Factors affecting accounting and auditing student perception of their learning experience through facebook groups

The results show that Community Identity CI is an important factor in shaping intentions to use facebook groups as a learning tool; students tend to be influenced by Community Identity C

ĐẠI HỌC KINH TÉ THÀNH PHỐ HÒ CHÍ MINH

BÁO CÁO TỐNG KẾT

ĐÈ TÀI NGHIÊN cửu KHOA HỌC THAM GIA XÉT GIÃI THƯỞNG

“NHÀ NGHIÊN CỨU TRÉ UEH ” NĂM 2024

Factors affecting Accounting and Auditing student perception of their

learning experience through

Facebook groups

Thuộc nhóm chuycn ngành: Kc toán - Kicm toán

TP Hồ Chí Minh, tháng 02 /2024

RESEARCH: Factors affecting Accounting and Auditing student perception of their

learning experience through Facebook groups.

ABSTRACT

Especially with today’s technological innovation, traditional teaching methods need to beaccompanied by a self-study method applying digital transformation information

technology A large number of social networks have helped people access many useful

Besides, Facebook is also gradually being applied in learning for young people through

communities, pages, etc So, in this research, we seek to find out why Accountancy studentsare increasingly adopting Facebook groups in their learning and are aware of the benefits

This article applies a quantitative approach using an individual questionnaire survey Data collected from 365 students in accounting, auditing and other disciplines, is analyzed

by SMART PLS software To check the reliability and validity of the measurement model,

technology-related models, the article has made important hypotheses The results show

that Community Identity (CI) is an important factor in shaping intentions to use facebook

groups as a learning tool; students tend to be influenced by Community Identity (CI) tojoin virtual network communities This study also provides evidence of the strong effect ofPurpose (P) on Student Perception (SP) In addition, Facilitating Conditions (FC) has a

significant direct effect on SP which means we can enhance user experience by improving Facilitating Conditions (FC) of Facebook groups The contributions of this research paper

are important and necessary for both lecturers and students in the field of accounting and

auditing in particular and of UEH in general when we are living in the era of digital

transformation: Facebook groups can be used as an alternate learning tool for LMS in the university course

1.3 Facebook groups role in UEH student community 12

2.3.3 The research based on quantitative method 16

3.2.1 Perceived Usefulness and Purpose of using Facebook groups, Student

3.2.3 Social Influence and Purpose of using Facebook groups, Student perception of

3.2.5 Community Identity and Purpose of using Facebook groups, Student perception

3.2.6 Purpose of using Facebook groups and Student perception of their learning

6.3.1 Academic contributions 43

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Scale for quantitative preliminary research Page

Figure 1.1 Most used Platforms line chart year 2022 11

MISL Model for Improving the Student Learning experience

SP Student perceptions of their learning experience

Unified Theory Acceptance and Use of Technology

1 Rationale

In recent years, the advent of social media platforms has revolutionized the way we communicate, interact, and share information According to Boyd, D M., & Ellison, N B

(2007), social network sites can be defined as “web-based services that allow individuals

to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a

list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list

of connections and those made by others within the system”

worldwide, and Vietnam is no exception to this trend With a rapidly growing internet user

base and increasing smartphone penetration, SNS platforms have become an integral part

of the digital landscape in Vietnam Among those platforms, Facebook has emerged as a

dominant force, serving as one of the most widely used platforms in the country With its user-friendly interface and diverse features, Facebook has become a key role in the digital

lives of millions of Vietnamese users

One particular feature of Facebook that has gained significant traction is the creation

of groups, where users with the same interests can come together to engage in discussions,

social technology rather than an educational tool, it can have a significant impact on

student's performance in several aspects, especially the “Facebook groups” tools

This rationale aims to explore the way that Facebook groups affect undergraduatestudents at UEH University in education, accessing both the positive and negative aspects

of their influence By facilitating collaboration, peer learning and support, Facebook groups

have the potential to enhance students' learning experiences However, it is essential to critically evaluate the potential downsides, such as distractions, misinformation, and

privacy concerns, that may arise from the use of these groups

2 Objectives of the study

2.1 General objectives

undergraduate students in education and their overall experiences

2.2 Specific objectives

The specific objectives of this study are:

1 Identify the elements of Accounting and Auditing students' Facebook engagement that affect their educational experience in order to maximize the potential benefits and mitigate

the risk that it may occur

2 Analyze the influence of Facebook groups in education, focusing on the effects they have on academic performance, learning outcomes, and overall educational experiences of

UEH undergraduate students; so that we can learn how to optimize their use and create a

