Volume 19, 2020

INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE ON

STUDENT’S PERCEPTION OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EVIDENCE FROM JORDAN
Ahmad Samed Electronic Business and Commerce [email protected]
Al-Adwan* Department, Al-Ahliyya Amman
University, Amman, Jordan
Nour Awni Albelbisi University of Malaya, [email protected]
Putrajaya, Malaysia
Shadia Hasan Aladwan Al-Balqa Applied University, Basic [email protected]
Sciences Department, Amman, Jordan
Omar Mohammed Electronic Business and Commerce [email protected]
Al Horani Department, Al-Ahliyya Amman
University, Amman, Jordan
Amro Al-Madadha Princess Sumaya University for [email protected]
Technology, Amman, Jordan
Mohammad Hamdi Princess Sumaya University for [email protected]
Al Khasawneh Technology, Amman, Jordan
* Corresponding author

ABSTRACT
Aim/Purpose The main objective of this study is to explore students’ beliefs with regard to
social media use (SMU) in higher education and the consequences of such
use on the perception of their academic performance. Additionally, the study
aims to determine the major influential factors with regard to SMU in student
learn- ing settings as a means of enhancing their performance. To achieve
these objec- tives, drawing on the literature related to SMU in higher education
settings, a re- search model has been developed.
Background Social media platforms have led to a significant transformation with regard to
the communication landscape in higher education in terms of offering
enhanced

Accepting Editor Justin Filippou │Received: July 20, 2020│ Revised: October 4, October 23, 2020 │ Ac-
cepted: November 3, 2020.
Cite as: Al-Adwan, A. S., Albelbisi, N. A, Aladwan, S. H., Al Horani, O. M., Al-Madadha, A., & Al Khasawneh,
M. H. (2020). Investigating the impact of social media use on student’ perception academic of performance
in higher education: Evidence from Jordan. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 19, 953-975.
https://doi.org/10.28945/4661
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Impact of Social Media Use on Student’s Perception of Academic Performance in Higher Education

learning and improved teaching experience. Nevertheless, little is known,

partic- ularly in developing countries such as Jordan, as to whether or not the
use of such platforms by students in higher education increases the
perceptions of their academic performance. Therefore, this study has
developed a model to ex- amine the perceptions of higher education students
with regard to social media use and its effect on their performance.
Methodology The Structural Equation Modelling approach is used to analyze data collected
via an online survey in the form of a questionnaire to examine the use of such
a model. The study sample is drawn from undergraduate and postgraduate
stu- dents from three universities (one public and two private) in Jordan.
Conven- ience sampling is used to collect data. Out of 730 sent
questionnaire, 513 re- sponses were received, of which 403 were deemed
qualified to be part of the data analysis process.
Contribution This study contributes to the literature on social media in higher education
by enhancing our understanding of the perceptions of higher education
students on the use of social media in their learning. The tested model can
be used as a benchmark for other studies that target the impact of social
media on student performance in higher education.
Findings The results reveal that perceptions of (1) usefulness, collaborative learning,
en- hanced communication, enjoyment, and ease of use of social media have a
posi- tive effect on the use of such media in student learning; (2) resource
sharing has an insignificant effect on social media use in student learning, and
(3) social me- dia use has a positive influence on students’ perceptions of
their academic per- formance.
Recommendations Senior management and policy makers in higher education institutions will have
for Practitioners to train faculty members on effective strategies and methods in order to
effec- tively integrate social media into education. This would equip faculty
members with the necessary digital skills needed to help them to be fully
informed regard- ing the benefits of social media and its tools in learning and
teaching activities and would also allow them to avoid any possible
drawbacks. Furthermore, fac- ulty members should reconsider their current
techniques and strategies, and adopt new methods in their teaching that
encourage students to use social me- dia platforms as part of their learning.
For example, they can regularly post dis- cussions and assignments on social
media platforms to inculcate the habit of us- ing such platforms among
students for educational purposes. Students, on the other hand, should be
aware of the implications and potential advantageous as- pects of SMU in
their learning. This could be done by conducting regular work- shops and
seminars in the various faculties and schools at universities.
Recommendations Researchers are encouraged to investigate additional factors that might influ-
for Researchers ence the use of social media by students as well as faculty members.
Specially, an emphasis should be given to identify any potential obstacles that
might hin- der the use of social media in higher education.
Impact on Society Social media is not only useful for socializing, but also it can be an effective
ed- ucational tool that enhance students’ performance in higher education.
Future Research Although the collected data support the research model, this study is subjected
to various limitations that need to be tackled by further studies. This study is
based on the principles of quantitative research design. Data for this study was
collected via survey questionnaires. Accordingly, future studies may consider a

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qualitative research design in order to uncover additional factors that may

im- pact the use of social media on the part of higher education students.
This would allow researchers to generate in-depth insights and a holistic
understand- ing of SMU by higher education students. A convenience sampling
method was employed to select respondents for this study. The respondents
who partici- pated in this study were from three universities (one public and
two private) in Jordan. Accordingly, future research is deemed to be necessary
to achieve a de- gree of generalizability regarding the findings of this study.
Keywords social media, enjoyment, TAM, higher education, usefulness, collaborative
learning, student performance

