. Scope of the study ............................................................................................... 6
1.5. Significance of the study...................................................................................... 6
1.6. Structure of the thesis .......................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................... 8
2.1. Academic performance .......................................................................................... 8
2.2. Social trust ............................................................................................................. 8
2.3. Social self-efficacy ................................................................................................ 9
2.4. Social capital ......................................................................................................... 10
2.5. The relationship among variables........................................................................... 11
2.5.1. Academic performance and life satisfaction ................................................ 11
2.5.2. Stickiness and academic performance ......................................................... 12
2.5.3. Social capital and stickiness ........................................................................ 14
2.5.4. Social trust and social capital ...................................................................... 15
2.5.5. Social self-efficacy and social capital .......................................................... 16
2.5.6. Conscientiousness and its moderator effect ................................................. 17
2.6. Conceptual model .................................................................................................. 18
2.7. Chapter summary................................................................................................... 19


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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 21
3.1. Sampling size ........................................................................................................ 21
3.2. Data collection and procedure ................................................................................ 21
3.3. Research design ..................................................................................................... 23
3.3.1. Measurement of constructs .............................................................................. 23
3.3.2. Questionnaire design ....................................................................................... 26
3.3.3. In-depth interview ........................................................................................... 27
3.4. Data analysis ......................................................................................................... 28

3.4.1. Reliability measure ........................................................................................ 29
3.4.2. Convergent and discriminant validity ............................................................ 29
3.4.3. Confirmatory factor analysis .......................................................................... 30
3.4.4. Structural equation model .............................................................................. 30
3.5. The analysis to test the moderating effect .............................................................. 31
3.6. Chapter summary................................................................................................... 31
CHAPTER 4: RESULT AND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 32
4.1. Data statistical analysis .......................................................................................... 32
4.2. Cronbach’s alpha reliability test ............................................................................. 34
4.3. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) ....................................................................... 35
4.3.1. Social capital ................................................................................................. 35
4.3.2. The saturated model ....................................................................................... 36
4.4. The structural model .............................................................................................. 39
4.5. The analysis to test the moderating effect of conscientiousness ............................. 42
4.6. Discussion ............................................................................................................. 43
4.7. Chapter summary................................................................................................... 47
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION .............................................. 48
5.1. Key findings .......................................................................................................... 48
5.2. Managerial implications ........................................................................................ 49
5.2.1. Social capital............................................................................................... 49
5.2.2. Stickiness .................................................................................................... 50


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5.2.3. Academic performance and conscientiousness ............................................ 51
5.3. Limitations of the study and future research........................................................... 51
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 53
APPENDIXES.............................................................................................................. 61

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AMOSS

Analysis of Moment Structures

AP

Academic Performance

AVE

Average Variance Extracted

C

Conscientiousness

CMIN/DF

Chi-square with degree of freedom

CFA

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

CFI

Comparative Fit Index

EFA

Exploratory Factor Analysis

GFI

Goodness of Fix Index

GPA

Grade Point Average

H

Hypothesis

LS

Life satisfaction

RMSEA

Root Mean Squared Error Approximation

SC

Social Capital

SE

Social Self-efficacy

SEM

Structural Equation Model

ST

Social Trust

Stick

Stickiness

SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

TLI

Tucker & Lewis Coefficient Index

VNU

Vietnam National University


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1. Social trust construct ............................................................................ 24
Table 3.2. Social self-efficacy construct................................................................ 24
Table 3.3. Bonding social capital construct ........................................................... 25
Table 3.4. Bridging social capital construct........................................................... 25
Table 3.5. Stickiness construct .............................................................................. 25
Table 3.6. Conscientiousness construct ................................................................. 26
Table 3.7. Life satisfaction construct..................................................................... 26
Table 4.1. Demographic information of respondents ............................................. 33
Table 4.2. Cronbach’s Alpha results ..................................................................... 34
Table 4.3. Measurement correlations, composite reliability and AVE ................... 39
Table 4.4. Result of hypothesis testing .................................................................. 42