2.3 Research questions

This study is based on research conducted with more than one hundred collegestudents who majored in Accounting and Auditing Courses from the University of

Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) The following goals guide our research efforts:

1 Identifying and analyzing elements of Accounting and Auditing students*

Facebook engagement that could affect their overall reaction to the educational experience

as a whole;

2 Advocating for the utilization of communities on Facebook as productive

learning resources for students in the future

3 Methodology

The research paper is divided into two primary stages: preliminary research using

document collection methods, and formal research using quantitative research methods

Particularly, the research team used the focus group discussion procedure to gather

From there, we determined the observed variables to measure for the components offactors

affecting the Facebook community participation, the purpose of use and the perception ofstudents’ learning experience and gave a draft scale After discussing, the research team

made adjustments to the official scale Following that, we can contribute by adding

viewpoints and erasing claims that don't match up with reality The results of the focusgroup discussion revealed that almost all of the members agreed that five elements had a

favorable impact on the user's motivation for utilization as well as their learning experience

The draft scale has been changed into the official research Formal research alsocontributes to testing the research model and hypotheses that the research team hasproposed The scale of factors influencing accepting use of the Facebook community

4 Range of the study

December, 2022 to the beginning of August, 2023), beginning with the topic selection and

ending with the writing, editing, and finalization of the full-text report

We rely on internet resources from both domestic and international websites,

including Google, Scholar, the school library website, etc Besides, to create objectivity forthe article as well as accuracy for the data, handling, conducting surveys, collecting

personal opinions from accounting students of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City are especially important As planned, we conducted the survey for more than 2 months

(from March 2, 2023 to May 12, 2023) through an online platform By using social media

that are being accessed by many students such as UEH's Facebook Groups created by a

large number of students - where UEH students exchange daily information, study Zalo group of students majoring in Accounting and Auditing of UEH, the survey was responded

to by a large number of students Additionally, the research team members directly spoke

with their classmates and former students to obtain the most detailed viewpoints and feedback for the questionnaire that was sent Survey subjects are divided into 2 types,including students majoring in accounting-auditing and students in other disciplines

However, the survey still has many limitations First, the majority of the respondents are

and auditing fields and 147 from other fields participated in the study, which is still a smallsample size Finally, it is still challenging to directly engage the target population because

the survey is conducted primarily online

The research primarily focuses on applying ideas and models from the fields oftechnology, sociology, psychology, and philosophy to use the approach to develop

arguments that support the validity of the hypothesis

CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH BACKGROUND

In the 4.0 industry, virtual network tools play an important role not only in daily life but also in the learning of students, specifically the contribution of Facebook, Facebook

groups in the learning experience of students in general and UEH students in particular

previous studies that have laid the foundation (Awidi et al., 2019; O’Bannon el al., 2013; Sanchez et al., 2014)

1.1 Overview

Today’s students are known as digital natives of the Net Generation; they were born

in the digital era and have been interacting with digital technology from an early age It isundeniable that the Internet has brought countless benefits, and the ease ofcommunication

is the most important one for us The Internet has promoted a culture of content sharing

that has been instrumental in the development of social learning It allows users with

common interests to meet, share ideas and academic materials, as well as provide numerous

online learning platforms

Social networking sites (SNSs) have indeed been considered as influential platforms for learning and education They offer unique opportunities for engagement, collaboration,

Nowadays, there are numerous distinct SNSs that provide a variety of interests andpractices Due to Facebook's rising popularity, especially Facebook groups among

undergraduate students, we decided to focus our study on this particular social networking

tool

social media users in Vietnam in January 2023, equivalent to 71.0 percent of the total

population In addition, 89.8 percent of Vietnam’s total internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in January 2023 At that time, 50.6 percent of Vietnam's social media users were female, while 49.4 percent were male

In terms of social commerce, Facebook holds the dominant position, with the penetration of 94% The second in line is Zalo, which stands at about 49% (2022 data) (The

Social, 2023)

Most Used Platforms (% of Internet Users) I Note: 2022

Figure I.Ỉ : Most used Platforms line chart year 2022

Data published in Meta's advertising resources indicates that Facebook had 66.20

million users in Vietnam in early 2023 (Simon Kemp 2023) The age range of 25-34 is

most particularly likely to use Facebook (33.7%), followed by the age group 18-24

Nowadays, Facebook is not only used for surfing the web, serving people's

entertainment needs Besides, it is used for many different purposes With the popularity

of Facebook, businesses use it as a place to promote their products As for education, they use Facebook to spread their knowledge to people and to maximize the effectiveness of the

transmission of knowledge on Facebook who use it for learning purposes have createdFacebook groups