INTRODUCTION
Technology has transformed the way students learn and the way educators teach, such that it has
the potential to improve the learning experience of students (Glover et al., 2016). Businesses in this
digi- tal economy are forced to make effective use of ICT in order to succeed and survive. Higher
educa- tion is not excluded from such rapidly changing technological advancements (Dumpit &
Fernandez, 2017). Therefore, higher education cannot overlook such progress as these
technological changes can bring about significant insights and benefits to the academic field.
Students nowadays are recognized as pro-active users of ICTs and as being technologically savvy.
McLoughlin and Lee (2008) point out that students are viewed as “active producers of knowledge”
as they are becoming increasingly self- directed and in charge of their learning. Hence, institutions
of higher education are required to ad- dress the uncertainties that may face students with regard
to their learning process and discover new processes and ways to improve student learning,
satisfaction, and performance through the use of ICTs. One such ICT is social media.
Social media is recognized as a contemporary innovation introduced to boost collaboration and
com- munication on a broad scale (Aldahdouh et al., 2020). Since their launch, the diffusion of
social me- dia has rapidly grown, with the volume of users increasing daily (Chugh & Ruhi, 2018).
Furthermore, social media has become an essential element of the professional and personal aspects
of individuals. Social media is regarded by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) as “a group of Internet-
based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and
that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content” (p. 61). However, social media
as a term is viewed as a set of tools that consist of wikis, bookmarking services, discussion forums,
and blogging services. Ac- cordingly, Chugh and Ruhi (2018) point out that social network sites
(SNSs) are implicitly incorpo- rated within the underlying concept of social media and described as
“an online service allowing us- ers to construct a public or private profile to connect and interact
with their social connections”
(p. 606). For the sake of both consistency and clarity, the term social media will henceforth be used
in this study to refer solely to SNSs.
With the massive penetration of mobile devices among the student population, specifically in the
case of millennials, it has been argued that traditional methods of offering learning via learning
man- agement systems (LMS) are relatively less efficiency in terms of building effective learning
settings, as such systems have several drawbacks such as enabling activities that reduce learning
efficiency and being less student-centered than other approaches (Rahman et al., 2019). Anderson
and Dron (2017) state that, although many institutions of higher education worldwide have been
employing LMS to assist student learning, several of the most commonly employed systems are
teacher‐centered and do not provide Web 2.0 features such as dynamic content, vibrant user
experience, and user participa- tion and interaction (teacher–student, student–student). The
characteristics of Web 2.0 technology have made the use of social media more appealing
compared with LMS (Rahman et al. 2019). Thus, social media is recognized as a key player in
teaching and learning (Dumpit & Fernandez, 2017). It is referred by Kietzmann et al. (2011) as one
that “employs mobile and web-based technologies to cre- ate highly interactive platforms via
which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and
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modify user-generated content” (p. 241). The academic field has become increasingly aware of the
remarkable capabilities of social media in terms of improving the learning experience (Sánchez et al.,
2019). Social media can be employed for many purposes in academic environments such as encour-
aging student interaction, providing supplementary help, providing course-related information, and
encouraging class discussion boards.
However, even with the valuable advantages associated with using social media, universities are
not actively adopting it despite the fact they may not suffer from vulnerable infrastructure to
integrate social media with their learning platforms. Hew (2011) justifies that this by referring to
the fact that social media is more appropriate for socializing than for educational purposes.
Furthermore, Aymer- ich-Franch and Fedele (2014) point out that students are inclined to
separate their social lives from their academic ones when it comes to their use of social media.
Both students and instructors may hesitate to adopt social media due to privacy‐related concerns.
Al-Qaysi et al. (2020) state that many scholars have been attracted to studying social media, given
that it is a hot research area in various fields, one of which is higher education. Although the
literature of- fers robust evidence that social media (e.g. Facebook) can be an effective tool for
learning in that it provides several advantages (Chugh & Ruhi, 2018; Sánchez et al., 2019; Sarwar
et al., 2019), there is very limited knowledge available about students’ perceptions with respect to
the utilization of social media as a learning tool and whether such use influences students’
performance. This argument holds true, taking into consideration developing countries such as
Jordan. In Jordan, while many studies have investigated the adoption of various educational
technologies (Al-Adwan, 2020; Al-Adwan & Khdour, 2020; Al-Adwan et al., 2018), the factors
that motivate Jordanian students to use social me- dia for educational purposes in higher education
are still insufficiently explored. Additionally, there is a limited amount of research investigating the
effect of social media usage on students’ academic per- formance. Thus, the main objective of this
study is to explore students’ beliefs with regard to social media use (SMU) in higher education
and the consequences of such use on the perception of their academic performance. Additionally,
the study aims to determine the major influential factors with regard to SMU in student learning
settings as a means of enhancing their performance. To achieve these objectives, drawing on the
literature related to SMU in higher education settings, an extend Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM) model has been developed.

RATIONAL OF THE STUDY

A considerable number of studies used TAM to investigate the adoption of social media in higher
education. Yet, these studies focus on perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use
(PEOU) as the main determinant perceptions toward predicting social media use and its effect on
student per- formance, which has provided incomplete understanding of social media use in higher
education and has provoked the development of proper adoption strategies. Accordingly, the
current study has re- formed TAM by including contextually-specific factors that consider the
distinctive characteristics of social media. The reformation of TAM retains PU and PEOU as key
determinants of social media use; it also includes the inclusion of collaborative learning (COL),
perceived enhanced communica- tion (PEC), perceived enjoyment (PEE), and resource sharing
(RES). These factors act as additional potential predictors of social media use. As the findings of
the currents study indicate, except for re- source sharing, all these factors serve as enablers of
social media use by higher education students.
The insignificant relationship between resource sharing and social media use was surprising. As indi-
cated earlier in the previous section, the sharing of information, knowledge, and material is an
im- portant aspect of social media use and value for student performance. Accordingly, the
construct of resource sharing used in this study should be revised and explored further. This
reformation of TAM brought an extra broadness to the exploration of the factors that impact
social media use by higher education students by pinpointing the influence of these factors on
social media use and subse- quently on student’s perception of performance. The results thus
allow higher education facilitators and senior management to develop informed plans and
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strategies to improve the use of social media

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in the future. Hence, this contribution extends the reach of this study with regard to an
understand- ing of the foundations and motivations allied with students’ acceptance to the use of
social media. Additionally, this study is based in Jordan, which provides a Middle East-Arabic
context from a de- veloping country perspective. Moreover, the current findings offer a
comparison and complementary perspective in respect of social media adoption research in
developed and non-Middle Eastern/Ara- bic countries.

THEORETICAL MODEL AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT

The proposed research model is presented in this section. As indicated in Figure 1, the
dependent variable is student performance (STP), while social media use (SMU) mediates the
relationship be- tween STP and six independent variables: collaborative learning (COL),
perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived enhanced communication (PEC), perceived enjoyment
(PEE), perceived useful- ness (PU), and resources (RES). Previous related literature is used to
develop hypotheses to be con- sidered in conjunction with the proposed research model. The
next subsections describe how these constructs are related to SMU and, subsequently, to student
performance.