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1. The Research Model ........................................................................... 19
Figure 3.1. Research Process ................................................................................ 23
Figure 4.1. CFA for Social capital ........................................................................ 36
Figure 4.2. The saturated model before deleting LS3 ............................................ 37
Figure 4.3. The saturated model without LS3 (Standardized estimate) .................. 38
Figure 4.4. The structural model result (Standardized estimate) ............................ 40


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LIST OF APPENDIXES
Appendix 1: List of in-depth interview’s participants............................................ 61
Appendix 2: In-depth interview’s refinement measurement scale .......................... 61
Appendix 3: Vietnamese questionnaire ................................................................. 64
Appendix 4: English questionnaire ....................................................................... 67
Appendix 5: Table of items’ Skewness and Kurtosis ............................................. 70
Appendix 6: CFA Regression Weights.................................................................. 71

Appendix 7: SEM Regression Weights ................................................................. 72
Appendix 8: Table for Conscientiousness Median Statistics.................................. 74
Appendix 9: Results of multi-groups analysis for moderator ................................. 75


1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the study
Facebook has become a global phenomenon and it is one of the greatest importance
means of communication and an essential part of almost every university students’ daily
life (Zaremohzzabieh, Samah, Omar, Bolong & Kamarudin, 2014). For most adolescents
including university students, internet communications seem to be a regular as well as an
importance work in life (Liu, Yin & Huang, 2013). Nowadays, it has become a good way
to keep in touch with one’s family and friends especially when they are living far from
their family. Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, who was a Harvard
University undergraduate. Today, more than 68.5% of young adults and teenagers use
Facebook on a regular basis (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011). People use instant messaging and
live chat to keep in touch with relatives and friends. According Mattiola (2014)
examination of the negative and positive qualities of Facebook, Facebook is an excellent
environment to stay connected. Mattiola also shows that people use status updates, photos,
and profile information to keep their friends and their family informed. As a result,
Facebook can keep you up to date on the happenings of all of our close ones.
In addition, Facebook has a large number of users including university students and
they are spending a large amount of their time on Facebook. According to Etim and
Huynh (2015), there is about 900 million monthly visitor occupying 22% of the Facebook
quarter two of 2014 (Kemp, 2015). A large number of students are benefiting from using
Facebook by exchanging information for educational goals, making friends, and other
activities on Facebook site. The previous studies indicate that Facebook site can become

addictive to some users who are students. Consequently, Facebook addiction becomes an
education matter (Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2014). Recently, Facebook has reached the top
15 most popular social networking sites globally in 2015. This number presents an
evidence that Facebook now has a rival impact on people around the world especially
young user group. In the United State of America, a recent survey of 3000 students from
across the country shows that approximately 90% of college students are Facebook users
and 37% of them are Twitter users (Dahlstrom, Boor, Grunwald & Vockley, 2011).


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Facebook users spend most of their time for the communicating environment, engaging in
interactive activities while some heavy users are seemed to be addicted (Zaremohzzabieh
et al., 2014).
In Vietnam, Web 2.0 tools such as Facebook, Skype, Zing me or other social media
tools have emerged as the choice of technologies. In addition, Vietnamese internet users is
now approximately 41 million users occupying 45.2% of the population (Kemp, 2015). As
a result, there is a greater need to recognize the importance role of social networking sites
as a means to supporting communication and collaborative working. Indeed, the services
are providing the most comfortable for the users. Among the services, Facebook
represents a good communication channel that cannot be easily ignored. It is said that
Vietnamese students are now using a large amount of their time on Facebook. According
to a recent report in November, 2014 of QandMe – a Vietnam market research agency,
approximately 47% Vietnamese Facebook users are over 18 year old who spend about 3
hours/day for Facebook (QandMe, 2014). In addition, the estimated numbered of
Facebook users in Vietnam who are students is about 660.000 at the end of the second
quarter in 2014. This information raises a question of whether using too much Facebook
will have an impact on students Facebook users or not.
Vietnamese prefer to online social networking sites, especially Facebook. As
mentioned in Huong (2010), “Some Vietnamese users would prefer living in a Vietnamese

