Social Media Adoption Among University Instructors In Saudi Arabia

There is an orientation from the government of Saudi Arabia toward social media in general. The government of Saudi Arabia considers the significance of social media in educating the Saudi community. The Saudi Ministry of Education founded the National Center for E- Learning and Distance Learning (NCeL) because it considered the importance of e-learning and distance learning for higher education (he.moe.gov.sa). NCeL supports and rewards university instructors to integrate social media in the learning process (award.elc.edu.sa). Several studies proved the significance of social media with Saudi higher education students (Alkhalifa, 2008; Salem and Alghamdi, 2011; Almadhouni, 2011). Moreover, Saudi students indicated positive attitudes toward social media in their learning and would prefer attending classes that university instructors use social media (Aifan, 2015). However, the adoption of social media for teaching students by university instructors in Saudi Arabia is unclear. A questionnaire was built based on Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory for the study purpose. 387 university instructors from all of the 28 Saudi public universities responded to the questionnaire. 47.5% of the participants were male university instructors, while 51.7% were female university instructors. .8% of the participants preferred not to disclose their gender. 130 47.8% of the participants were 35 years old or below, 29.2% were between 36-45 years old, and 17.8% were 46years old and more. The results of this cross-sectional descriptive study that the Knowledge stage was the highest stage that university instructors have identified themselves with the stages of the innovation-decision, followed by Decision stage, Persuasion stage, Confirmation stage, and Implementation stage. The findings of this study imply that the perceived relative advantage and compatibility of using social media in teaching students may increase university instructors (in general and for all ages) future adoption decision of using social media in teaching students. Moreover, the findings of this study imply that the perceived relative advantage of using social media in teaching students may increase female university instructors’ future adoption decision of using social media in teaching students, whereas the perceived compatibility of using social media in teaching students may increase male university instructors’ future adoption decision of using social media in teaching students. Finally, the findings of this study imply that the perceived complexity, trialability, and observability of using social media in teaching students may have no influence on increasing university instructors’ future adoption decision of using social media in teaching students