Figure 1. The Research Model

PERCEIVED EASE OF USE (PEOU) AND PERCEIVED U SEFULNESS (PU)

User perceptions with regard to ease of use and usefulness are recognized as key elements in terms
of technology acceptance and use. PEOU is perceived by Davis (1989) as “the degree to which a
person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort” (p. 320), whereas PU
means “the de- gree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his
or her job perfor- mance” (p. 320). If a technology is recognized as being easy to use, then it is
more likely that the technology will be adopted and used. Similar to Sánchez et al.’s (2019)
stance, PEOU in this study refers to the extent to which students consider that the usage of social
media platforms for educa- tional purposes would not involve extra effort. PU indicates the extent
to which students consider that the use of social media platforms for educational purposes would
enhance their educational per- formance. When a specific social media platform is perceived by
students as being easy to use and to support their learning, then they are inclined to use the social
media platform in their education (Rah- man et al., 2019). This points to the fact that, if students
are not forced to spend substantial amounts of effort and time in terms of understanding and
learning how to use a particular social media plat- form, then they can be encouraged to use it in
their learning. Moreover, a technology has high PU when it increases the performance of its users
(Davis, 1989). Subsequently, students will believe that social media sites are useful if the use of
such platforms improves their learning outcomes and per- formance. Al-Mashaqbeh (2015) points
out that social media platforms are viewed as effective tools with regard to learning and education,
and students feel comfortable in terms of interacting with, and
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using, these platforms. Hence, it is expected that ease of use and usefulness beliefs to have an
impact on student performance through SMU.
H1: “Perceived ease of use has a significant relationship with social media use”.
H2: “Perceived usefulness has a significant relationship with social media use”.

COLLABORATIVE L EARNING (COL)

In the present era, most of higher education students are recognized as frequent users of social
media platforms as a means of staying informed about their social life (Al-Rahmi & Zeki, 2017).
Students’ participation in learning is seen to be improved through the usage of social media.
Social media en- gagement involves students’ in making mental and physical efforts and spending
time boosting their educational performance (Ansari & Khan, 2020). It also involves the amount
of time spent interact- ing with instructors and peers as part of collaborative learning. Sarwar et al.
(2019) define collabora- tive learning as “an activity that involves a process where a group of
students collaborate with each other to achieve some problem-solving task in a more interactive
environment” (p. 10). By using so- cial media platforms, students are allowed to interact,
collaborate, and share education-related con- tent with peers/instructors. It also helps them
establish new, and maintain, connections with others (Faiza & El Fkihi, 2018). Furthermore,
collaborative learning through social media facilitates knowledge-sharing and learning among
students because the various social media tools effectively support such collaborative learning
(Aldahdouh et al., 2020). Moreover, these platforms facilitate the building of communities of
practice, which enhance both interaction and collaboration among com- munity members.
Subsequently, information exchange through these platforms enables academic communities to
build an effective and smooth interaction and improve communication among stu- dents and
instructors (Murire & Cilliers, 2019).
Ansari and Khan (2020) state that, besides enhancing collaboration and communication among
stu- dents/instructors, the use of social media in students’ education improves their capabilities
when it comes to problem solving, as well as enabling them to organize social activities in a
collaborative manner. For example, students can send/receive messages, post comments, and
upload images, vid- eos, audios, and text documents on social media platforms. Accordingly, by
sharing useful infor- mation, resources, comments, and notes on such platforms, the whole
learning process is promoted. As a result, such platforms boost collaborative learning, as students
are permitted to work coopera- tively towards a common goal. Thus, student performance is
inclined to be influenced by collabora- tive learning through SMU.
H3: “Collaborative learning has a significant relationship with social media use”.

PERCEIVED E NH ANCED COMMUNICATION (PEC)

Social media platforms provide users with a variety of communication channels which can be em-
ployed by academic communities to share information and knowledge (Sánchez et al., 2019). In
con- trast to official communication channels (e.g., email), people nowadays are more active on social
me- dia platforms than ever before, which can also assist academic communities to rapidly
distribute any vital educational information and disseminate knowledge. This means of
communication is deemed to be promising for academic communities because it facilitates rapid
communication and engage- ment with other members in a collaborative learning environment
(Castro-Romero, 2015). It is antic- ipated that the active use of social media platforms and the
formation of virtual relationships allows users to gain access to varied sets of information from
diversified sources (Sarwar et al., 2019).
Hidayanto and Setyady (2014) explain that it is expected that students will make increased use of
these platforms to achieve educational-related tasks, as it has been confirmed that it enhances
interac- tion and communication between groups. Social media is considered as a rich resource
for learning,

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allowing students to make use of new communication tools, an important resource in terms of
infor- mation and effective participation. Many scholars have suggested the adoption of social
media plat- forms as a method of communication for the academic community. For example,
Bernard and Dzan- dza (2018) and Arshad and Akram (2018) state that social media platforms
can offer learners effec- tive communication channels through social media apps and tools (e.g.,
Facebook), thus providing academic communities with a novel means of knowledge construction
and of sharing educational in- formation. Faculty can effectively communicate with their students
via social media; instructors can build teams and discussion groups that enable students to share
their questions and ideas with their classmates and to responsively seek support and guidance from
their instructors (Zachos et al., 2018). Subsequently, this enhancement in communication may
improve students’ mutual performance.
Hence, the perception of enhanced communication would significantly influence SMU and subse-
quently student performance.
H4: “Perceived enhanced communication has a significant relationship with social media use”.

PERCEIVED ENJOYMENT (PEE)

The increasing use of social media is also greatly impacted by enjoyment as a motivating element
(Al- Rahmi & Zeki 2017). Davis et al. (1992) state that perceived enjoyment means “the degree to
which the activity of using technology is supposed to be enjoyable in its own way, apart from any
likely per- formance concerns.” Additionally, Wang et al. (2019) point out that enjoyment refers to
the degree to which individuals experience happiness when performing a specific task, without any
external rein- forcements. Enjoyment is constantly described as a key intrinsic motivator that
drives individuals to perform a specific task because they enjoy performing it (Gan & Balkrishnan,
2017). It is evident that individuals would be keen to put more effort and time into doing tasks and
have greater curiosity and increased acceptance and use of information technology when these
tasks generate a considerable de- gree of enjoyment. In this study enjoyment represents the extent
to which student experience joy when using social media as part of their education. The use of
social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) is recognized as providing enjoyment and fun
due to posting various videos and pictures. Providing such exciting posts can bring about pleasure
and entertainment for users (Sarwar et al., 2019). It has been indicated by Rauniar et al. (2014)
that the level of interactivity that a website en- courages is the key influential element in terms of
its usage, as users learn and enjoy more in such collaborative and interactive settings. Sánchez et
al. (2014) point out that users who enjoy using a particular website would consider their
interactions with the website positively and subsequently ex- press favorable attitudes toward its
usage to boost their collaborative learning. Thus, it is expected that enjoyment influences student
performance indirectly through SMU.
H5: “Perceived enjoyment has a significant relationship with social media use”.

