Page 15 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

of social relationships in the host environment (Berry, 2006; Berry & Sam, 2016; Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001; Ye, 2006). These social relationships could be helpful for sojourners as these are sources of sense of support and belonging, comfort during homesickness, and practical information in navigating their host environment, among others (Adelman, 1988; English, Davis, Wei, & Gross, 2017; Van Vliet, 2001; Ward et al., 2001). Ultimately, stable and positive significant social relationships are crucial to one’s wellbeing and adjustment (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). It is a relevant concern, therefore, to know whether or not social interactions via SNSs (such as Facebook) contribute to sojourners’ psychosocial adjustment. The role of SNSs in the relation between social relationships and international sojourners’ adjustment is still an understudied topic. This gap in scientific knowledge is where this current dissertation intends to contribute.
The overall goal of this dissertation is to contribute to a better understanding of the relevance of SNSs in sojourners’ experiences. This dissertation aims to illuminate the roles of SNS social interactions particularly in sojourners’ adjustment. The overarching question that this dissertation project endeavors to answer is:
RQ: How and to what extent do SNS interactions relate to sojourners’ adjustment?
Sojourners’ adjustment has been widely studied before. However, much of the previous research focused on face-to-face interactions, particularly with the host-country network (Adelman, 1988; Berry, 2003, 2006; Kim, 2017; Safdar & Berno, 2006; Smith & Khawaja, 2011; Ward et al., 2001; Zhang & Goodson, 2010). Previous studies have established that face-to-face interactions with the host-country network had a positive impact on relevant experiences of sojourners while abroad. In particular, face-to-face interactions with the host-country network increased sojourners’ adjustment via intervening social processes such as increased perceived social support, as well as lowered feelings of homesickness (Adelman, 1988; Berry, 2006; Hendrickson, Rosen, & Aune, 2011; Pedersen, Neighbors, Larimer, & Lee, 2011; Thurber & Walton, 2012; Ward et al., 2001).
With the advent of the Internet and CMC, forms of communication and social interactions have rapidly diversified over the past years. International sojourners now use face-to-face and CMC channels, such as SNSs, concomitantly with the home and the host-country networks and specific relationships (Cemalcilar, 2008;
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