Therefore, the purpose of this research paper is to find out about the learning

(researched target group)

1.2 Previous study

In previous papers from Awidi et al (2019), O'Bannon et al (2013) and Sanchez et

al (2014), they all studied how Facebook and Facebook groups affect education ingeneral and higher education in particular And the subjects they study areundergraduate students in general or students of a specific discipline

Although our research paper also studies how Facebook groups affect students'

learning experience, our group's research subjects are student’s the University of

1.3 Facebook groups role in UEH student community

Although Facebook has been considered by students as a social tool rather than a

especially Facebook Groups Facebook Groups can help students at UEH University settle

into University life, connect with other students, peer learning and support, enhanceteacher-student communication; which can improve their learning process better than the traditional way of study

In fact, nowadays undergraduate students at UEH University mostly communicate

and exchange course-related information through several Facebook groups, such as: NhomHoc Tap UEH, UEH - K48 Official, etc

1.4 Conclusion

In order to demonstrate the importance of Facebook Groups in education, we decide

to undertake a survey with a sample of Accounting and Auditing undergraduate students alUEH University (Vietnam) The objective of our research is to identify the factors that

for educational purposes Conclusions of this survey help US to understand and enhance our

use of Facebook Groups tools in educational contexts

This study is structured as follows to clarify the urgency of the topic: the next section

provides a literature review on the main models and gives an overall view of FacebookGroups in educational context In addition, we present the performance and satisfaction of undergraduate students in the use of Facebook Groups for academic purposes The third

section describes the structural model used and the hypothesis to be tested In the next

section, we identify the result of our survey as well as the conclusion of this research andthe contribution of the paper for academics and practicals Finally, we suggest several

recommendations that could be essential and appropriate for future research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Purposes of Facebook usage

The purpose of Facebook usage is different depending on the perception of the user

This platform can be applied to a wide range of purposes, including the creation of personalidentity, the sharing of content, communication with friends, the formation of groups

composed ofpeople with similar interests, the constant monitoring of new information, andthe development of personal relationships (Latib et al., 2014)

University of Belgrade in order to better understand why students use Facebook and how

they perceive Facebook's use for educational purposes They reported that students useFacebook mainly to locate and communicate with friends People use Facebook to keep in

touch with former friends, colleagues, neighbors or people whom they like (Wong et al.,

2014) On the other side, some students prefer to use Facebook Groups as a space for an e­

learning environment Regarding educational usage, results show that, among students,

Facebook is most highly valued as a platform for exchanging course-related information, for the creation of academic groups (communities) and mutual collaboration Facebook has

ushered in an opportunity for the growth of student learning spaces in a time of increasingly

developed E-learning (Manasijevic et al., 2016)

2.2 Benefits that students wish to obtain from Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are spaces where individuals join online groups based on similarinterests, but each motivation or gratification could vary depending on their purposes In a

recent study by Ahern et al (2016) based on Student Technology Use Hierarchical

Framework by Guo et al (2012) to define the benefits students can achieve whenparticipating in Facebook Groups As a Facebook Groups member, students want to satisfy

quality, Learning capability, Community In terms of Learning capability, FacebookGroups offer a learning environment with peer assistance and discussion on broad courseand academic-related topics Moreover, students form a supportive setting and support one another during college As a result, Facebook Groups is considered as an Edusocial space

2.2.2 Material and resource sharing

Information and small data files can be shared between peers in Facebook groups

This particular feature of the Facebook group makes it appropriate for sharing research materials such as digital notes, e-books, and other supplementary materials that may consist

of text, audio, and video (Mazman & Usluel, 2010; Ractham & Firpo, 2011; Bicen &Uzunboylu, 2013; Lambic, 2016)

A Facebook group is a virtual classroom where students can share knowledge and

course materials Besides, it can collaborate with the help of comments to answer students'

questions As a result, students can better understand what they have learned, expand theirknowledge beyond what they have learned, and develop more critical thinking (Shaw,

2017)

However, material and resource sharing is most important of it all and plays a pivotal

role in creating a healthy virtual classroom on SNSs (Sanchez et al., 2014; Milosevic et al.,

2015; Sharma et al., 2016) The SNS studied here is the Facebook group

2.2.3 Collaboration

collaboration Facebook groups allow users to make new connections for collaborative

learning (Selwyn, 2007; Rimor & Arie, 2016) Students can use a Facebook group to share

successfully collaborate while discussing and interacting positively (Mazman & Usluel,2010; Ractham & Firpo, 2011; DeAndrea et al., 2012; Hung & Cheng, 2013; Sharma et al.,