R ESOURCE S HARING (RES)

Arshad and Akram (2018) define resource sharing as “an individual’s agreement to sharing their
re- sources, such as ideas and academic material with others through social media platforms” (p.
248). Ganapathi (2019) demonstrates that various social media tools allow users to share and
disseminate resources and user-generated content. In addition, Selwyn (2012) explains that social
media platforms are recognized as a medium that helps both the providers and seekers of
knowledge in terms of teaching and learning by creating a collaborative environment. The related
literature proposes that social media facilitates the process of sharing knowledge/information by
offering collaborative chan- nels for disseminating online learning materials and resources (Arshad
& Akram, 2018). This suggest that activities involving social media tools enable a smooth sharing
and dissemination of resources, and that learners recognize this medium to be useful and easy to
use, because it assists them in shar- ing their resources and knowledge with the targeted
individual/group more effectively.

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H6: “Resource sharing has a significant relationship with social media use”.

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SOCIAL MEDIA USE (SMU)

In this study, SMU refers to students’ perceptions with respect to the use of social media for
learning purposes. Investigating students’ perceptions regarding SMU is essential, as students tend
to make judgements in terms of the quality of education that they receive (Sánchez et al., 2019).
A great deal of research has proven the effectiveness of using social media tools in an educational
environment. With the use of social media, the boundaries of traditional classrooms can be
expanded and academic engagement can be promoted. It is revealed by Ansari and Khan (2020)
that students’ engagement has a direct influence on academic performance. Engaged students are
found to be relatively active in classroom activities, keen to contribute in additional classroom
activities, and demonstrate a motiva- tion to learn which significantly results in academic
achievement. Al-Qaysi et al. (2020) state that the use of social media tools by higher education
students “improves the learning process by positively enhancing knowledge acquisition, resource
and information sharing, active participation, interaction, collaboration, and critical thinking” (p.
2087). Moreover, the use of social media can stimulate per- sonal learning as an educational
method to improve self-directed learning (Yot-Domínguez & Mar- celo, 2017). Sarwar et al.
(2019) state that the various social media tools “share most of the features of magnificent
educational technologies regarding peer-feedback, student mentoring, and matching the social
context of learning.” The above-mentioned research demonstrates many positive aspects with
regard to upgrading and supporting educational processes through the use of social media. At the
same time, such use promotes successful educational outcomes. They investigate the aspects the
social media may affect (e.g., collaborative learning, communication) and confirm that social
media can create a more effective educational environment and enhance educational
performance.
H7: “Social media use has a significant relationship with student performance”.

STUDENT PERFORMANCE
The use of social media platforms permits people to interact with each other, make associations,
ex- press themselves, and seek information (Sarwar et al., 2019). Social media platforms include
many ap- plications that can be used by students for learning and entertainment purposes. It has
been noted that there has been an increased use of different social media applications because they
have become vital for learning purposes in the daily lives of students (Al-Rahmi & Zeki, 2017).
Previous research confirms the positive relationship between social media platform use and
learner performance, in that such use results in higher grades (Helou & Rahim, 2014). The use of
social media is found to in- crease student motivation and improve engagement (Park et al., 2018).
Furthermore, the use of social media leads to effective interaction, and access to educational
content can be enhanced. Moreover, it has been identified that SMU can be an effective
mechanism for informally reducing the gap among faculty and students with respect to
communication, which in turn provides students with the benefit of being able to learn flexibly
(Powers et al., 2012).
Social media platforms are acknowledged as a critical tool for the student development process as
learning is greatly impacted by community participation. With regard to such a process, Tarantino
et al. (2013) point out that student engagement reflects the time and determination they dedicate
to their educational activities, which, as a result, is correlated with improved student development
and learning outcomes. Additionally, research carried out by Al-Rahmi et al. (2015) found that the
productivity of students is reliant on their interactions through social media platforms, their
engage- ment, and their satisfaction with regard to participating in collaborative learning
experiences. Learn- ers seek to build competencies in terms of knowledge dissemination and to
learn with others through online and face-to-face interaction. In such a way, teaching communities
enable students to learn and work collaboratively in such a way as to develop knowledge.

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METHODS AND PROCEDURES

This study is quantitative in nature and employs an online survey methodology to examine the
pro- posed research model. All items used to measure the constructs are borrowed from
previously vali- dated research (see the Appendix), therefore ensuring content validity. These
items are contextual- ized and formed to fit the research design of this study. A five‐point Likert
scale, ranging from “1- strongly agree” to “5-strongly disagree”, is employed to measure all of the
survey items. The survey involves a total of 30 items distributed over the eight constructs of the
research model (see the Ap- pendix). It also includes demographic data such as educational level,
gender, age, and extent of SMU (see Table 1). The questionnaire survey was pilot tested with a
panel of students, academics, and re- searchers, after which essential amendments were made in
order to enhance the clarity and content of the questionnaire. Since the objective of this is to
explore higher education students’ perceptions with regard to the use of social media in terms of
enhancing their performance, the study sample is drawn from undergraduate and postgraduate
students from three universities (one public and two private) in Jordan. Students are invited to
participate in this study by emailing them the URL of the online survey. Convenience sampling is
used to collect data. Out of 730 sent questionnaire, 513 re- sponses were received, of which 403
were deemed qualified to be part of the data analysis process. When the questionnaire was sent,
many students were using social media platforms for educational purposes and in order to
participate in courses. Those who had never used social media platforms for educational purposes
responded to the questions in terms of how they would feel if they had used such platforms.
Table 1. Demographic profile of participants
Variable Category Frequency Percentage
Gender Male 207 53%
Female 196 47%
Age <20 131 33%
21-30 175 43%
>31 96 24%
Education Bachelor 316 78%
Master 75 19%
PhD 12 3%
1-2 times 31 8%

Usage of 3-4 times 127 32%

social media >4 232 57%
used per week
for educa- None 13 3%
tional purposes

DATA ANALYSIS
Based on the research model and its proposed hypotheses, the structural equation modeling
(SEM) approach along with SmartPLS version 33.2 software was employed for undertaking the data
analysis and establishing the research model. The reason behind the use of SEM lies in its ability
to allow multiple independent and dependent variables to be modeled (Lowry & Gaskin, 2014).
According

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Kline to (2010), SEM consists of two main phases: the measurement model and the structural
model. While the measurement model tests the reliability and validity of the research model’s
constructs, the structural model is based on path analysis to test the proposed hypotheses in the
research model.

