Abstract:
Academics and researchers are interested in the effects
of social media on college students, with a specific focus on the most
popular social media website; Facebook. Previous studied have found
contradictory result on the relationship between Facebook usage and
the student engagement with positive, detrimental and no significant
relationships. However, these studies were limited to western higher
education system. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a
sample (300) of Sri Lankan management undergraduates to examine
the relationship between Facebook usage and student engagement.
Student engagement was measured 35 item scale based on the
National Survey of Student Engagement and Facebook usage by
Facebook intensity scale. Descriptive statistics, path analysis and
structural equation modeling were applied as statistical tools and
techniques. Results indicate that student engagement scale was
significantly negatively related with the Facebook usage with the
influence from student engagement on Facebook usage.
