Social Inquiry into Well-Being (Dec 2022)
SOCIAL MEDIA IN HIGHER EDUCATION: STUDENTS’ ACCEPTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE
Abstract
Yang et al. (2010) concluded that different users of information technologies in higher education have different approaches to information technology. Teachers expect to maintain control over the teaching/learning process as in the traditional teaching/learning environment, while students appreciate the use of tools such as interviews, advertisements, etc., aimed at socialization and communication. In the context of education, the issue of acceptance of social media as a new technology in the teaching/learning environment is relevant as a precondition for the improvement of the teaching/learning process. The literature on information systems states that the adoption of new information systems is a prerequisite for the intentionality of use and the use of information systems themselves. Researchers actively investigate the acceptance and use of various information technologies in multiple educational contexts (Liu et al., 2019; Li, 2020). The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that determine students’ acceptance of social media – in other words, social media adoption and use. The object of the research is students’ acceptance of social media in higher education studies and its use in the process of teaching/learning. The objectives of the research consist of the selection of a theoretical model of social media based on literature studies and analysis, the empirical verification of this model, and the study of the factors determining students’ social media acceptance. The research questions are the following: What is the level of students’ social media acceptance? How do students accept social media in the teaching/learning environment? Is there a correlation between behavioural intentionality and use? How do students’ demographic factors affect social media acceptance?In constructing the model of this study, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model was chosen on a theoretical basis. Based on real research circumstances and the theoretical insights of other authors, the UTAUT model was slightly modified by eliminating the variable of voluntariness of use. The UTAUT theoretical model is one of the most widely used models in studies of information and communication technology acceptance modelling. Gao and Deng (2012) applied the UTAUT model to analyse the factors that influence users’ intentionality to use e-books. Their study showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between exploitation expectancy and behaviour intentionality, and between performance expectancy and behavioural intentionality. Based on their research results, Gao and Deng made various proposals for the e-book market. Using UTAUT, Hsu et al. (2014) examined the main factors influencing consumers’ intentionality to use e-books and suggested that the factors influencing consumers’ intentionality to use e-books are related to environmental issues, perceived benefits and benevolent trust. Maduku (2015) relied on the UTAUT theory to investigate gender-specific behaviour intentionality in using e-books. The results of their study showed that the acceptanceand development of technology is statistically significantly related to the gender factor. LawsonBody et al. (2018) applied the UTAUT model to study behavioural incentives for e-book reading apps. It was found that social influence affects consumer intentionality directly and indirectly. In addition, researchers have applied the UTAUT model to study the acceptance and use of physical activity apps (Liu et al., 2019), electronic apps used by nurses to record patient data in emergency settings (Maillet et al., 2015), and data chain technologies (Li, 2020). Students’ acceptance and use of social media was analysed in this study. Students of two universities were interviewed: Mykolas Romeris University and Vytautas Magnus University. The research was exploratory in nature; therefore, non-probability convenience and purposive sampling was used, as the selected student groups were the groups that were taught using social media. The return rate of the questionnaires was high, at 94%, as teachers were personally approached and asked to distribute the questionnaire to the students they teach. The questionnaire was compiled in an effort to adhere to the principle of friendliness to the respondent: the statements of the questionnaire were formulated based on the principle of positive sentences. Where sensitive questions had to be asked, for example about loneliness, the formulated statements related to a neutral frequency factor and not to personal characteristics. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were used for data analysis to determine the internal reliability of the questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to check the factor arrangement of the theoretical construct. Linear regression analysis helped to clarify the answer to the research question: Is there a relationship between behaviour intentionality and use? This showed a statistically significant relationship of moderate strength. We also tested the relationship of behavioural intentionality with other parts of the theoretical construct using multiple linear regression. Using a two-factor analysis of variance, we analysed how frequency and time of social media use are related to the assessment of acquired skills. Using the Student’s t-test, we tested how demographic factors such as gender affect the acceptance of social media.After validation of the theoretical model with the help of factor analysis, a small scattering of the results was observed, which can be explained by the correlation of some theoretical factors and the extension of the UTAUT model by additional constructs. It should also be taken into account that the empirical validation of the UTAUT model was carried out in business organizations where the use of technology was institutionalized as mandatory, whereas this study was conducted in higher education institutions where the use of social media is not mandatory. Multiple regression analysis revealed statistically significant relationships between behavioural intentionality and usability, attitudes toward social media, and provability of results. Attitude towards social media had the greatest influence on students’ acceptance of social media, and the other important impactful elements were provability of results and usability. Linear regression also showed that there was a statistically significant medium strength relation between social media use and behavioural intention. Regarding demographic factors, applying the Student’s t criterion, it was found that the attitudes of young males and females did not differ arithmetically and there were no statistically significant differences in attitudes. This result can be explained by the fact that cultural factors may influence attitudes towards social media, while gender may not demonstrate such an effect. The limitations of the study include the lack of the voluntary/obligatory factor of use, as the use of social media is not mandatory in Lithuanian higher education institutions, and the use of a nonprobabilistic availability sample for the study because of the exploratory nature of the research. In further research, the sample should be organized to reflect the general population more accurately and the theoretical model should also be improved.
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