M EASUREMENT MODEL ASSESSMENT

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used to ensure that the research model’s constructs have
rea- sonable reliability and validity. CFA is carried out to examine the constructs’ internal
consistency through Cronbach Alpha and through composite reliability (CR). In addition, CFA
examines whether or not the commonly accepted criteria of convergent and discriminant validity
are satisfied. As Table 2 demonstrates, the coefficients of both Cronbach Alpha and CR surpass
the suggested limit of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2019), demonstrating that all constructs demonstrate a
reasonable level of internal con- sistency reliability. Convergent validity is weighted by the means
of item loadings, and “Average Vari- ance Extracted” (AVE). Table 2 confirms that the loadings of
each construct’s items are higher than the recommended cut-off limit of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2019).
Furthermore, the AVE value of each con- struct is greater than the recommended limit of 0.5.
Therefore, convergent validity for the dataset is confirmed. Finally, multi-collinearity examination
is performed based on the variance inflation factor (VIF) test (Kock, 2015). As Table 2
demonstrates, the value of VIF for all constructs is less than 5, indicating the absence of multi-
collinearity.
Table 2. Instrument validation
Compo-
Load- Cronbach
Construct Item site Relia- AVE* VIF**
ing Alpha
bility
Collaborative COL1 0.87 0.89 0.93 0.76 2.23
Learning (COL) COL2 0.86
COL3 0.89
COL4 0.88
Perceived En- PEC1 0.89 0.91 0.93 0.77 2.47
hanced Commu-
PEC2 0.88
nication (PEC)
PEC3 0.86
PEC4 0.87
Perceived Enjoy- PEE1 0.88 0.89 0.92 0.75 1.94
ment (PEE)
PEE2 0.86
PEE3 0.87
PEE4 0.85
Perceived Ease PEOU1 0.82 0.86 0.9 0.70 2.45
of Use (PEOU)
PEOU2 0.83
PEOU3 0.84
PEOU4 0.85

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Compo-
Load- Cronbach
Construct Item site Relia- AVE* VIF**
ing Alpha
bility
Perceived Useful- PU1 0.90 0.90 0.92 0.76 2.27
ness (PU) PU2 0.87
PU3 0.89
PU4 0.86
Recourse Sharing RES1 0.86 0.85 0.91 0.77 2.10
(RES)
RES2 0.89
RES3 0.88
Social Media Use SMU1 0.92 0.93 0.95 0.83 2.90
(SMU)
SMU2 0.91
SMU3 0.93
SMU4 0.90
Student STP1 0.91 0.90 0.94 0.84 -
Perfor- mance
(STP) STP2 0.92
STP3 0.90
*AVE: Average variance extracted ", **VIF: "Variance inflation factor
Two criteria are employed to evaluate discriminant validity: 1) the criterion of “heterotrait-monotrait
ratio” (HTMT) (Henseler et al., 2015), and 2) Fornell and Larcker’s (1981) criterion. The results of
the HTMT test shown in Table 3 indicates that all estimates of HTMT are less than the recom-
mended limit of 0.85.
Table 3. HTMT ratio
COL PEC PEE PEOU PU RES SMU STP
COL -
PEC 0.72 -
PEE 0.61 0.65 -
PEOU 0.71 0.73 0.66 -
PU 0.65 0.71 0.62 0.73 -
RES 0.67 0.69 0.64 0.73 0.69 -
SMU 0.73 0.75 0.70 0.77 0.73 0.71 -
STP 0.57 0.59 0.56 0.64 0.56 0.64 0.65 -

Furthermore, the test of Fornell and Larcker’s criterion in Table 4 shows that the √AVE of each
con- struct in the structural model is higher than the correlation with any other construct.
Accordingly, based on these tests, there is evidence to conclude that discriminant validity is
present in the dataset.

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 Impact of Social Media Use on Student’s Perception of Academic Performance in Higher Education

Table 4. Fornell and Larcker’s criterion

COL PEC PEE PEOU PU RES SMU STP
COL *0.876
PEC **0.64 0.88
PEE 0.55 0.59 0.87
PEOU 0.63 0.64 0.57 0.84
PU 0.58 0.65 0.56 0.64 0.88
RES 0.59 0.60 0.56 0.62 0.61 0.88
SMU 0.68 0.69 0.65 0.69 0.68 0.64 0.92
STP 0.52 0.54 0.51 0.57 0.50 0.56 0.60 0.92

* The numbers on the leading diagonal are the square root of AVE for each construct
** Correlation among the constructs"
Finally, the model performance is evaluated by the means of the model fit indices (Henseler et
al., 2016). The fit indices of the proposed model presented in Table 5 confirm a satisfactory fit
between the observed data and the hypothesized model. This suggests that the 30 item 8 construct
model re- sults in a satisfactory limit with regard to model fit.
Table 5. Fit indices
Actual
Index Recommended Value/Condition
Value
SRMR - "Standardized Root Mean Square Resid-
<0.08 0.0481
ual"
NFI - "Normed Fit Index" >0.9 0.932
d_ULS - "Unweighted Least Squares" "d_ULS < bootstrapped HI 95% of d 0.443
_ULS and d_G < bootstrapped HI
d_G - "Geodesic Discrepancies" 95% of d_G" 0.356

S TRUCTURAL MODEL ASSESSMENT

After satisfying the reliability and validity of the measurement model, the outlined hypotheses of
the research model are examined. Figure 2 displays the results of path analysis (path coefficients
of all hypotheses) as drawn by SmartPLS 3.3.2. While it is observed that all of the hypotheses
presented in Figure 1 are supported and accepted, H6 is rejected and not supported. The results
demonstrate that PU (β=0.179), PEOU (β=0.185), COL (β=0.191), PEC (β=0.158) and PEE
(β=0.184) have signifi-
cant positive effects on SMU. In contrast, the effect of RES (β=0.104) on SMU is found to be
insig- nificant. All the above-mentioned constructs explain 67.1% (R2=0.671) of the variance in
SMU. Ad- ditionally, SMU (β=0.598) has a significant positive effect on STP, explaining 35.7%
(R2=0.3587) of the variance in STP.