online society. It's somewhat like you're entering your home, not a foreign one". There are
studies which mentioned the influence of bonding capital and bridging capital on
individuals’ social networking development. According to Henttonen, Johanson and
Janhonen (2014), online social networking sites such as Facebook can both enhance
people’s bonding and bridging capital development and also their team performance.
While the adolescent in Vietnam are using Facebook as a communication tool to connect
with friends, family and making new friends from outside the country (Dao Le Hoa An,
2013). Using like or comment function on Facebook will help people feel connected most
of the time (No name, 2013). The mentioned above raises issues that the bonding and


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bridging social capital have important impact on the motivation of using social networking
sites, especially Facebook in Vietnam.
However, in some other countries, beside the positive impact of using social
networking sites, there are many studies on the influence of using social media or
Facebook on the academic performance (Glass, Li & Pan, 2014). According to Kabre and
Brown (2011), there is no clear correlation between times spending on using Facebook
with the academic performance. Recent reviews show an over-participation or students
addiction to online social networking may have a negative impact on their academic
performance (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010). Furthermore, another research of Vivian,
Barnes, Geer, and Wood (2014) indicates that some students are leaving traces of their
academic journey in online environments as Facebook. In addition, according to Junco
and Reynol (2012), the time spending on Facebook and checking Facebook is negatively
related to the overall Grade Point Average (GPA). In addition, this negative impact is also
mentioned in a study of Abdulahi, Samadi and Gharleghi (2014), it proves that the time
spending on networking sites such as Facebook is showed to have negative impacts on
academic performance.
There are many factors influencing on the motivation of using Facebook or online

social networking sites. According to Glass et al. (2014), personality traits such as
neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness have the strong
influence on the motivation of using social networking sites. While Wu, Wang, Liu, Hu
and Hwang (2012) conduct a model that some social traits named social self-efficacy,
social trust and social capital are the key elements influencing on participation in on-line
social network. In addition, there are some studies on the intention to continue using
Facebook fan pages bases on the view of social capital theory, thus, social capital is one of
the main elements have an effect on the motivation of using Facebook fan page (Lin &
Lu, as cited in Yang & Lin, 2014). Then, Yang and Lin (2014) replace the concept
“motivation of using social networking site and Facebook” by the concept “stickiness”.
Finally, the two concepts have the same meaning.


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Due to the negative impact of using too much online social networking sites on
academic performance, it influences on students’ life satisfaction. According to Lewis,
Huebner, Malone and Valois (2011), middle school children who are more satisfied with
their life will have a strong belief in school activities for their future and their Grade Point
Average. In addition, Diseth and Samdal (2014) suggest in their study that learning and
academic achievement are likely contributed to students’ life satisfaction. Significantly,
this study also conducts that academic performance and life satisfaction should be taken
into consideration in an educational situation. As a result, there is a relationship between
academic performance and the students’ life satisfaction. This study will finally
investigate the level impact of academic performance on students’ life satisfaction.
1.2. Research problem
Similar to China, Vietnam has been struggling to take advantage of the
globalization changes offered by the internet while maintaining its tight hold on the flow
of information (Clark, 2010). In Vietnam context, Facebook is a strong representative for
many online networking sites and it creates both positive and negative influence on the

young Vietnamese. Some university professors are adopting the social media for effective
discussions and practice with their students in order to deal with academics practices and
improving learning benefits through better communication, especially for marketing and
informatics students (Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai & Nham Phong Tuan, 2013). In addition,
this study also shows that a large number of students have Facebook account and they are
using Facebook as a mean of communication. Facebook users in Vietnam is growing day
by day and students tends to stick to the online places. They use Facebook to update
friends and family statuses. They also use Facebook as a communication tool to talk with
their advisors and teachers which leads to differences influence on academic performances
(Dao Le Hoa An, 2013). However, in Dao Le Hoa An’s study, many arguments are
appeared to be the evidence for the conclusion that Facebook addiction strongly influence
on the children’s daily life activities, also in academic performance. Moreover, a report of
Central of Mental advisory for Children and the Young - an affiliate of National Mental
Hospital 2 in Vietnam (Dao Le Hoa An, 2013) points out that among investigated groups


