Extension of Need to Belong to Online Environment: a Literature Review

摘要

Based on our discussion about how important social bonds are to human beings, the recent paper summarizesnegative effects of unmet need to belong. Since the need to belong is the motivational basis for human being, the thwarted need to belong causes various kinds of reactions, including cognitive, behavioral, and affective symptoms to human functioning. Also, as social network in real life is extending to online, it became crucial to understand the dynamics of social relationshipsin online environment. Numerous virtual communities and many social network services (SNSs) are the extended form of social relationship online. There can be interesting research opportunities to which social exclusion and need to belong can be related asto social relationships in real life. Thus, this paper provides several suggestions for future research work, hoping to extendour understandings of need to belong on online environment.