2016 ) Furthermore, using a Facebook group for academic objectives helps students

develop other abilities such as teamwork, improved peer relationships, and cognitive

development (Yu et al., 2010; Ainin et al., 2015 ) Facebook groups have the potential tosignificantly improve student learning and collaboration

lecturers Because building teacher-student relationships on FB was difficult if the teachermaintained high privacy protection (Lin et al., 2016) Similarly, students also have friendships that only last until the end of the course and are no longer in contact with each other

2.3 Academic performance in the use of Facebook Groups for the learning experience

As described in Chapter 1, the Facebook platform has a significant influence on

human behavior Facebook is not only a virtual platform for entertaining, connectingwith friends Nowadays, some people think that Facebook should be an effective tooland a good educational assistant for students, which can support them to solve problems

or answer their questions In order to evaluate objectively and clearly the potential effect

of Facebook functions on students' academic performance, there has been a range of

previous articles that did research on this issue More specifically, there are three methods, which are used by researchers to study the factor of Facebook that can improve student satisfaction, that are qualitative method, mixed method and quantitative method

First, a group of authors studied this subject by using the qualitative method, which helps the collectors to deepen the issues and opinions of the research subjects in a

personalized way (Lưu, 2023) In recent years, Meishar-Tal and her colleagues (2012),

Qiyun Wang and his colleagues (2011), and Melinda Camus and her colleagues (2016)

applicability of Facebook on the educational side

Specifically, in the study of Meishar-Tal and her colleagues (2012), researchers

developed an online course on Facebook Groups, serving as a platform for sharing

content and maintaining interaction among the students and their lecturers Meishar-Tal

and her partners came to the conclusion that Facebook creates a highly intensive and

collaborative learning environment, and encourages students to interact on every singlepost uploaded to the groups that made them desire to continue using these groups in

future courses In addition, Wang and his colleagues (2011) studied students' learning

Results showed that Facebook has social affordance as fundamental functions of an

LMS that students found easy to use Therefore, Facility Condition Value is one of the factors that have the ability to impact the students' satisfaction when using Facebook

On the plus side, the result of the study by Melinda Camus and her colleagues (2016)

showed the comparison between the effects of a Facebook-based and LMS-based onlinediscussion forum on students' participation Their findings that Facebook may be more effective at encouraging student participation and peer-to-peer dialogue than LMS

research Hence, it rarely has Vietnamese articles study the impact of Facebook on

people's behavior in qualitative research

2.3.2 The research based on the mixed method

Secondly, the mixed method has been used widely by investigators because this method gains a more complete picture than a standalone quantitative or qualitative

study, as it integrates the benefits of both methods (George, 2021)

In a study to explore the positive effects of Facebook Groups on students' motivation, Yunus & Salehi (2012) established that after joining a Facebook group,

many students concur that they are more inspired and confident in their writing skills The research conducted by O’Bannon et al (2013) examined the perceived usefulness

of students taking part in virtual Groups on Facebook The authority built a questionnaire list based on how they use Facebook, how they utilize a course-specificFacebook group, and their views on the use of Facebook for educational reasons The

authors obtained that students got more enthusiastic about the convenience of using

Facebook for educational purposes

In anotherresearch in Vietnam, Hoi & Hang (2021) interviewed 11 undergraduates

in phase one and 407 students completed the self-reported in phase two at the University

influence participants, including pedagogical, social, and technological affordance

Moreover, the interview data revealed that technology affordance improved students' perceived satisfaction, perceived relationship, and perceived ease of use

2.3.3 The research based on the quantitative method

In terms of the quantitative method, with the aid of objective statistics, researchers

can express quantitative findings in a straightforward manner Many academics are drawn

to the quantitative method because of its speed and efficiency Data computing technology

allows for the rapid processing and analysis of data, even with enormous sample sizes(William, 2021)

Cuesta et al (2016) made quantitative comparisons between the first course's final exam (no extra tutoring for all students) and the second course's final exam (tutorassistance

on Facebook for the group volunteering in this project) in Sweden In conclusion, they

claimed that students who participated in study groups led to a better understanding of what

it means to study at the university than those who did not The research conducted by Hung

& Yuen (2010) observed that students could locate and share educational resources, take

part in conversations, express their interests, and work with others in a way that increased

their sense of community Furthermore, in a related study by Kim et al (2012), a user's

identification with an avatar plays an important role in social support and the image of virtual communities Due to the two mentioned researches above, Community Identity is

the factor that could improve the student's learning experience on Facebook (Lambic,

2016) established that Perceived Usefulness has a positive relationship with the decision

of students to use Facebook as a learning aid A large percentage of students may choose