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in local universities, young Vietnamese are online game-addicted or overused. In addition,
this study also concludes that the young Vietnamese including students are now become
Facebook addicted and usually have negative behaviors through using Facebook leading
to negative academic performance. The negative impact of using Facebook and playing
game online on study’s outcome is also confirmed in Nguyen Hoang Khac Hieu (2015),
the young adolescent are becoming Facebook addicted and they are spending time on
Facebook and games online instead of focusing on studying. Furthermore, they have less
directly communicate with their families and relatives. Significantly, there is a seminar on
Facebook addicted: A new challenge in modern society debated the negative impact of
internet and Facebook addicted among students (Department of Science Management of
Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2013). Its topic focuses
on the negative impact of stickiness on academic performance and lower life satisfaction.

Finally, the academic performance result becomes worse if the child is internet addicted
and the children are confirmed to be stress with life which should be investigated carefully
(Le Minh Cong, 2013).
Furthermore, according to Pham Van Tuan (2011), students’ conscientiousness and
self-management are among the factors can adjust the students’ awareness of studying and
their academic results. Particularly, students who have a high level of conscientiousness
and self-management will have a stronger spirit to adjust their behaviors including
adjusting the time spending on studying and increasing their motivation to have a better
result. In addition, the extant studies in Vietnam have been investigating the influential
factors of Facebook use, however, the number of research on the impact of using
Facebook on the academic result and its influencing on university students’ life
satisfaction remains limited (Le Minh Cong, 2013; Dao Le Hoa An, 2013; DeBrot, 2013).
Therefore, this study aims to investigate level impact of social trust, social self-efficacy,
social capital, stickiness and academic performance on students’ life satisfaction. This
study also investigates the moderating effect of conscientiousness on the relationship of
stickiness and students’ academic performance. In conclusion, this study is important


6

because life satisfaction is suggested to be a good outcome of many other aspects in life
(Lewis et al., 2011).
1.3. Research objectives
The overall objective of this study is to examine the impact of some factors on
university students’ life satisfaction. Specifically, this study aims to investigate:
1. The relationship between social trust and social capital.
2. The relationship between social self-efficacy and social capital.
3. The relationship between social capital and stickiness.
4. The impact degree of conscientiousness on the relationship of stickiness and
academic performance.

5. The impact degree of stickiness on academic performance.
6. The impact degree of academic performance on life satisfaction.
1.4. Scope of the study
The research is implemented in Ho Chi Minh City with university students due to
the fact that they represent significant portion of young population in Vietnam. In
addition, students tend to use social networking sites for their communication use and try
to manage their interpersonal relationship according to Minimol and Angelia (2015).
Consequently, they will be a good representative of the young Facebook users in Vietnam.
Respondents are from some universities such as University of Finance and Marketing,
Foreign Trade University, University of Economic Ho Chi Minh City, University of
Technology Ho Chi Minh City, University of Law, University of Social Science and
Humanities Ho Chi Minh City. The time frame of research is taken from the first week of
August to the end of the third week of September.
1.5. Significance of the study
For educators and teachers, this study’s results provide them an in-depth view on
the perceptions of students’ motivation of using Facebook. In addition, students’ life
satisfaction is considered one important element relation to students’ engagement in


