A Modified UTAUT Model of Student LinkedIn Utilization

In the contemporary digital landscape of higher education, professional Social Network Sites (SNS) like LinkedIn are pivotal tools for career development. Despite the platform’s potential, many university students underutilize it for managing their professional trajectories. This study investigates the factors influencing LinkedIn adoption by employing a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which uniquely integrates perceived satisfaction as a central construct. The research is focused on university students behavioral intentions and their antecedents. A quantitative approach was utilized, with data collected from 325 student respondents via a questionnaire and subsequently analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS SEM) with Smart-PLS 3.0. The findings reveal that perceived satisfaction and social influence are significant positive predictors of the behavioral intention to use LinkedIn. Conversely, performance expectancy and effort expectancy do not directly impact behavioral intention. However, these factors, along with facilitating conditions, signifi-cantly and positively influence perceived satisfaction, highlighting an important indirect pathway to adoption. This study concludes that the affective experience of satisfaction is a more critical driver for voluntary professional social media use among students than purely utilitarian factors. These results provide actionable implications for universities to foster student engagement by designing programs that cultivate positive user experiences and leverage social influence, thereby optimizing LinkedIn’s role in professional development.