Stress caused by social media network applications and user responses

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of stress caused by social media network applications on the psychological and behavioral reactions of users: these included emotional exhaustion, the intention to switch applications, and resistance. We also examined the mediating role played by coping behaviors in these relationships. We analyzed a data from 446 users of Korean Social Network Services (SNSs) including Facebook, Twitter, and Kakao Talk, using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Our findings showed that SNS-related stress increased users' emotional exhaustion, intention to switch, and resistance of user. While both approach coping and avoidance coping reduced emotional exhaustion and resistance, avoidance coping had no significant impact on switching intention. Our results also found that approach coping partially mediated the relationships between SNS-related stress, emotional exhaustion, switching intention, and resistance.