7

studying. These understanding will help to set out practical policies, useful strategies in
the light of the development of teaching tools.
For managers and marketers, this study’s results provide them an in-depth view on
the perceptions of students’ motivation of using Facebook. Then, they can build their
marketing strategy on Facebook for their business plan.
For students, the study’s results help them to realize their motivation to use
Facebook. Then, they could practice some use of Facebook for their learning progress.
Thus, they are not only be able to keep in touch with friends and families on Facebook for
their own purposes. They can also use Facebook and other social network sites for their

effective personal development.
1.6. Structure of the thesis
The thesis is organized as follows:
Chapter 1 “Introduction” presents the statement of the problems, research questions
and objectives, scope of the research and thesis structure.
Chapter 2 “Literature Review, Hypotheses and Conceptual model” introduces its
literature reviews, including the definitions of each concept and their relationship in
previous studies. Then, hypotheses and conceptual model are proposed.
Chapter 3 “Research Methodology” illustrates the way of setting up the measures
and conducting the study. It presents the research design, questionnaire’s development,
and main survey. This chapter also defines how to collect data and the statistics methods
to analyze the data collected in order to test the research hypotheses.
Chapter 4 “Result and Discussion” analyze data as well as discusses the result
finding in connection with the research model.
Chapter 5 “Conclusion and Implication” summarizes the research results, provides
the findings recommendations.


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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses the literature of academic performance, social trust, social
self-efficacy and their influence on social capital which leads to the use of Facebook
named stickiness. Then, the literature also discusses the relationship between stickiness
and students’ academic performance based on the extant studies. This is followed by the
review of the main research that has addressed the relationship of stickiness and academic
performance and also its influential impact on life satisfaction. Finally, based on the
review of available literature, the proposed model is tested in the study. By testing the
proposed model, the hypotheses in this study are analyzed.

2.1. Academic performance
Academic performance is evaluated by the self-reported of students for each
subject had completed during their years of studying. Thus, the academic performance is
measured by final course grade and cumulative Grade point average (GPA) (Hohmann &
Grillo, 2014; Minimol & Angelia, 2015). The GPA is the key indicator to evaluate
student’s academic performance. In this study, GPA is academic performance of student
during the previous academic year and it is used to measure the academic performance
variable.
2.2. Social trust
Social trust reflects a bond that people share across society, across economic and
ethnic groups, religions and races. It provides the foundation for a cooperative spirit that
brings people together for common and mutually advantageous purposes. In a broader
point of view, social trust definition and the social trust benefits that have been given to
the empirical exploration of the formation of individual social trust from a development
perspective (Huang, Maassen & Groot, 2011). According to measurement of social trust
of Huang et al. (2011), social trust is generally based on a standard survey question:
“Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can’t be
too careful in dealing with people?” This operationalization of social trust has been widely
used for more than four decades in empirical studies and surveys around the world
(Huang, Maassen & Groot, 2012). It means that social trust has been widely used for a
long time ago in many field. It places a foundation of trust for people to believe in


9

someone and what they are dealing with or what they are going to face with. In social
networking environment, social trust is an important issue, and it allows interpersonal
interaction due to the fact that the power of communicating and the interpersonal
relationship could be gained from trust (Wu et al., 2012). In conclusion, in this study,
social trust is be belief of Facebook users when they contact with people through available

functions on Facebook site.
2.3. Social self-efficacy
The term social self-efficacy is the belief of people in their ability to organize and
conduct actions. In this study, self-efficacy indicates the level of confidence of individuals
to deal with stressor and social self-efficacy can enhance interpersonal harmony and
cooperation (Wu et al., 2012). There are some studies introduce and give explanation for
the concept “social self-efficacy”. Bandura (1977) is the first to propose the theory of selfefficacy, in which the belief of individuals in their ability to organize and perform actions
is known as self-efficacy. While Froman and Robin (1997), self-efficacy perceptions
reflect one’s confidence in their ability to perform specified behaviors, outcome
expectations reflect beliefs that behaviors will lead to desired and expected consequences.
According to these theory, self-efficacy indicates an individual’s the level of selfconfidence which can enable them to deal with stressors. As such, self-efficacy can be
treated as a resource for coping with stress (Jerusalem & Schwarzer, as cited in Wu et al.,
2012). It means social self-efficacy contribute to the motivation of ones to overcome new
challenges that happen in life. The social self-efficacy literature is ubiquitous in research
today. It has been modified and applied in a wide range of domains, such as teacher
efficacy (Topkaya, Tschannen-Moran, Hoy & Hoy, as cited in Wu et al., 2012) or student
self-efficacy in different learning subjects (Liu, Lin & Chang, as cited in Wu et al., 2012).
The interpretation of social self-efficacy adopted in this study is based on the self-efficacy
scale revised by Wu et al. (2012).
In conclusion, social self-efficacy are often used separately or interchangeably to
describe the ability to engage in satisfying social interactions aimed at initiating,
facilitating, and maintaining successful relationships (Williams & Galliher, 2006). In
particular, social self-efficacy is the belief of an individual in their ability to initiate social


