Cultural values and Facebook use among Palestinian youth in Israel

Culture is a set of values that influences attitudes and social behavior. Despite the role of culture in shaping attitudes and motivations, most of the extensive research literature on the determinants and patterns of social media use has focused on psychological and social factors. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by investigating the role of cultural values in perceptions of privacy, trust and motivations for using Facebook among young Palestinians in Israel. We relied on Hall’s concept of high and low communication contexts and three of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance. Data from a survey of Arab high school students (N = 567) established that variations in the adoption of cultural values are associated with the motivation for using Facebook through their effect on trust and on privacy concerns. We discuss the findings and their implications.

Abbas and Mesch (2015) found a positive association between collectivism and the desire to maintain existing relationships as well as to expand social ties. there is a positive relationship between a high score on power distance and both social motivations. the results indicate that trust in Facebook is associated with the two social motivations for using Facebook: maintaining existing relationships and expanding social ties. The more respondents trust the site, the more they use the site to satisfy these needs. collectivism and power distance were related positively to attitudes about trusting Facebook. The results revealed that the more participants want to use SNSs to expand their social ties, the more concerned they are about their privacy. The findings revealed a positive association between privacy concerns and collective values at the individual level.