Factors Leading to Membership Intention in Social Networks: Couchsurfing

• Main Authors: Jeannie Tsai, 蔡恬心
• Other Authors: Dr. Rolando Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/09795809397081448735

碩士 === 銘傳大學 === 社會與安全管理學系國際事務與安全管理碩士班 === 102 === Social networking has recently become fundamentally popular within society because of the diffusion of the Internet. One such site is Couchsurfing (CS), a popular travel-oriented social network where members offer one another free accommodation, company, and a wide range of activities and gatherings, all while traveling. The objective of this study is to identify the motivational factors for intentions to stay in the network as members and continue its use. Because this objective has been widely investigated, a concept about ‘job embeddedness’ used in the field of human resource management was applied. This concept was adopted into the network level to contribute to existing studies. A quantitative approach was employed through the online distribution of the survey questionnaire to obtain the primary data. The population in this study comprised of Couchsurfing members worldwide, with a sample of 233 culturally diverse respondents aged 18 years and older. Statistical methods such as descriptive analysis, analysis of variance, Cronbach’s alpha, factor analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression were applied. The findings showed that learning goal orientation and network embeddedness are both positively associated with membership intention, making them the key factors for membership intention. Higher learning-oriented people and being embedded results in members having the intention to continue use the service and remain as members. Because learning goal orientation is positively associated with membership intention, network embeddedness played only a partial mediating role. Lastly, network satisfaction was not a moderator. However, this shows that satisfaction on its own leads to membership intention.