10

contact and develop new friendships. It is commonly applied in domains such as adult
social interaction, counseling for college students, health psychology, and social
interaction among students studying abroad (Fan et al., Hagedoorn, Molleman, Lin, Betz

& Wei et al., as cited in Wu et al., 2012). In addition, when defining the social selfefficacy, it is believed to be the confidence of individuals to interact with others and make
new friends (Gecas, 1989; Wu et al., 2012) in an online environment such as Facebook.
And social self-efficacy also influences their attitude towards the community. It was the
means by which they behave in such an environment including Facebook. As a result, in
this study, social self-efficacy is treated as the confidence of individual to interact and
make friends and use the online social networking site such as Facebook as a means of
communication.
2.4. Social capital
Social capital is a broad concept. From its sense, social capital was defined as
social resources embedded in the social relationship network, as well as advantageous
factors that can help to improve the carrying out of one’s social practices smoothly (Hong
& Jian, 2014). It was first introduced in a study of community, in which it was believed
that social capital could enhance interpersonal networks, by providing a foundation for
trust, collaboration, and group activities (Jacobs, as cited in Wu et al., 2012). In addition,
Putnam (2000) believes that social capital focuses on the interactions of intra-community
members, mutual assistance, mutual trust, and behavior norms, improving the overall
development and performance of a community. In general, Putnam (2000) also proposes
that there are two types of social capital: bridging and bonding. “Bridging social capital”
is accommodative. It occurs in social networks linking individuals of different
backgrounds, providing opportunities for the exchange of new information or resources.
In contrast, “bonding social capital” can be monopolized. It occurs among personal
acquaintances such as family members or close friends who provide mutual support for
one another, both emotionally and physically. The two dimensions are also defined in
Hofer and Aubert (2013), bridging social capital is inclusive and happens by the
integration of weak correlations between people from different networks. These


11

correlation relationships and the network may be useful for a large number of reasons,

such as for finding a job or references.
However, bonding social capital is more different and strengthen selective
identities and homogeneous group (Putnam, 2000). This bonding type of social capital is
found in strong social networks of individuals who have the same thought, such as among
close friends and family. The diversity of these social bonds and social capital is the result
of strong interpersonal connections, even when they do not have a strong common
background. In an online-community, individuals share interests or related objectives with
others (Ellison, Heino, Gibbs & Horrigan, as cited in Wu et al., 2012). As a result, social
capital means the interpersonal interaction among individuals which focuses on things that
happen around them on social networking site. These new connections may increase
social capital. In this study, social capital is treated as the overall outcome of one’s
interactions with others on Facebook, manifesting itself in the ability of individuals to
exploit the function and resources available on Facebook in order to broaden relationships.
Social capital is influenced by many factors (Decker, Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, as cited
in Wu et al., 2012), among which, the effect of social trust on social capital has been
addressed in related studies.
2.5. The relationship among variables
2.5.1. Academic performance and life satisfaction
Life satisfaction is defined to be people's subjective evaluation of how far their
most important needs, goals, and wishes have been fulfilled (Cheung & Chan, 2009).
While Diener (as cited in Cheung & Chan, 2009) defines life satisfaction as the global
evaluation by people of their own life. As mentioned in the introduction, learning and
academic achievement are likely to contribute to life satisfaction (Diseth & Samdal,
2014). In detail, academic achievement place an element to form and to increase life
satisfaction. Significantly, this study also conducts that academic performance and life
satisfaction should be taken into consideration in an educational situation. In addition, the
relationship between academic performance and life satisfaction is conducted positively. It
means academic performance positively influenced on life satisfaction. Cheung and Chan
(2009) conducts that the higher education result and involvement is, the higher level of

