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The influence of social media engagement on social desirability and empathy of Chinese youth in Hong Kong
Author(s)
Date Issued
2023
Citation
Chui, C. F., & Ip, I. (2023 Jun 28). The influence of social media engagement on social desirability and empathy of Chinese youth in Hong Kong. PT 2023, Hong Kong.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
A recent survey revealed that social media penetration in Hong Kong is nearly 90%. The negative
impact of social media on social bonds, addiction, cyberbullying, loneliness, and distress has been
widely discussed. However, limited studies have focused on the benefits of social media
engagement on psychosocial well-being. The present study aims to explore the relationship
between social media engagement, social desirability, and empathy. Previous studies have found
a positive relationship between social desirability and empathy. People with strong social
desirability tend to behave in a socially acceptable way to offer empathy and avoid deviating from
social norms because empathy is believed to be socially desirable. Therefore, it is hypothesized
that social media engagement will enhance empathy directly and indirectly via its positive
influence on social desirability. The present study obtained 224 samples of Hong Kong Chinese
youth (mean age=20.24; 70 males and 168 females). The short form of the Social Media
Engagement Scale (SMES), the Chinese Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability – Short Form (MCSDSF-C) and the Empathy sub-scale of the Chinese Interpersonal Reactivity Index (C-IRI) were
adopted in this study. The mediation model of this study was examined by the macro “PROCESS”
for SPSS. Social desirability was added as a mediator to the relationship between social media
engagement and empathy. The results of the study revealed that social media engagement is
negatively related to social desirability (t=-3.33, p=.001) but positively related to empathy (t=2.79,
p=.01). Moreover, social desirability is positively related to empathy (t=4.95, p<.001). The direct
effect of social media engagement is significant (t=2.80, p=.01) but the total effect of social
media engagement on empathy is not significant (t=1.67, p=.10). In line with the hypotheses, the
direct effect of social engagement on empathy is positive. However, it is interesting to reveal a
suppression effect in the relationship between social media engagement and social desirability.
Since youths with higher levels of social media engagement have less social desirability which in
turn leads to low levels of empathy. This indirect negative effect suppresses the direct positive
effect of social media engagement on empathy. In contrast to the expectation, higher social
media engagement led to lower social desirability. Exposure to heterogeneous information in
social media may expand the vision and horizon of individuals which makes them less likely to
develop a socially appropriate and acceptable manner with consensual opinion. Further study can
be conducted to examine more deeply the relationship between social media engagement and
social desirability.
Availability at HKSYU Library
