Excessive Use Of Social Networking Sites And Poor Academic Performance:Technology Antecedents,Consequences And Implications

Social network sites(SNS)are the web-based services that allow individuals to(1)construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,(2)articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection,view(3)and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.SNS such as Facebook and Twitter have become such a popular communication application on the Internet that these sites are now some of the most-trafficked website in the world.SNS providers have introduced mobile application and the ubiquitous access afforded by mobile wireless devices has resulted in the rapid increase in the use of social networking mobile applications.The proliferation of the use of portable devices means that individuals are increasingly becoming free and flexible to engage in SNSs whenever and wherever they like.While these devices have a lot of positive features,they also can create problematic behaviors,such as an excessive engagement with mobile-based SNS.Excessive use of mobile-based SNS may be leading to the emergence of compulsive checking behaviors,and therefore,leading to stress,negative social and workplace conflict.Moreover,large corps of study determined that SNSs use is a source of stress among the individuals.However,it is not very clear how or why SNSs use creates stress.Prior research on SNS from an educational point of view mostly descriptive in nature which focused on SNS adoption and motivation for continued use,but this picture is incomplete without considering the facts about negative outcomes that are mostly neglected in educational information system research.Little research has been conducted about the adverse consequences of these sites and their impact on users' academic performance.Based on the literature management information system,psychology,education and occupational stress,we build a model to investigate the underlying mechanism of poor academic performance influenced by the excessive use of mobile-based SNS.Our study attempted to partially address this gap in the literature by examining SNS use among under-graduate University students,specifically when the utilization of these types of sites becomes problematic or excessive.The aims of our study were to determine how problematic use of mobile-based SNS can develop by investigating some possible predictors of excessive use,including socialization,social comparison,enjoyment,information seeking and self-presentation.The transactional model of stress(TMS)is used to theorize technological characteristics as an antecedents of the stressor(i.e.,excessive use).Stress-strain-outcome(SSO)is applied as the foundation of the model,which represents excessive use(stressor),life invasion,techno-exhaustion and cognitive distraction(strains)and academic performance(outcome).The proposed model was further refined using auxiliary theories such as self-regulatory theory and dual-system theory to examine the moderating role of poor sleep quality and cognitive-behavioral control respectively.Survey design methodology is used to test the proposed research model.The study obtained 505 responses from general mobile-based SNS applications users,including users of well known SNS apps such as Facebook,Twitter,and WhatsApp.Covariance-based SEM technique was applied to estimate the research model through the two-step procedure establishing the estimates for both the measurement model and the structural model.The statistical analyses of time-lagged data collected from mobile SNS users imply that the technology characteristics induce excessive use of mobile SNSs which causes negative consequences such as life invasion;techno-exhaustion and cognitive distraction among student,thereby diminish the academic performance of SNS users.Cognitive-behavioral control in using SNSs weakens the relationship between stressor and strain facets to overcome the negative outcomes;whereas poor sleep quality strengthens the relationship between stressor and strain facets.This research provides important theoretical and practical implications.Most studies on problematic SNS use have only addressed addiction or problematic use as integrated pathological concepts that include several symptoms.The focus is on clarifying these concepts and to develop measurement model for diagnostic purposes.This research,on the other hand,takes a nomological approach and is one of the first to examine problematic SNS apps use by investigating its negative consequences.This research integrates different theoretical perspectives to provide a new empirically validated model that can guide future studies.The results provide insight to parents,employees,teachers,SNS providers,and users about the potential adverse outcomes of the excessive use of SNS apps.This study also contributed to research on the dark side of information system used by conceptualizing problematic use and explaining its drivers and consequences.