12

life satisfaction will be. This study also mentions that high level of life satisfaction people
can live longer, feel better, or even they can earn more money than people who have lower
levels of life satisfaction. As a result, some studies have been investigating the
relationship between life satisfaction and educational achievement. Ou (as cited in Cheung
& Chan, 2009) finds that students with the ages between 22 to 24 who have higher
reported results for the subjects they studied during the academic year will report higher
levels of life satisfaction. The impact of academic performance on life satisfaction also
confirms in Kasser (as cited in Diseth & Samdal, 2014), achievement goals and academic
achievement are likely to support students’ life satisfaction. In conclusion, it is believed
that academic performance has a positive impact on life satisfaction. This study will
investigate the positive impact degree of academic performance on life satisfaction. The
proposed hypothesis is following:
H6: Academic performance has a positive influence on life satisfaction.
2.5.2. Stickiness and academic performance
Stickiness is proposed as “the ability of websites to draw and retain customers”
according to a study of Zott, Amit and Donlevy (as cited in Yang & Lin, 2014). Thus,
stickiness means the power of social networking sites or products to attract one individual
to retain or beginning to use this product or to stay in this social networking site. When
focusing on online social networking environment, Thorbjornsen and Supphellen (2004)
also indicate that there are two kinds of browsing behavior in a website. They are the
frequency of visits and duration of each visit. In addition, Lin also defines stickiness as the
user’s willingness to return and to prolong their duration of stay in a website. Besides,
stickiness has been applied in many fields, for example, e-commerce shopping (Zott et al.,
as cited in Yang & Lin, 2014), blog stickiness (Johnson, Bellman, Lohsee, Lu & Lee, as
cited in Yang & Lin, 2014). Based on previous literature definitions, stickiness is defined
as willingness to return and prolong the duration of stay on the Facebook web site (Yang
& Lin, 2014). Based on the above-mentioned literature, stickiness is the willingness of

university students to return and to prolong to stay on Facebook as a communication and
entertainment tool.


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Using social networking sites has various impact on the young, especially their
academic performance (Minimol & Angelia, 2015). As cited in Minimol and Angelia
(2015), a study of Guadalupe and Jaana points out that young adolescents spend much
time on social networking site viewing and replying to their friends’ comments on their
social network pages. Thus, the time they spend for studying will be less. In addition, it is
reported that the use of social network time created anxiety and stress among students. It
will finally affect the educational process (Bita, Seyed, Morteza, Mohammad & Ali,
2013). With anxiety and stress, university students’ academic performance is seemed to be
suffered from the stickiness. This relationship is also mentioned on many studies. Among
them, the negative impact of stickiness on academic performance is conducted. According
to a study of Glass et al. (2014) Chinese students who spend more time on social
networking sites will suffer the influence of lower academic performance. In general,
when students spend time on the social networking sites they will have less time spending
for studying, doing their homework and private essay. As a result, the negative impact on
academic performance might come. Checking Facebook is conducted to be negatively
predictive of overall grade point average despite the relationship is not strong. In addition,
the frequency of chatting on Facebook messenger and frequency of posting status updates
of students are negatively predictive to final grade point average (Junco & Reynol, 2012).
While in Vietnam, there are some studies about the impact of using social
networking sites on academic performance, a study of Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai and Nham
Phong Tuan (2013) contribute to the positive usefulness of using social networking sites
that using functions available on social networking site to support students’ studying in
Vietnam University of Commerce. Moreover, in a study of Le Minh Cong (2013), there
are arguments about the influencing of using social networking site and games online on

high school students’ academic performance. Then, this negative influence of Facebook
on academic performance is also mentioned in Nguyen Hoang Khac Hieu (2015) and
Debort (2013), Facebook now seriously distracts students from their studying. As a result,
this issue has been taking into consideration in Vietnam. In addition, Nham and Nguyen
(2013) conduct in a study about the impact of online social networking on students’ study


