College students’ reception of social networking tools for learning in India: an extended UTAUT model

The term Social Networking Tools is used for social media applications accessible via mobile devices/smartphones; their use has become ubiquitous among college students, especially after the COVID 19 Pandemic, due to which the institutes of Higher education were shut down. A research gap was identified as the students’ acceptance of these learning tools has not been studied to the best of the author’s information, in India. The current study employs the conceptual model based on the UTAUT model by Venkatesh et al. (MIS Q 27(3):425–478, 2003), extended and modified by Khechine et al. (Br J Educ Technol 51 2306–2325, 2020. 10.1111/bjet.12905). The sample comprised 305 students, 48 females (15.7%) and 257 males (84.3%), with an average age of 18 years. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), a methodology of structural equation modeling which allows the assessment of any complex cause-effect model comprising latent variables was used for assessing the hypothesized model using SmartPLS version 3.2.9. The results show that the college students were impacted by Performance Expectancy PE, Effort expectancy EE, and Social Influence SI in shaping their behavioral intention BIU; Facilitating conditions FC and Intrinsic Values IV didn’t influence their behavioral intention. However, their behavioral intention BIU and their Intrinsic Values (IV) influenced their intention to use (IU) social networking tools for learning for Higher education, in the Indian context.