Factors Affecting the Adoption of Social Media in Higher Education: A Systematic Review of the Technology Acceptance Model

Numerous review studies were conducted in the past to examine the technology acceptance model (TAM) on the one hand, and the social media adoption on the other hand. However, understanding the factors affecting the adoption of social media in higher education through the lenses of TAM is still not yet examined. Therefore, this study aims to systematically review the TAM-based social media studies for identifying the most dominant factors. This study also attempts to determine the most dominant publication venues through which the analyzed studies were published. Out of 539 articles collected, a total of 57 studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria, and hence, were included in the analysis phase. The results indicated that “perceived enjoyment”, “subjective norm”, “self-efficacy”, “perceived playfulness”, “perceived critical mass”, and “openness” were the most frequent factors affecting the adoption of social media in higher educational institutions. The identification of these factors would assist the decision-makers of these institutions in making informed decisions regarding the employment of social media platforms. Limitations and future work were also discussed.