Social Networking Sites: Social Support, Motivation, and Influences on Chinese international students' intercultural communication competence

The purposes of this study were 1) to examine the status quo and differences in intercultural communication competence and social networking sites use motivation between Chinese international students and U.S. students, 2) to explore the relationship between social networking sites use motivation and intercultural communication, 3) to understand the factors comprising intercultural communication competence, and 4) to develop a model to predict intercultural communication competence. Quantitative survey research was conducted to address these research objectives. The survey research showed that compared with U.S. students, Chinese international students differ in social networking sites use time, frequency, and certain patterns. Also, Chinese international students showed an overall low score in certain factors of intercultural communication competence. The study showed no statistically significant differencs between groups in total time spent on SNS and in intercultural communication competence; however, using SNS with certain motivations was correlated to changes in intercultural communication competence.CommunicationMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Communication and JournalismWhite, JudithSchaefer, RichardGandert, Migue