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Figure 2. Path analysis

**p-value< 0.001, *p-value< 0.01, NS: not significant

Table 6 summarizes the path coefficient, t-statistic and p-value for each of the proposed
hypotheses. The following section demonstrates the indirect effects in the research model.
Table 6. Path analysis statistics
Path β T-Statistics P-Values
COL -> SMU 0.191 3.27 *0.001
PEC -> SMU 0.158 2.74 *0.006
PEE -> SMU 0.184 3.38 *0.001
PEOU -> SMU 0.185 3.47 *0.001
PU -> SMU 0.179 3.48 *0.001
RES -> SMU 0.104 1.92 N.S0.055

SMU -> STP 0.598 9.87 **0.000

β: path coefficient, “**p-value< 0.001, *p-value< 0.01, NS: not significant

TOTAL INDIRECT EFFECT

The total indirect effects of all the independent variables on STP through SMU are presented in
Ta- ble 7. All independent variables have significant positive indirect effects on STP through SMU
except for RES which shows a non-significant indirect effect on STP. Such results demonstrate
that COL, PEE, PU, PEOU, and PEC participate considerably in enhancing STP by increasing
SMU.

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Impact of Social Media Use on Student’s Perception of Academic Performance in Higher Education

Table 7. Total indirect effect

Path β T Statistics P Values
COL -> STP 0.114 3.08 0.002**
PEC -> STP 0.095 2.55 0.011*
PEE -> STP 0.110 3.27 0.000***
PEOU -> STP 0.111 3.14 0.002**
PU -> STP 0.107 3.39 0.001**
RES -> STP 0.086 1.86 0.025N.S
β: path coefficient, ***p-value< 0.001, **p-value< 0.01, *p-value< 0.05, NS: not significant”
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The findings of this study demonstrate that perceptions of ease of use and usefulness have a
signifi- cant positive effect on SMU. While similar findings are reported by previous researchers
(Arshad & Akram, 2018; Rahman et al., 2019), these findings are contrary to the results of Sánchez
et al. (2019). In addition, perceived enhanced communication is found to have a positive influence
on SMU, which is in line with Arshad and Akram (2018). The respondents of this study confirm
that the use of social media is useful and can increase their learning performance and productivity.
Additionally, they consider ease of use as a key reason for encouraging the use of social media in
their academic life.
Moreover, improved communication is viewed by the respondents as another predictor of SMU in
their learning. It was found that social media usage enables improved communication, creativeness,
access to online classroom discussion and online resource on the part of individuals (Sarwar et
al., 2019). Teaching materials can be posted on the various social media portals, which in turn
boosts students’ online access in that it is free of cost and can be accessed anytime. Consequently,
students are able to gain access to various communication channels and learning tools, which
subsequently improves their engagement and interaction (with peers and instructors). It is worth
mentioning that perceived usefulness, perceived enhanced communication, and perceived ease of use
are highly influ- enced by the massive penetration of mobile devices, and especially smart phones,
among higher edu- cation students. Students are considered as being mobile savvy, which points to
the fact that they can easily use the different mobile applications (Pedro et al., 2018). It has been
noted by Conradie et al. (2013) that mobile devices have a significant positive effect on learners’
enjoyment, engagement, and motivation. Mobile devices have contributed significantly in terms of
making social media platforms extremely accessible, and thus widely popular and highly used.
Being available on mobile devices has made social media platforms more accessible, easier to join,
and more convenient. Students are heav- ily reliant on mobile devices to share content/information,
participate, be notified when peers/edu- cators interact with educational materials, or send new
information/content.
Furthermore, the findings reveal that perceived enjoyment has a significant positive influence on
SMU, which is consistent with the findings of previous studies (Al-Rahmi & Zeki, 2017; Sarwar et
al., 2019). The respondents of this study consider social media as a source of enjoyment and
entertain- ment. Social media has gained a wide reputation among people due to its convenience
and global use. It has been noted that most current higher education students (undergraduate and
postgraduate) have grown up with social media (Spector, 2015). Accordingly, most higher
education students are very familiar with social media and they enjoy using it heavily throughout
their daily lives, including their education. Students find it fun and enjoy the use of social media
for community building, communi- cation, and collaborative work.

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Unlike previous research (Arshad & Akram, 2018), resource sharing is found to have an insignificant
impact on social media for academic purposes. The respondents of this study believe that sharing
re- sources via social media is not an influential factor in terms of their SMU for academic
purposes.
This finding could be justified by the fact that students believe that social media platforms are
more useful for discussions, share opinions/knowledge, communicate with peers, and exchange
academic information related to their courses (e.g., important announcements, exams, and
assignment dates) than for sharing educational materials. Students prefer to use other channels
(e.g., emails, Dropbox) to share educational materials especially if the intended materials’ contents
are difficult to be shared through social media platforms. The various limitations and restrictions
found on social media plat- forms might be viewed by students as an obstacle in terms of sharing
educational materials. For in- stance, Facebook does not allow users to share PDF files on their
personal pages or to share executa- ble files. Accordingly, perhaps the construct of resource
sharing should be analyzed as two separate constructs: material sharing and knowledge sharing. In
agreement with previous research (Arshad & Akram, 2018), collaborative learning is reported to
have a positive significant impact on SMU. The participants feel that the use of social media boosts
their capabilities to engage in an increasingly col- laborative learning environment. Such a finding
demonstrates that social media act as a “dynamic tool” to assist the process of developing
learning environments by promoting collaboration among students. Sarwar et al. (2019) point out
that “using communication media enables the students to en- hance healthy class discussions,
student engagement, and peer integration” (p. 21). Al-Rahmi et al. (2015) point out that students
are enabled to learn how to work with others more effectively through collaborative learning
created by social media. Furthermore, it has been argued that the collaborative learning supports
the use of social media and creative learning. Collaborative learning embraces the connections and
interactions of students with curricula. In this case, given that only a part of learning takes place in
the classroom, social media allows the learning environment to be extended to outside the
classroom.
Finally, in line with related literature (Al-Rahmi & Zeki, 2017; Sarwar et al., 2019), SMU has a signifi-
cant positive relationship with student performance. Students who participated in this study believe
that social media usage in their learning increases their academic performance. Social media
enables collaboration and effective communication, facilitates relationship development among
students, of- fers prompt opportunities for curricula distribution and improvement, and allows
users to perform tasks that are beyond the actual classroom. In the same context, Castro-Romero
(2015) states that students have the ability “to connect a network to create, edit, transform, and/or
share content with others through virtual learning communities” (p. 12). Subsequently, all these
features seem to be ad- vantageous in terms students’ academic outcomes and performance.
The findings of this study show that the majority of the students who participated in this study
have a favorable attitude towards incorporating social media into their education, and that they
actively use these social media platforms for educational purposes. Incorporating social media
platforms into aca- demic settings will give rise to major changes in learning styles and teaching
methods at higher educa- tion institutions in Jordan. As demonstrated by the literature, the main
teaching style in Jordan is the lecturing method, whereby students, mostly, have a limited role to
play, except to be a listener and memorize what the lecturer delivers (Al-Adwan & Khdour,
2020). The chance to give students an opportunity to deliberate and share ideas with the class is
restricted due to the large number of stu- dents in the class, the curriculum, the lecture time and,
furthermore, the absence of training in teach- ing methods. Nevertheless, the findings of this
study endorse a set of motivating measures, such as positive perceptions of usefulness and ease of
use, collaborative learning, improving students’ com- munication skills, and generating enjoyment;
undeniably, such motivational measures inspire students to incorporate social media into their
academic life. Accordingly, it is fundamental to determine fac- ulty members’ and students’
motivations and concerns regarding integrating social media into aca- demic settings; it is also
essential to identify practical experiences with regard to how both students and faculty members
effectively use social media platforms in academic settings. Definitely, the use of such platforms
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will play a part in developing Jordanian higher education strategies in terms of

