Unpacking the value-effect gap: university students' engagement with social media in academic and social context

Abstract

Social media use (SMU) for the youth, including university students, holds socio-psychological values, yet its dual impact on social and academic engagement remains underexplored, particularly in Tanzania's higher education. This study employed uses and gratifications theory (UGT) to investigate the value-effect gap of SMU, examining its perceived influence on academic connections (AC), personal friendships (PF), and overall socio-psychological values. Employing a quantitative approach, it collected data from 680 conveniently sampled university students at one of the largest public universities in central Tanzania, using online surveys. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and structural equation modelling (SEM) strategies. The findings revealed that most participants were social media consumers and WhatsApp dominated the SMU (74.41%). Descriptive analysis confirms high agreement of academic values (M ≈ 3.88–4.21), compared to high to moderate social values (M ≈ 3.37–3.89). Interestingly, SEM results demonstrated deeper, structural relationships thus confirming very strong effects of PF on overall perceived impact (OP) of SMU (PF → OP = 0.85; β = 0.852, p < 0.0001), compared to moderate path (AC $\rightarrow$ OP = 0.43; β = 0.429, p < 0.0001). These findings confirm the value-effect gap related to SMU, implying that what is highly valued is not what mainly influences the overall perceived impact of SMU. Furthermore, the findings also demonstrated that SMU fulfil the dual role of academic and social bonding. In addition, demographic variables, particularly gender (β = 0.027, CR = 0.878, p = 0.380), demonstrated minimal influence on socio-psychological values of SMU. These findings contribute to efforts related to integrating social media in university campus life by elucidating context-specific motivations, thus informing policy by advocating holistic-balanced SMU integration in higher education. Recommendations include platform-specific guidelines and digital literacy programmes to optimise academic and social outcomes.