Factors affecting the Social Networks Acceptance: An Empirical Study using PLS-SEM Approach

There is an increase in the number of studies being carried out on the acceptance of social media applications. Nonetheless, the identification of the factors affecting its acceptance in educational purposes is still neglected. Hence, the objective of this study is to develop a conceptual model through the extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with perceived playfulness to measure the students' acceptance of social networks in education. A total of 320 valid questionnaire surveys were collected from the students enrolled at University of Fujairah in the United Arab of Emirates (UAE). The partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to analyze the collected data. The empirical results indicated that perceived playfulness, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use are significant indicators of students' intention to use social networks in education.