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practice and policy. Senior management and policy makers in higher education institutions will
have to train faculty members on effective strategies and methods in order to effectively integrate
social media into education. This would equip faculty members with the necessary digital skills
needed to help them to be fully informed regarding the benefits of social media and its tools in
learning and teaching activities and would also allow them to avoid any possible drawbacks.
Furthermore, faculty members should reconsider their current techniques and strategies, and adopt
new methods in their teaching that encourage students to use social media platforms as part of their
learning. For example, they can regularly post discussions and assignments on social media
platforms to inculcate the habit of using such platforms among students for educational purposes.
Students, on the other hand, should be aware of the implications and potential advantageous
aspects of SMU in their learning.
This could be done by conducting regular workshops and seminars in the various faculties and
schools at universities.

THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION
A considerable number of studies used TAM to investigate the adoption of social media in higher
education. Yet, these studies focus pay more attention to PU and PEOU as the main determinant
perceptions toward predicting social media use and its effect on student performance, which
there- fore has provided incomplete understanding of social media use in higher education and
has pro- voked the development of proper adoption strategies. Accordingly, the current study has
reformed TAM by including contextually specific factors that consider the distinctive
characteristics of social media. The reformation of TAM retains PU and PEOU as key
determinants of social media use, it also includes the inclusion of collaborative learning (COL),
perceived enhanced communication (PEC), perceived enjoyment (PEE), and resource sharing
(RES). These factors act as additional po- tential predictors of social media use. As the findings of
the currents study indicate, except for re- source sharing, all these factors serve as enablers of
social media use by higher education students. The insignificant relationship between resource
sharing and social media use was surprising. As indi- cated earlier in this study, that the sharing of
information, knowledge and material is an important aspect of social media use and value for the
student performance. Accordingly, the construct of re- source sharing used in this study should be
revised and explored further. This reformation brought an extra broadness to the exploration of the
factors that impact social media use by higher education students by pinpointing the influence of
these factors on social media use and subsequently on stu- dent’s perception of performance. The
results thus allow higher education facilitators and senior management to implement effective
strategies to enhance the usage of social media in the future.
Therefore, this contribution expands the reach of this study in terms of an understanding of the
driv- ers that motivate students to acceptance of the use of social media. Moreover, this study is
conducted in Jordan, which offers a Middle East-Arabic context from a developing country
perspective. Moreo- ver, the current findings provide a comparison and complementary
perspective regarding social me- dia adoption in higher education research in developed and non-
Middle Eastern/Arabic countries.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

The increase use of social media by students necessitates more attention on the part of higher
educa- tion institutions. Social media motivates students to be involved in learning through
effective interac- tion and offers a great chance for collaborative learning. The aim of this study
was to investigate the impact of various factors on SMU which lead to a better student
performance. The results of the study offer insights into the potential educational benefits that can
be generated from the use of so- cial media in higher education, specifically in terms of student
performance. The findings of the study demonstrate that the use of social media for learning
purposes can increase students’ perception of their academic performance. Additionally, the
findings show that perceived enjoyment, perceived en- hanced communication, collaborative
learning, ease of use, and usefulness perceptions are recognized as the key determinants behind
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Impact of Social Media Use on Student’s Perception of Academic Performance in Higher Education
students’ decisions to use social media for academic purposes. At the same time, the factor of
resource sharing is found to have an insignificant impact on SMU. This

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study contributes to the literature on social media in higher education by enhancing our
understand- ing of the perceptions of higher education students on the use of social media in their
learning.
Although the collected data support the research model, this study is subjected to various
limitations that need to be tackled by further studies. This study is based on the principles of
quantitative re- search design. Data for this study was collected via survey questionnaires.
Furthermore, the selection of the research model constructs was based on previous research.
Accordingly, future studies may consider a qualitative research design in order to uncover
additional factors that may impact the use of social media on the part of higher education students.
This would allow researchers to generate in- depth insights and a holistic understanding of SMU by
higher education students (Al Adwan, 2017). A convenience sampling method was employed to
select respondents for this study. The respondents who participated in this study were from three
universities (one public and two private) in Jordan.
Accordingly, future research is deemed to be necessary to achieve a degree of generalizability regard-
ing the findings of this study. Finally, the current study has not differentiated between the various
so- cial media sites and platforms in terms of their impact on student performance. Specifically, the
func- tionality, popularity, and level of experience with the various social media platforms are varied
among students. Follow-up studies might apply the research model with different social media
platforms separately in order to determine if students’ performance is impacted more by a
particular social me- dia platform. This might help in identifying what social media platform has
greater impact on stu- dents’ performance, therefore revealing such differences in such a way as
to help educators to select the most appropriate social media platform that enhance students’
performance.

