Role of Social Media in Creating Social Capital to Facilitate Human Capital and Sustainability in the Contemporary World

This chapter explains how social media (SM) use helps in developing social capital (SC), which is defined in terms of structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions. Drawing on Web 2.0 and Uses and Gratification Theory, SM use is explained from social, cognitive, and hedonic perspectives. A quantitative survey of 93 young users (18–22 years old) analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling revealed that both cognitive and hedonic uses of SM positively enhance all SC facets, with the most significant impact of cognitive use on relational and structural SC. SM attachment had no influence at all, and social use only had a marginal influence on structural SC. These findings suggest that intentional, engagement-driven SM use cultivates SC, facilitating the formation of human capital and attainment of sustainable development.