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at Vietnam National University (VNU) - University of Economics and Business that
Facebook engagement has a strong impact on students’ learning outcomes. It is also
mentioned in this study that VNU students are easily distracted from their learning
because of some interesting stories, comments and other activities on Facebook. Thus, it
will create negative impact on the academic result. Therefore, this study will focus on
investigating the negative impact of stickiness on academic performance. It is proposed
the hypothesis that:
H5: Stickiness has a negative impact on academic performance
2.5.3. Social capital and stickiness
Social capital is a social resource which embeds in the social network relationship
(Hong & Jian, 2014). It means that social capital has a strong relationship to the matter of
using social networking site such as Facebook in Vietnam. In addition, according to Glass
et al. (2014), social capital is considered the outcome of people’s interactions with other
people on Facebook. Social capital’s ability is to exploit the resources available on
Facebook which helps people to develop relationships. Another study on guiding social
capital research, it is seemed to be a good will that people have toward the others and it is
a valuable resource (Adler & Kwon, 2002). In addition, social capital is conducted to
place an important role on the potential of the group and the patterns of relationships
between individuals within a group and between groups with a focus on social networks
(Dwiningrum, 2013). It means that social capital is one of the main factors influence on
the social network to build relationship. Bridging social relationship will to lead to the

using and sharing on Facebook. For example, the students in electronic group dynamics
expanded from e-mail or Facebook exchanges to a multilayered complex exchange
between a large of members from both groups who interact with each other regardless of
their initial pairings (Rautenbach & Black-Hughes, 2012). As a result, Facebook or email
facilitates a good foundation for students’ collaboration. Thus, the proposed hypothesis of
bridging social capital and stickiness is following:
H3B: Bridging social capital has a positive influence on stickiness


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It is also reported that the youth who uses Facebook and Myspace have higher
social capital in both their school and online relationships (Ahn, 2012) and they use online
networking site to accumulate their social capital through learning, training, engaging in
advanced studies and also different online social means of communication including
Facebook (Hong & Jian, 2014). In addition, the analysis suggests that distinct modes of
online social networking sites experiences are differentially related to bridging and
bonding social capital. In general, time spending on social networking sites is related to
bridging capital, while positive or negative experiences are related to bonding capital. The
study also offers new insights into how the youth experience social networking sites and
the relationship of that experienced with their connection to the world. Furthermore,
bonding social capital and bridging social capital can influence on people who use social
networking site such as Facebook. In conclusion, the bonding online social capital and
bridging social capital influence followers on online networking site (Hofer & Aubert,
2013). In addition, Hofer and Aubert (2013) also mention that the online networking site
is Twitter. However, in this study, the online social networking site is replaced by
Facebook. While Facebook is having the strongest influential impact on people’s using
online networking sites in Vietnam (Dao Le Hoa An, 2013; QandMe, 2015). Both
perceived bridging and perceived bonding social capital were positively associated
Facebook using. In conclusion, bonding and bridging social capital are positive influence

on the intention to use Facebook (Peterson & Johnston, 2015). Finally, from the previous
studies, the proposed hypothesis of bonding social capital and stickiness is following:
H3A: Bonding social capital has a positive influence on stickiness
2.5.4. Social trust and social capital
At the individual level, people whose prevail form of social capital is the bonding
one, or whose social networks are very sparse altogether (Growiec & Growiec, 2014).
Kaasa (as cited in Lee, Cho & Hwang, 2013) defines that trust has been as ‘‘confidence in
the reliability of others’’. For a long time, prior research has considered trust as a stimulus
to innovation that enhance the generation of ideas through interaction among individuals
(Dakhli & De Clercq, as cited in Lee et al., 2013). That is, the higher level of trust