Personality traits and demographic profile predicting social networking site usage in Thailand

Abstract

The present study examined the influence of the Big Five personality traits (i.e., Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) on the amount of social networking sites (SNSs) usage, and the differences in time spent on SNSs among people who were in different age and gender groups in Thailand. This study employed a cross-sectional design using the purposive sampling to collect the data. Participants (N = 397) who have used social networking websites: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were participated. Three hypotheses and three research questions were posed. Overall, personality traits predicted time spent on SNSs. The findings showed a positive relationship between Extroversion and a negative relationship between Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness and the overall time spent on social networking sites. People who scored high on Extroversion and low on Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness tended more to spend time using SNSs. In addition, the main predictors of time spent using SNSs and Facebook were Extroversion and Emotional Stability. Moreover, there were significant differences in demographic characteristics and time spent on SNSs. Females would spend more time than males using Youtube. Younger people were more likely to spend time on SNSs, Facebook, and Youtube than were older people. The investigation of the present study extended our understanding of personality and SNSs usage in Thailand and supported the Big Five framework and past research on the associations among personality, demographic characteristics, and time spent on social networking sites.