Examination of Internet User's Social Capital in Cyberspace and Non-Cyberspace: A Case Study of Shahid Chamran University Students

Internet, as a media, with an astounding growth in recent years has had significant impacts on human social life. The present paper aimed to investigate the role of internet on users’ social capital in cyberspaces and non cyberspaces. The bonding and bridging dimensions of social capital in cyberspaces and non cyberspaces were focused. It was a survey study and the research instrument was questionnaire. 313 subjects were selected by stratified random sampling method from among the students of Shahid Chamran University. The results showed that there was a significant and positive relation between duration of using Internet and societal using of Internet with social capital (bonding/bridging) in cyberspaces. There was also a significant and negative relation between duration of using Internet and social capital (bonding/bridging) in non cyberspaces. There was no significant relation between societal using of Internet and social capital (bonding/bridging) in non cyberspaces. Moreover, there was a negative and significant relation between social capital in cyberspaces and that of non cyberspaces. It indicates that increase in social capital in cyberspace leads to decrease in social capital in non cyberspace.