purpose: this paper focuses on the impact of social capital on urban children's use behavior of information communication technology (ict).

design/methodology/approach: using the field survey and in-depth interviews, we interviewed 40 children aged 6 to 12 and their parents from a staff residential quarter of the zhengzhou university-“shengheyuan” community (shy), and a commercial residential quarter-“wanfenghuicheng” community (wfhc) in the high-tech zone of zhengzhou city, henan province. we used the social capital theory to analyze the interviewees' record.

findings: in urban communities, social capital is the most important factor for children (aged 6 to 12) in their ict use. our findings indicate that children in families with higher levels of social capital, such as internal resources, family income, parent educational backgrounds and parents' social network, have more-highly developed ict skills. personal motivation and obstacles, such as lack of access to computers on a regular basis, also have an impact on children's ict use. external social capital, including schools, libraries, and public service institutes, have little impact on children's ict use, if not combined with internal social capital factors.

research limitations: our research samples were collected from two communities within the same city, which may influence the generalization of this research result.

originality/value: to explore the social capital's influence on children's ict use, we used field observation for ict use of children aged 6 to 12 in urban communities in china, and studied the children's ict behavior from the perspective of internal and external social capital.

purpose: this paper focuses on the impact of social capital on urban children's use behavior of information communication technology (ict).

design/methodology/approach: using the field survey and in-depth interviews, we interviewed 40 children aged 6 to 12 and their parents from a staff residential quarter of the zhengzhou university-“shengheyuan” community (shy), and a commercial residential quarter-“wanfenghuicheng” community (wfhc) in the high-tech zone of zhengzhou city, henan province. we used the social capital theory to analyze the interviewees' record.

findings: in urban communities, social capital is the most important factor for children (aged 6 to 12) in their ict use. our findings indicate that children in families with higher levels of social capital, such as internal resources, family income, parent educational backgrounds and parents' social network, have more-highly developed ict skills. personal motivation and obstacles, such as lack of access to computers on a regular basis, also have an impact on children's ict use. external social capital, including schools, libraries, and public service institutes, have little impact on children's ict use, if not combined with internal social capital factors.

research limitations: our research samples were collected from two communities within the same city, which may influence the generalization of this research result.

originality/value: to explore the social capital's influence on children's ict use, we used field observation for ict use of children aged 6 to 12 in urban communities in china, and studied the children's ict behavior from the perspective of internal and external social capital.