Facebook (SNS) as a learning tool because they have already used it and hence have a

sense of familiarity with it (Manca & Ranieri, 2013)

In Vietnam, there are a few studies about human behavior using Facebook Nguyen

Facebook network of non-public university students in Ho Chi Minh City The resultshowed that usefulness, sharing resources, enjoyment, cooperation, and social environmentare all elements that influence students’ intentions to use Facebook Another article by

Nguyen Van Kiel (2019) studied the effectiveness of Facebook when teachers use this

platform as an educational tool in order to urge pupils to self-study and to devote a

significant amount of time to self-study He obtained that with Facebook's assistance, one­

possible, bridging the gap between teachers and learners As a result, teachers can respond

to students' inquiries as promptly as feasible

2.3.4 Research gaps

In international academics, most studies only study one to three of Facebook's

characteristics The most common is about Perceived Usefulness, Community Identity, and

Perceived Ease of Use and simultaneously assessing their impact on user experience We

Vietnamese studies currently do not concretize research on industry impacts on behavior

Regarding the research in Vietnam, research on the effect of Facebook on people was not

prioritized

Hence, we have built a scale table based on the research of Awidi et al (2019) withmore expansive characteristics, to dig into more specific details and their impact on

Facebook usage behavior for various goals, especially learning experiences

After referring to three research methods, we believe that the Quantitative methodand cross-sectional study are the most appropriate approach due to collecting the data fromdifferent students in the short term In Chapter 3, we focused on the factors that can affect

the use of Facebook through independent variables and their impact on user intent and experience

CHAPTER 3: UNDERLYING THEORIES & HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 3.1 Underlying theories

The TAM 2 technology acceptance model is created based on the TAM 1 model.Studies utilizing the TAM 2 model reveal a significant correlation between use, perceived usefulness, and perceived usability TAM 2 often applies to any research on

how people interact with computers in particular and with information technology (IT)

in general According to Venkatesh & Davis (2000), two main structures, PU and PEU,are significant antecedents of behavioral patterns in IT use The explanatory value of

generally consistent in terms of consumers' IT acceptance behavior TAM has proven very helpful in examining the uptake of web-based social media platforms (Kwon &Wen, 2010; Rauniar, Rawski, Yang, & Johnson, 2014)

The findings of the studies mentioned above demonstrate that TAM 2 provides a number of benefits when used as a theoretical foundation for Facebook use study Asconsequently, based on TAM 2 theory, UEH’s students assume the utility of documents,

save time in exchange, receive resources, and boost learning productivity when using

recognize it as an innovative education tool that is widely used for a variety ofobjectives Users find the service provider to bring them convenience and thus boosttheir confidence in the system when a system is simple, easy to use, and manipulable

integrated with the global economy, raising information security concerns, particularly

in the areas of finance, banking, and accounting, auditing in general, and UEH inparticular Il is more difficult to build trust if people believe a technology is loo complex

to manage because of the elevated risk perception

3.1.2 Unified Theory of acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

UTAUT (Venkatesh et al., 2003) is a theory that unifies 8 component theories

designed to examine acceptance behavior with new technology It is a fundamental theory

in the information technology field that emphasizes the success of bringing new innovationand aids in understanding the variables that affect whether a new technology is accepted orrejected

In the study of Mazan & Usluel (2010), by using UTAUT, Facebook adoption has

been proven to have a strong positive association with usefulness, ease of use, social impact, facilitating factors, and feeling of community and has a significant positive effect

on the Purposes of Facebook Usage The acceptability of Facebook's social network may

be influenced by external elements from organizational and societal aspects as well as two

most important personal beliefs like PU and PEU in Technology Acceptance Model

suggested In this model, we apply the relationship between social influence and favorable

conditions (factors relate to external factors that TAM has not mentioned) to the behavior

of accepting new technology, thus examining the relationship with the purpose set when

using these various online communities Facebook groups are also seen as a place where dynamic economic students, like those at UEH, can enjoy fascinating learning, particularly

unlike the LMS system, are connected to Facebook, Messenger,., so information is updated

and shared more quickly, in keeping with the current era of economic integration

3.1.3 Social Learning Theory (SLT)

-Facebook, is built on the Social Learning Theory (SLT) According to SLT, learning is a

social process This argument is supported by the notion that participating in a communityinvolves both social and educational activities (Henri and Pudelko, 2003) The social

learning theory places a strong emphasis on the value of observing, modeling, and imitatingthe behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others These activities are frequently seen in group activities on Facebook, where members can learn for themselves by watching

friends post to the group wall and then copying their actions By consistently exercisingthis through interactions like likes, comments, and reposts, memory can be improved From

