SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE PATTERNS AND ATTITUDE FORMATION AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT KUST: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore the relationship between social media use pattern and attitude development of undergraduate students of Kohat University of Science and Technology, Pakistan. The study was based on Social Learning Theory and had three dimensions of social media usage: frequency of use, engagement with platform, and engagement with content. A quantitative cross sectional survey design was used. The target population was all undergraduate students in the Psychology, English and Sociology departments (998 students). A proportionate stratified random sampling of 278 students was planned and 263 valid questionnaires were analyzed with a valid-response rate of 94.6%. The data were gathered by using a structured questionnaire with three-point Likert scale. Face and content validity were determined by expert review and Cronbach's alpha was 0.87, which was good. Analysis was done using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and Kendall's Tau-c. Students indicated that they use social media frequently and regularly, with WhatsApp and YouTube being particularly popular for academic purposes and TikTok and Instagram for entertainment and visual content. The majority of the respondents indicated that their opinions, perceptions and their acceptance or rejection of ideas were affected by social media. The attitude formation was significantly related to the frequency of use (χ² = 23.966, p < .001; Tau-c = .271). Platform-usage tests were also significant (χ² = 24.515–31.028, p ≤ .003; Tau-c = .158–.174), as were content-engagement tests (χ² = 18.905–26.771, p ≤ .004; Tau-c = .165–.201). The results show that social media has a considerable contribution to the attitude formation, but it is not the only one. Digital literacy, critical evaluation, responsible use and purposeful academic use of social media should be enhanced in universities.