Understanding Compulsive Use Of Facebook Through The Reinforcement Processes

With over 1 billion active users, Facebook is possibly the biggest phenomenon of the Internet. For the majority of individuals, Facebook represents an incredible social platform for social connection and information sharing. For others, however, the use of Facebook can lead to significant behavioural or psychological problems. Despite a rising concern over this emerging global issue, the theoretical understanding of the problematic use of technologies is lacking in the IS literature. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to propose a research model to theoretically explain the development of compulsive use of Facebook. We tested our research model using an online survey with 209 active Facebook users. Our results suggested that compulsive use of Facebook is mainly determined by negative reinforcement motive (i.e., feeling of withdrawal), but not the positive reinforcement motive (i.e., need for mood alteration). Preference for online social interaction is also found important in determining compulsive use of Facebook. This study provides a theoretical explanation of compulsive use of Facebook, and the results help clinicians, educators, and parents understand the main drivers of Facebook compulsive use.