then, the information in the post's content is promptly conveyed and absorbed

Previous study on peer educational experiences on SNSs suggests that participationonline and copying of behaviors help people obtain targeted learning and emotional outcomes as well as perception of learning experience (Yu et al., 2010) These theories have been widely used in research and successful application as a useful tool for managers

understand the factors that influence acceptance or refusal to use a new technology.Inheriting the results that have been tested through many studies on the intention to apply

new technology, this topic is applied to educational services, a field that promotes all areas

of social life and more human perfection In particular, with the research context is to

improve the quality of teaching and learning of UEH, specifically the study programs for

accounting-audit students, community and social factors are considered to test the impact

on the learning purpose as well as the enjoyable experience of the students The construction and testing of this scale in a research model aims to understand the purpose

of using the online platform - Facebook group of students who are participating and have

a clear view of its benefits and whether students use it as a primary learning aspect instead

of an LMS This is also an approach that previous studies have not mentioned

3.2 Hypothesis development:

structural equation modeling (SEM) - measurement model

Based on these former researches including Awidi (2006) and Mazan & Usluel (2010), we inherited and develop a model consists of 2 dependent variables (Purpose of

using Facebook groups (P), Student perception of their learning experience throughFacebook groups (SP)); 3 controlled variables (Gender (G), Major (M), School year

(SY)) and 5 independent variables (Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use

(Figure 3.1)

perception of their learning experience

David (1989) defines Perceived Usefulness as “the degree to which an individual believes

that using a particular system would enhance his/ her job performance*’ In this paper,

Perceived Usefulness of Facebook groups is known as the degree to which an individual

believes that joining a Facebook group would increase learning efficiency by

perceptions of usage as a concept David (1989) also suggests that users' perceptions of a

new technology's utility influence intentions to use it, and it is one of the most important

predictors of in-use behavior as an adoption of a new system According to Mazman &

Usluel (2010), Facebook adoption and Facebook usage goals are strongly associated Theseauthors argue that when people accept a new system, they utilize it for a variety of

objectives in their daily lives There is some evidence that PEU and PU considerably affect

user attitudes, which in turn have a relative impact on user adoption and satisfaction (Morosan, 2012; Martins et al., 2014; Detlor et al., 2013) In the context of mobile websites,

Lee & Jun (2007) have investigated that consumer-satisfying experiences can also be

explained by PU, which is the main TAM 2 construct Facebook groups is an innovative

usage of Facebook which focuses on relationships If students highly perceive efficient

utilization of Facebook Groups for academic purposes, they have the intention to use it

Having a successful interaction with the online community leads to high satisfaction while failing to have a good interaction with the community lead to dissatisfaction From the

above analysis and TAM 2, this study develops the following hypothesis

Hl: Perceived Usefulness will have a significant influence on Purpose of using Face hook groups.

Hl’: Perceived Usefulness will have a significant influence on Student perception of their learning experience.

perception of their learning experience

The combination of a user’s technical skill and proficiency with Facebook's uniquefeatures, such as photo and file uploading and downloading, profile updating, and menu

usage, is also a significant factor influencing the adoption of social media networks and the

academic purposes According to the research of David (1989), Perceived Ease of Use

refers to “the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would

be free of physical and mental efforts" In this paper, Perceived Ease of Use is known asusing Facebook functions without difficulty and efficiently managing Facebook content overall A technology is more likely to be adopted and used if it is simple to use since it necessitates less effort from users (Morosan, 2012) According to Montazemi & Saremi (2013), PU and PEU have an impact on customers' initial intent to use They are also the primary factors influencing users' attitudes (Martins et al., 2014)

attitudes In general, People use new systems they adopt for a variety of purposes in every

groups According to Wang el al (2011), whenever a discussion topic or a picture is created

in the Facebook group, the announcement is put up to keep track of activity in the groupand easily accessjust-in-time information Furthermore, with just a mode “open to public"

, the tutor can create a Facebook group for courses This connection does not require

participants to be friends However, certain Facebook communities still have access holes

which allow strangers to post toxic content This leads to an unhappy experience withlearning Facebook Groups Inferring from TAM 2 and building on prior researches, we formulate the following hypothesis

H2: Perceived Ease of Use will have a significant infiuence on Purpose of using

Facebook groups.

H2’: Perceived Ease of Use will have a significant influence on Student perception

of their learning experience.

