Does the Use of WeChat Lead to Subjective Well-Being?: The Effect of Use Intensity and Motivations

摘要

Recently, WeChat has been widely used in China. The positive and negative effects of WeChat on users have received attention from researchers gradually. Using the questionnaire method, we recruited 339 undergraduates and graduates as participants, and tested the effects of WeChat on their subjective well-being (SWB) in terms of intensity. In addition, we confirmed the mediating effects of WeChat with respect to motivation. The results showed that the participants' WeChat use intensity was at a mid-level, 85.3 percent of them spending no more than 2 hours on WeChat every day. Furthermore, there have been no demographic differences in the variables of gender, place of residence, or grade. Participants' WeChat use intensity can significantly predict their use motivation and life satisfaction, and intrinsic use motivation was the mediator between the use intensity and SWB, while the other three types of motivation (external, introjection, and identification) cannot predict SWB significantly. The user's ultimate emotional experience is primarily derived from why and how they use it. We also tested whether the use motivation can be shaped.