Page 23 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

Concurrent Communication Model
To extend current theorizing, in this dissertation, I aim to investigate the impacts of the concurrent use of face-to-face and SNS communication channels on sojourners’ adjustment. I propose a concurrent communication model (see Figure 2) which extends the general framework shown in Figure 1. A concurrent communication model extends the earlier model of sojourners’ adjustment by including three types of interactions, namely: Face-to-face interactions with the host-country network, SNS interactions with the host-country, and SNS interactions with the home-country networks) in international sojourners’ adjustment processes. With this proposed model, the conceptualization of social interaction is no longer limited to face-to-face interactions with the host-country network as described in the earlier theorizing shown in Figure 1. By using a concurrent communication model, I investigate the relative importance of these three social interactions in adjustment, via subjective outcomes.
Figure 2. A concurrent communication model of sojourners’ adjustment
Moreover, as indicated in Figure 2, this dissertation focuses on two possible subjective outcomes. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 2) of this dissertation focuses on the relative impacts of three social interactions (face-to-face interactions with the host-country network, SNS interactions with the host-country, and SNS interactions with the home-country networks) on a positive subjective outcome (i.e., perceived social support) and, in turn, its impact on psychological adjustment. The second empirical chapter (Chapter 3) presents the relative impacts of the same social interactions on a negative subjective outcome (i.e., homesickness), and in turn, its impact on sociocultural adjustment. In the succeeding sections, I provide the rationale for the various predictions summarized in Figure 2.
Introduction 21