3.2.3 Social Influence and Purpose of using Facebook groups, Student perception

of their learning experience

In various theories, social influence has been referred to as social variables, subjective

norms, orsocial norms Thomson, Higgins, and Howell (1991) use the term: “social norms”

and describe it as "the individual's internalization of the reference groups' subjective

culture, and specific interpersonal agreements that the individual has made with others, inspecific social situations" Venkatesh and Davis (2000) use terms of "subjective norms" in

their model which is defined as "the person's perception that most people who are

important to him think he should or should not perform the behavior in question"

According to the definition of Social Influence, Social Factor is “the degree to which an

individual perceives that important others believe she or he should use the new system"

(Venkatesh et al., 2003) In this paper, social influence is defined as the degree of users

who tend to participate in new communities on technological systems like Facebook groupsdue to the effects of people surrounding them

According to Mazman & Usluel (2010), while some users join Facebook to keep contact with old friends or to connect with new social circles, some users join groups at their friends' invitations These demonstrate that social influence plays a part in people’s

decisions to engage in social networking A recent study by Decman, 2015 found that SI is

one of the important aspects that has a substantial impact on how students use eLearning

technology Sanchez et al (2014) suggest that SI is the key variable that determines whether college students use Facebook to establish and maintain relationships Indeed, individuals employ new systems they adopt for a number of targets in all parts oftheir lives In addition,

Fulk et al (1990) reveals that surrounding social factors affect how people perceive and

use communication technologies Specifically, attitudes, views, and behaviors of others in

(2014), the following hypotheses are put forth

H3: Social Influence will have a significant influence on Purpose of using Facebook

groups.

H3’: Social Influence will have a significant influence on Student perception of their learning experience.

perception of their learning experience

The terminology of “facilitating conditions" originates from Triandis (1980), whocall facilitating conditions as “Objective factors in the environment that observers agree to

make an act easy to accomplish" (Thompson el al., 1991) Venkatesh et al (2003) defined

it in the Unified Theory Acceptance and Use Technology (UTAUT) as “ the degree to

which an individual believes that an organization and technical infrastructure exist tosupport use ofthe system" This viewpoint is used in many recent researches as a guideline.For example, the construct of Bervell & Arkorful, 2020 defined as “the degree to which

course tutors believe that there is the existence and availability of information and

enthusiastic leadership to support the use of the Fronler LMS." As used in this study,

Facilitating Conditions refers to the degree of users who tend to utilize Facebook groups

for their technical infrastructural support and virtual environment

Facilitating conditions include a direction; instructions that enable people to accessthe professional online community whenever they want to, as well as assistance offered by

the community provider to make usage of the professional virtual environment moreconvenient

With the findings of Jeon et al (2011), He and Wei (2009), the results show that

facilitating conditions significantly and meaningfully affect knowledge sharing behavior This behavior rapidly leads to a highly diversity in content which is the reason, purpose ofjoining a virtual community of students

Members of a Facebook group are more likely to actively use Facebook groups as anonline study tool if they perceive that the organization sets up support that promotes theirperformance in their courses, provides specialized instruction to its users, and ensures that

consulting staff is available for assistance As past research has shown by Blanchard et al (2011), Chang et al (2016) and Rovai (2002), Perception of joining a Virtual Communities

studies and UTAUT, the next hypotheses are proposed as follows

H4: Facilitating Conditions will have a significant influence on Purpose of using Face book groups.

H4’: Facilitating Condition will have a significant influence on Student perception

of their learning experience.

perception of their learning experience

One of the most important factors that affects a person's motivation to engage inonline communities is community identification According to prior researches,

Community Identity or Social Identity can be explained in terms of "individual's

identification with the group in the sense that the person comes to view himself or herself

as a member of the community, as "belonging" (Dholakia et al., 2004) This is a psychological condition, in contrast to being a distinct and individual person However, to analyze more specifically the definition, we use the concept Community Identity in the

Modeling educational usage of Facebook of Mazman & Usluel (2010) as "feeling of belonging to groups in Facebook by joining to these groups, sharing and collaborating with

others in groups.” Hence, Community Identity in Facebook groups can be known as the degree of recognition of an individual when users take part in an online community thatshares things that they are interested in

information available on the Internet, are unique in that most of their content is

member-generated, as opposed to other Internet information which is typically provided by the site

provider'’ Especially on social networks, Facebook groups became more and morepopular, important with young people It is the place that every participant can share

Similar to Facebook groups, blogs are considered as a virtual community Hsu & Lin (2008) investigated that Community identification had significant effects on the intention

to use blogs Additionally, the members of the group expect to receive useful knowledge,updating news, and events and improve their studying, which is the goal set in advance

when they decide to join an online community

Hagel and Armstrong (1997) propose that belonging to a virtual community may help satisfy the following consumer needs: sharing resources, establishing relationships, living

fantasies and trading In other words, Identification with a virtual community has a positive

influence on satisfaction in particular focus related to consumption experience Thus, we suggest the following hypotheses in accordance with Mazman & Usluel (2010)

H5: Community Identity will have a significant influence on Purpose of using Face book groups.

