Abstract:
Purpose – This study aims to investigate how social capital (e.g. cognitive and relational) influences
students’ trust (e.g. cognitive and affective) as mediator variables, affecting students’ information sharing
activity on Facebook.
Design/methodology/approach – The sample consists of 398 valid participants obtained through an
online survey and using structural equationmodeling (SEM) to test the research hypotheses.
Findings – The empirical results indicate that social capital has significant and positive effects on
students’ trust (e.g. cognitive and affective-based trust), also mediator variables. Furthermore, the
mediator variables partially mediate social capital and information sharing based on the concept of
cognition-affection-behavior (CAB).
Research limitations/implications – This study was limited to Indonesian students. Therefore,
future study is needed to analyze across cultures and regions. It can help practitioners, regulators and
researchers to observe the dynamic behavior on the impact of social capital on social media users’
activities.
Practical implications – Education stakeholders (e.g. lecturers and teachers) can identify the students’
goal and rational concerns to improve their social capital and trust to share information. The government as a
regulator needs to support students’ activities on social media to provide updated information regarding
economic and social conditions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature on virtual communities. Specifically, it
considers how social capital influences trust, which subsequently affects information sharing based on the
CAB context among Indonesian student’ Facebook users.
