A Contextualization of the Technology Acceptance Model to Social Media Adoption Among University Students in Cameroon

Introduction

Social media is a part of everyday life for students. Some have grown up with them, and it seems natural to find Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more in their digital toolbox. Social media apps are important tools in education because they improve access to educational resource content and learning opportunities for students (Ali et al., 2016). For instance, they are used as virtual classes to replace traditional classroom (Harris & Rea, 2009). They are commonly observed in the context of language learning as well as in youth communication and entertainment platforms (Al-Rahmi et al., 2018). This is also the case when it comes to promoting the imagination and communication skills of students (Ahmed et al., 2018). Tur et al. (2017) research on the use of Twitter in higher education in USA and Spain studied educational benefit of using Twitter. In Spain, for example, Twitter is acclaimed for searching and sharing information (Tur et al., 2017). Conversely, US users, stressed its importance as a platform for collaboration.

Social media is increasingly impacting the achievements of African students as well. They helped fulfill young people’s need to get together and share information on topics related to their courses or teachers (Balakrishnan, 2016; Kuika Watat et al., 2020). Various studies in literature have revealed the importance of social media in sharing knowledge in education (Dumpit & Fernandez, 2017). However, few studies have looked at the key determinants of web 2.0 technologies usage within students in Cameroon. Existing theories to explain IT adoption have not been assessed yet in emerging economies in Sub-Saharan Africa which have recently joined the train of digitalization. Our study focuses on the fundamental elements and behavior that influence the use of social media by Higher Education students in Cameroon, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Numerous researches have highlighted the extension of theories or research models. Theories that focus on their own environments while highlighting appropriate predictors and tools are seen as relevant in the understanding of phenomena and the significant extension of other theories (Mengesha & Garfield, 2019; Venkatesh et al., 2012). This is not the case for generic theories where an emphasis is placed on the general aspect, without considering the specificities of the study environment and the predictors related thereto. The study environment and the changes around it can lead to several important variations in theories. The authors often observe originally theorized relationships that become imperceptible, changes in the meaning of relationships, the mutations between relationships that engender new relationships, leading to the failure of theories and results (Mengesha & Garfield, 2019). Thus, to better explain and study an environment to understand various phenomena, it is important to conduct studies by adapting the theories to the context to improve the explanatory power of the study. To reach our research objective, this study answers the following research question: what are the factors related to the use of social media that influence academic performance among Higher Education students in Cameroon?

To answer this question, this study contextualizes the extended version of the TAM model (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000; Venkatesh et al., 2003) to Social Media use in Sub-Saharan African universities. The authors add three constructs (Agreeableness, Openness and Academic Performance) to carry out this study on the contextualization of the TAM model. This therefore includes psychological and environmental factors that affect the academic performance of scholars. The authors test the proposed research model using the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) methods. The results obtained were exhibited following the presentation of the foundations and theoretical background of our study. The authors dedicate the next section to the presentation of our research methodology. The sub sections discuss the results after analysis. Finally, the discussions implications, limitations and perspectives for future research will be presented. The last part will be entirely devoted to the conclusion and upcoming prospects.