Determinants of Social Networks Usage in Collaborative Learning: Evidence from Egypt☆

Abstract Building upon studies of social psychology and information system literature, and given the widespread popularity of social networks (SNs), this paper aims at analyzing the determinants of using SNs in collaborative learning among undergraduate and postgraduate students via investigating the roles of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, attitude and intentions. The importance of this study lies in investigating the effects of using SNs in collaborative learning on learners, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, from many different aspects such as performance, interaction, socialization, collaboration, and decision making. Based on the results of this study, several decisions can be made such as applying blended learning or making better use of SNs in the field of teaching. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to achieve the research aim. The study is exploratory in nature and data was obtained from 300 Egyptian university students via structured questionnaire. Regression analysis and Mann Whitney U tests were performed to analyze the gathered data. The results support all hypotheses, except for the relationship between intention towards SNs and actual use in collaborative learning among undergraduate students. Further, no significant differences were found between undergraduate and postgraduate students with respect to all the proposed model constructs. The current study adds to the extent of literature in two respective ways. Firstly, testing and validating TAM in a developing culture; and secondly, although TAM has been extensively applied in evaluating the adoption of different technologies, few studies have exploited it on the adoption of SNs.