Students’ adoption of Twitter as an information source: An exploratory study using the Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract

This study explores the factors that affect students’ adoption of Twitter as an information source. It relies on a modified technology acceptance model (TAM). Data were gathered using a survey of 400 social sciences students from Kuwait University. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the proposed relationships of six factors—perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, social influence, behavioral intention, and actual use—on Twitter usage as an information source. The findings show that perceived enjoyment and social influence are stronger predictors of behavioral intention than perceived usefulness. Conversely, perceived ease of use was not significant antecedents of behavioral intention. The study also found that perceived ease of use influences only by perceived enjoyment. As expected, behavioral intention was an important antecedent of actual use. This study was limited to students of the College of Social Sciences at Kuwait University. Additional studies on the use of social media as an information source are recommended. This study is beneficial for higher educational institutions and academic libraries eager to understand the factors that motivate student adoption of Twitter as an information source for educational purposes.