This study explores the causes of online helping behavior. This study tests the effects of various explanatory factors on the basis of previous studies on helping behavior. These factors include social demographic, situational, motivational, and socia...
This study explores the causes of online helping behavior. This study tests the effects of various explanatory factors on the basis of previous studies on helping behavior. These factors include social demographic, situational, motivational, and social capital factors. According to the survey of 475 university students living in Seoul in 2010, age and religion have significant effects on online helping behavior. In addition, the perceived helping opportunity, time and effort cost to help, and social capital factor have significant effects on online helping behavior. Results reveal that the effect of social capital factor is the largest among other variables. However, it is shown that the effects of benefit from helping, empathy, and personal norm are not statistically significant. It is also revealed that the effect of social capital factor is important across all types of online helping behavior except information helping. The policy implications are discussed.