How South African University Information Systems Students Are Using Social Media

Abstract

Social media is a term used to combine social networking, media sharing and microblogging systems. Social media assists students to improve their academic studies, allows collaboration and sharing of information with each other, and affords students to know what is happening in the world, acquire pictures and videos in support of such information. Information Systems (IS) students are the next generation of technology experts and their exposure to using social media as an alternative source of information and for collaboration might affect features included in systems. This research was conducted following a positivist approach which used a quantitative method to investigate the usage of social media in higher education. An online questionnaire was distributed to undergraduate Information Systems students via email with a link to the questions provided. Statistical inference was performed to test the usage of social media in higher education through the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT).As a result, students viewed social media as a learning tool since it allowed them to enhance their academic performance and ability to explore knowledge. Social media also allowed students to communicate, share and collaborate. Research model confirmed that there's a positive relationship between social media and the behaviours of undergraduate students and regarded social media as a learning tool.Keywords: Generation Z and use of social media, Use of social media in higher education, Undergraduate students and use of social media, Undergraduate students in South Africa and use of social media, Operationalization of UTAUT.

Acceptance of YouTube for Islamic Information Acquisition: A Multi-group Analysis of Students’Academic Discipline

“…Facilitating conditions were expressed in the context of this research as students' views of whether they have access to the tools and assistance they need to utilize YouTube for Islamic information acquisition. Several social media researchers have found that the facilitating conditions are a reliable predictor of intention to utilize social media apps [47] [50]. Therefore, this research hypothesizes that when the ease of facilitating conditions improves, the student's use of YouTube videos for Islamic knowledge will develop.…”