ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1581514
This article is part of the Research Topic Along the Path to Recovery: Supporting Student Learning Motivation, Engagement and Development in Post-Pandemic Higher Education View all 12 articles
Determinants of WhatsApp and Telegram Usage for Learning Support in Nigerian Universities: A Quantitative Study Determinants of Social Media Use for Learning Support in Universities: Novel Evidence from Nigeria
Provisionally accepted
Chinyere Ori Elom 1 Hayford Mensah Ayerakwa 2 Sikiru Ibrahim-Olesin 1 Eric Worlanyo Deffor 3 Chidebe Chijioke Uwaleke 1 Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke 1*- 1 Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Nigeria
- 2 University of Ghana, Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana
- 3 Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Accra, Ghana
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Evidence on the use of social media platforms such as WhatsAapp and Telegram as learning support to enhance students' performance is scarce in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is limited application of such platforms for learning. Much rarer are studies analysing the determinants of using WhatsAapp and Telegram as learning support to enhance students' performance in the region. Interest in this issue motivated the need for this study in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria, with large student population. This study analysed the determinants of social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram as learning support among university students in Nigeria. We used cross sectional data from 206 students from public universities in Nigeria and applied econometric frameworks (such as Pearson correlation and multivariate regression analysis) for data analysisto analyse the determinants of social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram as learning support among university students in Nigeria. We identified six constructs of using Whatsapp and Telegram as learning support in Nigerian public universities, which include performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, institutional and political influence, guidance and counselling achievements, and facilitating conditions. These constructs were acceptable/accepted by the students. The determinants of the use of WhatsAapp and Telegram to enhance learning among students include age, gender, wealth status of parents/guardians, student's faculty/program, location of school, and level of student in school. The constraints to students' usage of WhatsApp and Telegram for learning support include high cost of internet, poor connectivity and epileptic/poor power supply to charge phones, mistrust, lack of structure and coherence and irresponsible use of social media. The results have significant implications for educational institutions, policymakers, and stakeholders seeking to promote the effective use of mobile learning technologies.
Keywords: WhatsAapp and telegram use, Learning support, Public universities, determinants, Nigeriaconstructs, cross-sectional data, Multivariate regression
Received: 22 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Elom, Ayerakwa, Ibrahim-Olesin, Deffor, Uwaleke and Onyeneke. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Nigeria
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