Investigating Relationship between Communication Media Consumption and Teacher's Social Capital (Case Study: High School Teachers of Sisakht City)

Education is one of the most important institutions in any society that plays important roles such as education, social solidarity, teaching skills and science, socialization of people, transfer of culture, etc. Teachers are one of the most important pillars of educational institution. This study has examined the relationship between media consumption and the extent of teachers’ social capital. The statistical population of this study comprises all the teachers in the city of Sisakht, of whom 178 were selected based on stratified sampling. Questionnaires were used to collect data, which were analyzed using SPSS software. The research findings showed that there is a significant relationship between the extent of print media usage and social capital dimensions (including social trust, social engagement and observance of norms) while there is no relationship between the extent of print media usage and membership in social networks. The findings also showed that there was a significant relationship between the extent of electronic media usage and membership in social networks and social engagement while there was no significant relationship between the extent of electronic media usage and the degree of social trust and observance of norms. On the whole, there is a significant relationship between the independent variable, that is media consumption (print and electronic) and dependent variable, i.e. social capital.