H5’: Community Identity will have a significant influence on Student perception of their learning experience.

3.2.6 Purpose of using Facebook groups and Student perception of their learning experience

Undoubtedly, people utilize Facebook in a multitude of ways and for various

purposes Depending on the needs of the user, Facebook is used for interacting with others,

establishing new relationships, maintaining contact with old ones, passing the time, sharingknowledge, or gathering rumors and gossip As a support of social networks, Facebook

groups are created to help users easily gain their benefits from an online environment The

research of Ridings (2006) suggests that “people visit virtual communities because of the

opportunities it creates to exchange information.” and “social support or friendships arealso popular reasons for joining a virtual community.” So in this research, Purpose ofusing

Facebook groups is to what degree do users utilize these virtual communities for multiple objectives

(albeit the minority) extended their use of Facebook from its purely social origins, to

learning (Irwin et al., 2012; McCarthy, 2012) According to Expectation-DisconfirmationTheory by Oliver (1980), consumers have an early anticipation, expected target of a

particular good or service, and after utilizing it, customers create opinions about how well

it performs And then, the perception of experience is compared to the initial expectation

After consideration, consumers are satisfied if the experience exceeds expectations or vice

remains to be demonstrated By using SNS , we propose the next hypothesis:

as follows:

H6: Purpose of using Facebook groups will have a significant influence on Student perception of their learning experience through Facebook groups.

3.2.7 Control variable

identify variations for each learning outcome, which may reveal the relative strengths and weaknesses of each subject There is the potential that as students advance through their

studies, their perspectives may change differently depending on their majors Several studies have examined the connection between gender and the perception of the learning

environment (Meyer, 1995; Weil et al., 2001) In terms of the learning strategies used,

male and female students behave differently (Hassall and Joyce, 2001) Ramsden (1992) points out that factors relating to students, such as their background knowledge and

experiences, may have an impact on their perceptions, which in turn may result in varied

learning results In the study by Centra et al (2000), student level was a crucial element inunderstanding students' perceptions of learning because of differences in age, experience,

and maturing as well as the need for structure in the learning process Based on these

findings, we controlled for 3 variables pertaining to the individual including gender, major,

and school year in order to reduce the potential for other variables to SP Additionally, a

longitudinal approach may aid in understanding the long-term use of SNs (Pinho et al.,

2011)

Figure ỉ 1 : Research model and hypothesis

CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY

In order to better understand the present attitudes, beliefs, and opinions of students

who are participating in the facebook community, we chose to develop a cross-sectional

survey Online survey is conducted due to its updated, accurate and large scale To collectsample data, we use Google Forms tools and sent questionnaires to respondents

Facebook group forums for their schools We remove individuals who decline to give thebest response or give incomplete words in order to assure data quality

As a result, 365 replies are deemed appropriate after data cleaning and used in the data analysis According to the survey’s findings, 68% of respondents were female and 32%were male Data is gathered from participants in a variety of disciplines, with the majority

of students enroll in accounting and auditing programs (60%) serving as the study's primary target audience The number ofsecond year students account for 62% of the survey sample,and especially there is the participation of those who are studying master’s and PhD programs (2%) The variety of the survey respondents' demographic traits suggests that

the sample is highly representative ( Table 4.1)

Table 4.1 : Demographic profiles of the respondents surveyed

4.2 Measures

Formal research also contributes to testing the research model and hypotheses that the

research team has proposed The scale of factors influencing accepting use of the Facebook

community include four items for Perceived Usefulness (PU) , four items for Perceived

Conditions (FC) and four items for Community Identity (CI); based on (Sanchez et al.,2014)

For the Purpose of Using Facebook group (P) variable, three aspects consisting of

Social Relations, Work Related, and Daily Activity are applied In this study, Seven items

of p are again developed from Sanchez et al (2014) To analyze Student perception of theirlearning experience through Facebook groups (SP) , we build up questionnaire for this

latent variable based on the model for improving the student learning experience (MISL) including 5 elements: (1) Access to information & resources, (2) Support & motivation, (3)Participation & collaboration, (4) Assessment & feedback, (5) Critical reflection &

measured by six validated observers It includes 34 observed variables in total For the quantitative research, the study use a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 representing strongly

disagree and 5 representing strongly agree The reliability and value of the scales are testedquantitatively by using the EFA factor analysis method and Cronbach's alpha reliability

coefficient method