Title: Impact of personality on Facebook usage: special reference to young Sri Lankan users

Authors: T.R. Wijesundara; Sun Xixiang

Addresses: School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road, Wuhan, P.R. China; Department of Marketing, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka ' School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road, Wuhan, P.R. China

Abstract: Personality of Facebook users can be identified as the leading factor in the way they behave in the Facebook context. Current study examines the impact of personality traits on Facebook usage by considering it as features usage (status updates, comments, wall post, private messages, chat, groups and applications) and as general usage (time spends in Facebook site). This research is based on primary data collected through a self-administered questionnaire, administered to a sample of 182 undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Findings revealed that there is a significant impact of personality traits on Facebook feature usage as well as general usage. Furthermore, we found differences between personality traits for both Facebook features usage and general Facebook usage. Effects of cultural motives, values and beliefs of the groups were recognised as areas for further research.

Keywords: agreeableness; Big Five model; Conscientiousness; extraversion; Facebook usage; neuroticism; openness to experience; personality; social networking sites; specific Facebook features; Sri Lanka.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMILE.2017.087684

International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 2017 Vol.5 No.2, pp.151 - 163

Received: 28 Jan 2017
Accepted: 16 Jun 2017
Published online: 30 Oct 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article