Evaluating the students’ academic performance in the higher education sector through using social media platforms

Purpose This study aims to explore the factors that affect higher education students’ behavioral intention and use of social media for educational purposes in the COVID-19 era, where the UTAUT2 model was adopted. Design/methodology/approach Convenience sampling was used to collect the required sample size and 301 completed questionnaires were analyzed. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS4. Findings The analysis highlights in this study that eight hypotheses were supported, whereas six were not. The evidence from this study suggests that students in Oman have the needed resources that facilitate their adoption and use of social media for learning. Also, they have a more robust tendency level for the intention to use it in the future. With these in hand, higher education institutions must enforce the use of social media in education to take advantage of its availability where students can access valuable learning content at no cost. Originality/value This study offers empirical evidence on critical success factors underlying using online learning systems that can help system developers, higher education institutions and policymakers develop better strategies and systems that can support students' online learning and education.