Coping With Unemployment Through Online Social Support

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Communication and Technology Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This paper posits that online social support plays an important role helping to cope with unemployment, and facilitate the search for new employment. Based on a structural equation model, we develop and test the influence of online-mediated, enabling and caring social support on job search self-efficacy that may positively encourage the job search behavior of unemployed persons. In addition, we control the model for the factors gender, age, user experience and attitude towards the Internet. Based on 2,400 telephone interviews with unemployed individuals in Germany, we identify and confirm online social support as influential driver of job search behavior. Our results show that social support derived from new information and communication technologies does counteract to a certain degree the adverse effect of being unemployed. Furthermore, our model confirms that these relationships differ in gender, age, user experience and attitude towards the Internet.

Authors

• Severina Mueller, U of St. Gallen

• Johannes Christian Fieseler, U of St. Gallen

• Miriam Meckel, U of St. Gallen