The COVID 19 pandemic and digital higher education: Exploring the impact of proactive personality on social capital through internet self-efficacy and online interaction quality

Fengjiao Zheng, Naseer Abbas Khan and Sabir Hussain

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 119, issue C

Abstract: In the crisis of COVID-19, traditional learning suddenly changed to digital learning, which finally posed challenges to students and teachers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the influence of personality factors on student social networks seems to be an overlooked area of research. In this study, we aim to explore the relationship between proactive personality and social capital through underlying mechanisms (such as internet self-efficacy and online interaction quality), especially to obtain data during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this study also aims to examine the moderating role of perceived social support in the association between proactive personality and Internet self-efficacy and the association between proactive personality and online interaction quality. Similarly, the moderating influence of perceived social support also investigated the mediating effects of internet self-efficacy & online interaction quality. This study used online survey tools to collect data from 332 respondents, including students and teachers from Islamabad, the federal capital of Pakistan. In this study, we found that the proactive personality of students strengthened their social capital through online interaction quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, perceived social support strengthened the mediating effect of online interaction quality in the association between proactive personality and social capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the implications and future research directions are also discussed.

Keywords: Proactive personality; Internet self-efficacy; Online interaction quality; Perceived social support; Social capital; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920321174

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105694

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