Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index

There is little consensus on the dimensions of social media attachment, conceptualized as a unidimensional construct by some scholars and multidimensional by others. The conceptual labels given to those dimensions also differ across studies, posing challenges to researchers. This study addresses som...

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Main Authors: Baboo, Shabanaz, Nunkoo, Robin, Cock, Florian
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2022
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96983
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author Baboo, Shabanaz
Nunkoo, Robin
Cock, Florian
author_facet Baboo, Shabanaz
Nunkoo, Robin
Cock, Florian
author_sort Baboo, Shabanaz
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description There is little consensus on the dimensions of social media attachment, conceptualized as a unidimensional construct by some scholars and multidimensional by others. The conceptual labels given to those dimensions also differ across studies, posing challenges to researchers. This study addresses some of those conceptual issues by developing a formative index of social media attachment. It employs a two-staged methodology involving interviews that are used to develop the items and elicit the dimensions of attachment and a survey to test the index empirically. The results provide support for an eight-item parsimonious index that captures the multifaceted nature of social media attachment: connecting/socializing; keeping up to date; dependence; dysfunctional use; expressing feelings; self-presentation; seeking self-esteem; and seeking knowledge. The index displays sound psychometric properties and is nomologically valid. Theoretically, it reflects the various conceptualizations of social media attachment in a single short measure. The index is also practically useful to researchers.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:47:33Z
publishDate 2022
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-969832025-02-28T05:23:06Z Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index Baboo, Shabanaz Nunkoo, Robin Cock, Florian There is little consensus on the dimensions of social media attachment, conceptualized as a unidimensional construct by some scholars and multidimensional by others. The conceptual labels given to those dimensions also differ across studies, posing challenges to researchers. This study addresses some of those conceptual issues by developing a formative index of social media attachment. It employs a two-staged methodology involving interviews that are used to develop the items and elicit the dimensions of attachment and a survey to test the index empirically. The results provide support for an eight-item parsimonious index that captures the multifaceted nature of social media attachment: connecting/socializing; keeping up to date; dependence; dysfunctional use; expressing feelings; self-presentation; seeking self-esteem; and seeking knowledge. The index displays sound psychometric properties and is nomologically valid. Theoretically, it reflects the various conceptualizations of social media attachment in a single short measure. The index is also practically useful to researchers. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96983 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.064 Elsevier restricted
spellingShingle Baboo, Shabanaz
Nunkoo, Robin
Cock, Florian
Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index
title Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index
title_full Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index
title_fullStr Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index
title_full_unstemmed Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index
title_short Social Media Attachment: Developing a Formative, Multidimensional and Parsimonious Index
title_sort social media attachment: developing a formative, multidimensional and parsimonious index
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96983