Probing university students’ adoption and utilization of social networkingwebsites in Nigeria

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the influence of socio-demographic variables, innovation characteristics, time andsocial systems, on university students’ adoption and use of social networking websites (SNWs). Survey design was adopted.A structured questionnaire was used for data collection from 600 respondents comprising undergraduate and postgraduatestudents in the two public universities. Frequency distribution, factor and regression analyses were performed on the datacollected. Findings revealed that socio-demographic variables had positive influence on students’ adoption and use ofSNWs. The three Diffusion of Innovation variables significantly contributed to the adoption and use of SNWs butinnovation characteristics had the strongest influence, while time exerted the least. All the innovation characteristics hadpositive and significant correlation with the use of SNWs with relative advantage having the highest contribution andcomplexity the least. In view of these findings, university authorities need to design and develop appropriate socialnetworking systems to serve as a cost-effective platform to deliver instructions to students.