Online Social Capital as a Predictor of Intensity of Use of Social Networking: A Test of Gender Invariance

The present study aimed to investigate the gender invariance of the relationship between online social capital and intensity of social network use. A sample of 117 Iranian Facebook users (62 females and 55 males) was selected using convenience sampling method and completed the Internet Social Capital Scales (ISCS). Data were analyzed using partial least squares multi-group analysis (PLS-MGA). There was a positive and significant relationship between bonding, bridging and total online social capital and intensity of social network use (P<0.01). For the whole sample and for men, bridging had a greater effect on the intensity of social network use. For women, however, bridging had a stronger effect. The path coefficients are not significantly different between the groups (P<0.05). It seems that online social capital and intensity of social network use have a mutual relationship, and users with higher online social capital use social networks more, and there is no gender difference in this area.