Moroccan Jews and Muslims discussing online their mutual heritage: The moderation role of nostalgia on well-being and Social Network Participation

Increasingly, users of social networks engage in multicultural discussions in-volving nostalgia for a shared past. Based on an exploratory analysis of this new topic, this research suggests that nostalgia and well-being increase par-ticipants' social network participation. This article presents detailed results from our study of Moroccan Jews and Muslims, discussing their shared cul-tural heritage in social networks.
The research was conducted in Facebook groups dealing with Morocco and multicultural communities from June to February 2020. First, an invita-tion was sent to 41 Facebook groups to participate in the study, and 93 Jews and Muslims born in Morocco answered the questionnaires.
Four questionnaires were used in the study: demographics, social network participation, nostalgia mood, and well-being. In addition, moderation analy-sis was used to investigate the hypothesis, and Exploratory factor analysis along and Cronbach's alpha were calculated to validate the construct.
The results revealed that nostalgia moderates individuals' well-being and increases social network participation in online communities, suggesting that the Moroccan diaspora could use nostalgia of a collective cultural past and its sharing in social networks. These findings strengthen the argument that the purpose of nostalgia is positive, as it helps people who have a diffi-cult moment to cope with difficulties by building a better present. The re-sults also show an interaction where a high level of social network participa-tion contributed to a higher level of well-being among participants with a high level of nostalgia. At the same time, no relationship was found between social network participation and well-being among participants with a low level of nostalgia.
Our research showed the unique aspects of nostalgia about Morocco and presented the moderation effect of nostalgia and well-being on social net-work participation. The original elements of the current study are its explora-tion of nostalgia across the two main religious groups of Morocco and its search for differences and similarities. We found that the two groups express similar views about Morocco and that the discussions do not cause conflicts. To the best of our knowledge, these findings are novel findings that provide new perspectives in social network research.