Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective

Close friendship is a crucial and distinctive interpersonal tie that can survive a lifetime. Maintaining such friendships at a satisfactory level, even with the aid of social networking websites (SNS) such as Facebook, can be a challenging process. Previous research has shown that relationship satis...

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Main Author: Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: UKM Press 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/19/66798_Examining%20intercultural%20differences%20in%20close%20friendship%20maintenance%20on%20Facebook_article.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/13/66798_Examining%20intercultural%20differences%20in%20close%20friendship%20maintenance%20on%20Facebook_SCOPUS.pdf
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author Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha
author_facet Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha
author_sort Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description Close friendship is a crucial and distinctive interpersonal tie that can survive a lifetime. Maintaining such friendships at a satisfactory level, even with the aid of social networking websites (SNS) such as Facebook, can be a challenging process. Previous research has shown that relationship satisfaction among close friends depends both upon relationship maintenance strategies (e.g., positivity, openness, supportiveness) and the management of dialectical contradictions (e.g., openness-closeness and autonomy-connection). Furthermore, cultural differences may also dictate how individuals choose to maintain close friendships online. Therefore, guided by the relational dialectic perspective, a key objective of this research was to determine whether the role of Facebook in friendship maintenance differs significantly across two cultures: the U.S. and Malaysia. All participants completed an online survey in which they were asked to think of a close friend with whom they communicated both face-to-face and on Facebook. Among others, findings showed that Malaysian respondents perceived their close friends as using certain maintenance strategies (i.e., positivity, interaction planning, openness, social information seeking, and avoidance) significantly more often than did Americans. Culture also influenced how relational dialectics moderate the relationship between maintenance strategies and relationship satisfaction among close friends. The implications of the findings for the role of Facebook in close friendship maintenance across culture, and the relational dialectics theory will be discussed.
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spelling iium-667982019-02-19T08:13:53Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/ Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha P87 Communication. Mass media Close friendship is a crucial and distinctive interpersonal tie that can survive a lifetime. Maintaining such friendships at a satisfactory level, even with the aid of social networking websites (SNS) such as Facebook, can be a challenging process. Previous research has shown that relationship satisfaction among close friends depends both upon relationship maintenance strategies (e.g., positivity, openness, supportiveness) and the management of dialectical contradictions (e.g., openness-closeness and autonomy-connection). Furthermore, cultural differences may also dictate how individuals choose to maintain close friendships online. Therefore, guided by the relational dialectic perspective, a key objective of this research was to determine whether the role of Facebook in friendship maintenance differs significantly across two cultures: the U.S. and Malaysia. All participants completed an online survey in which they were asked to think of a close friend with whom they communicated both face-to-face and on Facebook. Among others, findings showed that Malaysian respondents perceived their close friends as using certain maintenance strategies (i.e., positivity, interaction planning, openness, social information seeking, and avoidance) significantly more often than did Americans. Culture also influenced how relational dialectics moderate the relationship between maintenance strategies and relationship satisfaction among close friends. The implications of the findings for the role of Facebook in close friendship maintenance across culture, and the relational dialectics theory will be discussed. UKM Press 2018 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/19/66798_Examining%20intercultural%20differences%20in%20close%20friendship%20maintenance%20on%20Facebook_article.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/13/66798_Examining%20intercultural%20differences%20in%20close%20friendship%20maintenance%20on%20Facebook_SCOPUS.pdf Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha (2018) Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective. Jurnal Komunikasi, 34 (3). pp. 131-149. E-ISSN 2289-1528 http://ejournal.ukm.my/mjc/article/view/22507/8409
spellingShingle P87 Communication. Mass media
Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha
Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective
title Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective
title_full Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective
title_fullStr Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective
title_full_unstemmed Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective
title_short Examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on Facebook: a relational dialectics perspective
title_sort examining intercultural differences in close friendship maintenance on facebook: a relational dialectics perspective
topic P87 Communication. Mass media
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/19/66798_Examining%20intercultural%20differences%20in%20close%20friendship%20maintenance%20on%20Facebook_article.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/66798/13/66798_Examining%20intercultural%20differences%20in%20close%20friendship%20maintenance%20on%20Facebook_SCOPUS.pdf