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Giving too much social support: social overload on social networking sites

Author

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  • Christian Maier
  • Sven Laumer
  • Andreas Eckhardt
  • Tim Weitzel

Abstract

As the number of messages and social relationships embedded in social networking sites (SNS) increases, the amount of social information demanding a reaction from individuals increases as well. We observe that, as a consequence, SNS users feel they are giving too much social support to other SNS users. Drawing on social support theory (SST), we call this negative association with SNS usage ‘social overload’ and develop a latent variable to measure it. We then identify the theoretical antecedents and consequences of social overload and evaluate the social overload model empirically using interviews with 12 and a survey of 571 Facebook users. The results show that extent of usage, number of friends, subjective social support norms, and type of relationship (online-only vs offline friends) are factors that directly contribute to social overload while age has only an indirect effect. The psychological and behavioral consequences of social overload include feelings of SNS exhaustion by users, low levels of user satisfaction, and a high intention to reduce or even stop using SNS. The resulting theoretical implications for SST and SNS acceptance research are discussed and practical implications for organizations, SNS providers, and SNS users are drawn.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Maier & Sven Laumer & Andreas Eckhardt & Tim Weitzel, 2015. "Giving too much social support: social overload on social networking sites," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 447-464, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:tjisxx:v:24:y:2015:i:5:p:447-464
    DOI: 10.1057/ejis.2014.3
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    Cited by:

    1. Yogesh K Dwivedi & Elvira Ismagilova & Prianka Sarker & Anand Jeyaraj & Yassine Jadil & Laurie Hughes, 2023. "A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Model for Understanding Social Commerce Adoption," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1421-1437, August.
    2. Davit Marikyan & Savvas Papagiannidis & Eleftherios Alamanos, 2023. "Cognitive Dissonance in Technology Adoption: A Study of Smart Home Users," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 1101-1123, June.
    3. Jabeen, Fauzia & Tandon, Anushree & Azad, Nasreen & Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Pereira, Vijay, 2023. "The dark side of social media platforms: A situation-organism-behaviour-consequence approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    4. Zhou, Fei & Lin, Youhai & Mou, Jian & Cohen, Jason & Chen, Sihua, 2023. "Understanding the dark side of gamified interactions on short-form video platforms: Through a lens of expectations violations theory," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PB).
    5. Sharma, Manu & Kaushal, Deepak & Joshi, Sudhanshu, 2023. "Adverse effect of social media on generation Z user's behavior: Government information support as a moderating variable," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Jabeen, Fauzia & Tandon, Anushree & Sithipolvanichgul, Juthamon & Srivastava, Shalini & Dhir, Amandeep, 2023. "Social media-induced fear of missing out (FoMO) and social media fatigue: The role of narcissism, comparison and disclosure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    7. Dilek Åžahin, 2023. "Mediating Effect of Creativity on How Burnout Affects Social Media Use: An Examination on Physicians," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.

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