| dc.description.abstract | After retirement, retirees will gradually lose work-related roles and social activities. Coupled with the decline in physical functions due to increasing age, these factors can negatively affect the mental health of the elderly. Therefore, how to continuously maintain and engage in social interactions to receive social support from other individuals or groups is extremely important for the retirees. To maintain social interactions within a community and satisfy their need to belong, the retirees are encouraged to engage in social interactions within the digital third places constructed by social media platforms. However, current literature mainly focuses on how online social support affects individuals′ attitudes and behavioral outcomes, with little research on the elderly′s perspective about the relationship between social support and a sense of belonging in digital third places. Furthermore, current research on the sense of belonging of the elderly in digital environments mainly focuses on individuals′ sense of belonging on specific social media platforms, lacking discussion on the sense of belonging of the retirees in communities or groups situated on these platforms (i.e., digital third places).
To fill these gaps, by combining social support theory and need to belong theory, this study constructs a research model that focuses on how social support obtained by the retirees in digital third places affect their subsequent citizenship behavior through their sense of belonging to the digital third place. We employ a convenience sampling method to gather data and ultimately uses 557 valid samples for structural equation model analysis. The results indicate that informational support, emotional support, esteem support, network support, and instrumental support in digital third places all positively and significantly influence the sense of belonging of the retirees. Additionally, the sense of belonging felt by the elderly in digital third places positively and significantly influences their helping behavior and contribution behavior. Ultimately, this study offers unique insights and contributions to the fields of digital third spaces, need to belong theory, and social support theory from an academic perspective. It also presents practical reference for social media community managers in managing the operation of these digital spaces. | en_US |