Use of social media by social science academics for scholarly communication

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate social science academics’ use of social media for scholarly communication at Kuwait University. Design/methodology/approach Phase One data were collected through web-based and paper responses to questionnaires. Faculty members, teachers and teaching assistants in the social science faculty were invited to participate. Forty-six of the 100 invited participants responded. Phase Two comprised interviews with 10 respondents. Findings Social connection platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, received the highest mean score for use (M = 4.35), followed by mobile apps, such as WhatsApp (M = 4.24), and multimedia platforms such as Instagram and YouTube (M = 3.59). Moderate to low use was recorded for academic social media. ResearchGate recorded the highest use (M = 3.09), followed by academia.edu (M = 2.93). “Keeping in touch” was the most frequently reported activity (M = 4.04). Two-thirds of respondents used social media for informal scholarly communication with people they knew. “Lack of university encouragement” received the highest score (M = 3.54) as a factor inhibiting use and almost half the respondents (47.2 per cent) cited “lack of time” as a barrier. Practical implications Improving academics’ understanding of the uses of social media might increase their visibility and improve their research and other scholarly activities. Study findings support the development of relevant training programs that include a focus on integrating social media into research activities and the dissemination of research findings. Originality/value This study contributes to the limited literature on this topic in Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf region.

Technology and Social Media Usage in Higher Education: The Influence of Individual Innovativeness

“…**p < .01. progression-encouraged academics to direct their attention toward professional SNSs. Nonetheless, the present results also revealed that the usage of SNSs for personal purposes outweighed their usage for work purposes, which was not surprising, since it matches the findings of prior studies conducted with various samples, including the United States, Italy, and the Middle East (Al-Daihani et al, 2018;S. Manca & Ranieri, 2016a;Moran et al, 2011).…”

“…The benefits of utilizing social networking when carrying out research are quite clear. Consistent results across studies have revealed that social media sites provide a convenient environment for scholarly communication and research dissemination (Al-Daihani et al, 2018;Gu & Widén-Wulff, 2011;S. Manca & Ranieri, 2017a).…”

“…For example, the findings by Corcoran and Duane (2018) found that knowledge sharing on social media platforms are limited due to the prevalent organization structure and culture in higher education. HEIs should recognize that a higher level of technology usage by staff implicitly suggests a significant increase in an institution's scientific indicators, prestige, and ranking (Al-Daihani et al, 2018). In this study, we add our voice to S. Manca and Ranieri's (2017a) call for the re-calculation of the workload of academics to include new tasksenhancing their technological capacities, disseminating their work through social media, and participating in scientific dialogues on the Internet-in order to significantly improve the performance and satisfaction of staff members.…”

Persuasive social features that promote knowledge sharing among tertiary students on social networking sites: An empirical study

“…The more individuals find others with similar characteristics in terms of vision and values, the higher the frequency of interaction (Al‐Daihani, Al‐Qallaf, & AlSaheeb, ). Thus, individuals with similar objectives are expected to have higher levels of interactions than those who do not.…”

The Correlation Between Social Media Usage in Academic Context and Self-Efficacy Towards TPACK of Prospective Science Teachers in Indonesia

“…For example, Lecturers often use Blogs, Skype, Wikis, Facebook; and even mobile apps, such as WhatsApp in distance learning in University (Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017;Owusu-Ansah, Gontshi, Mutibwa, & Ukwuoma, 2015;Callaghan & Fribbance, 2016;Hussain, Cakir, & Candeger, 2018). The most common use of social media includes searching and studying in collaborative online activities, download media, sharing information, and entertainment (Wheeler, Yeomans, & Wheeler, 2008;Al-Daihani, Jumanah, & Sara, 2018). In teacher education, teacher educator used social media for motivating teacher candidate to collaborate with a cooperative teacher or mentor; providing a friendly atmosphere to encourage reflection to identify and address challenges of teaching practice; giving feedback and continue following up on their progress in teaching practice (Pitiporntapin & Lankford, 2015).…”