The impact of social media on educational decision making: The mediating role of information credibility, empirical analysis of Jordanian private universities

The study aims to bridge this gap by examining how the credibility of information on SM influences educational decisions in higher education (HE) among students. The research questions addressed are: (1) how does SM information credibility influence education decision-making? (2) How often does informative information on SM have a kind with corresponding understanding from traditional sources to guide educational decisions? What difficulties are there in how students judge SM regarding the credibility of information? While social media (SM) has been argued to be an important stakeholder in our lives, its role in educational decision-making regarding information credibility is not explicated. This study, combining surveys and interviews in a mixed-methods approach, showed that providing authentic SM information appreciably increases students' ability to make an informed choice when choosing relevant courses, gain insight into possible learning aids, and assist them with their career plans. The findings highlight the importance of digital literacy for SM-content credibility evaluability in students. The study also outlined critical strategies for educators and institutions to support students in assessing the reliability of sources and train them in skills that accompany a responsible thumb online. The conclusion takeaway from the study is that credible information on SNS can impact and change educational decision-making.