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APPENDIX. QUESTIONNAIRE FORM

Construct Item Source
Collaborative COL1: "I am able to develop my learning abilities through peer Sarwar et al.
Learning collaboration". (2019); Al-Rahmi
(COL) COL2: " I am able to develop more comprehensive understand- and Zeki (2017)
ings of the topics through group discussion on Social Media".
COL3: "I can develop new skills and knowledge from other mem-
bers of my group of Social Media".
COL4: "Collaborative learning by using Social Media is effective".
Perceived En- PEC1: "Social Media makes the communication easier with in- Arshad and
hanced Com- structor/colleagues and other classmates for me". Akram (2018)
munication PEC2: "The instructor/colleagues are good at communicating with
(PEC)
each other via Social Media".
PEC3: "The instructor/colleague encourages us/me to interact
with other students/colleagues by using Social Media interactive
tools".
PEC4: "I think communicating with the instructor/colleagues via
Social Media is important and valuable".
Perceived En- PEE1: "It is interesting to use Social Media in my learning". Sarwar et
joyment (PEE) PEE2: " I feel excited while exploring more information by using al. (2019)
Social Media".
PEE3: "Features and applications of Social Media are a source of
thrilling for me".
PEE4: "When interacting with Social Media, I did not realize time
had elapsed".

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Impact of Social Media Use on Student’s Perception of Academic Performance in Higher Education

Construct Item Source

Perceived Ease Rahman et al.
of Use (2019); Sánchez
PEOU1: "My interaction with Social Media is clear and
(PEOU) et
under- standable".
al. (2019)
PEOU2: "It is easy for me to become skillful at using Social
Me- dia".
PEOU3: "I find Social Media easy to use".
PEOU4: "Learning to operate Social Media is easy for me".
Perceived Use- PU1: "I find Social Media useful in my studies/research". Sánchez et al.
fulness (PU) (2019); Arshad and
PU2: "Using Social Media enables me to accomplish tasks
Akram (2018)
more quickly".
PU3: "Using Social Media increases my productivity".
PU4: "Overall, using Social Media enhances my effectiveness in
my studies".
Recourse Shar- RES1: "Sharing of my knowledge with other members of Arshad and Akram
Social ing (RES) Media is always good". (2018)
RES2: "Sharing of my knowledge with other members of Social
Media is always beneficial".
RES3: "Sharing of my knowledge with other members of Social
Media is always an enjoyable experience".
Social Media SMU1: " I use Social Media for academic purposes to discuss Sarwar et al.
and Use (SMU)share my ideas with my peers". (2019); Al-Rahmi
and Zeki (2017)
SMU2: " I use Social Media to communicate and collaborate with
my peers/colleagues in my course".
SMU3: "I use Social Media to complete my academic tasks".
SMU4: " I use Social Media for knowledge sharing".
Student Per- STP1: " I feel competent in completing my academic tasks". Sarwar et
formance al. (2019)
STP2: "I have learned how to do my task compilation
efficiently". (STP)
STP3: "I have performed academically as well as I expected I
would".

978
 Al-Adwan et al.

BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan is the Vice Dean for academic affairs
and an Associate Prof. of Electronic Business and Commerce at Al-
Ahliyya Amman University, Business School, Jordan. He holds a Ph.D
in Man- agement Information Systems Studies/E-business, and M.Sc in
Infor- mation Technology Management from the University of Wales,
UK. He is particularly interested in using management information
systems to in- form long-lasting developments in ICTs. His research
interests include user acceptance of ICT and information systems,
modelling ICT, e-learn- ing, SME, management information systems,
e-commerce, knowledge management, m-commerce, educational
technology, e-business, and healthcare information technology. He is
serving as reviewer of several
international reputed journals. Dr. Al-Adwan is a member of many international affiliations. He
has authored and published many research articles in several reputed international journals in UK,
USA, Swaziland and Canada.

Dr. Nour Awni Albelbisi holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology

from the University of Malaya, Malaysia. She also holds a Master
degree in Instructional Technology at the University of Malaya. Her
current re- search interests are online homework, Massive Open
Online Courses (MOOCs), and online learning.

Dr. Shadia Hasan Aladwan is an Associate Prof. of history in the de-

partment of basic sciences, Al- Balqa’ Applied University, Jordan. She
holds a Ph.D in history from the University of Jordan. She has published
many articles in many international Journals.

Omar Mohammed Al Horani is currently a lecturer at the department

of Electronic Business and Commerce, Business School, Al-Ahliyya Am-
man University, Jordan. He holds M.Sc in Information Technology
Man- agement, the University of Sydney, Australia, and Bachelor
degree in Computer Information Systems from Al-Ahliyya Amman
University, Jor- dan. His research articles appeared in several
international journals.

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Impact of Social Media Use on Student’s Perception of Academic Performance in Higher Education

Dr. Al-Madadha holds a PhD in Management from Cardiff

Metropoli- tan University – United Kingdom, he holds an MBA from
New York In- stitute of Technology. His B.Sc. in Banking Management
from Hashemite University, Jordan. Dr Amro Al-Madadha worked for
ten years at De- posit Insurance Corporation in Jordan as a financial
analyst and head of research and development division. Dr. Al-
Madadha worked at Logistics and Clearance Company for one year.
Currently, Dr Al-Madadha teaches at Princess Sumaya University for
Technology (PSUT) and he is the Vice Dean for King Talal School of
Business Technology and the coordinator for the Master of Business
entrepreneurship & Business Analytics pro- gram. Amro’s research
focuses on leadership, empowerment, creativity,
organizational behavior and human resource management. His research has been published at several
international journals.

Dr. Mohammad Hamdi Al Khasawneh is an Associate Professor in

the Department of E-Marketing and Social Media at Princess Sumaya
University for Technology Amman, Jordan. He earned his Bachelor’s
de- gree in Accounting from Yarmouk University, Jordan, followed by a
Mas- ter of Business Administration in Marketing from Coventry
University, UK, and a PhD degree in E-Marketing from Griffith
University, Aus- tralia. His work has been published in several
international journals such as International Journal of Electronic
Marketing and Retailing, Journal of Internet Commerce, and
International Journal of Business Information Systems. His research
interests include internet advertising, search engine advertising, social
media marketing, viral marketing, mobile marketing, mobile banking,
consumer behavior, CRM, and corporate social responsi- bility.

980