Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-022-00675-6

REVIEW ARTICLE

Analysing the Impact of Social Media on Students’ Academic

Performance: A Comparative Study of Extraversion
and Introversion Personality
Sourabh Sharma1 · Ramesh Behl1

Received: 25 November 2020 / Accepted: 18 July 2022 / Published online: 12 November 2022
© The Author(s) under exclusive licence to National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) India 2022

Abstract The advent of technology in education has seen Introduction

a revolutionary change in the teaching–learning process.
Social media is one such invention which has a major impact Social Networking Sites (SNS) gained instant popularity
on students’ academic performance. This research analyzed just after the invention and expansion of the Internet. Today,
the impact of social media on the academic performance of these sites are used the most to communicate and spread the
extraversion and introversion personality students. Further, message. The population on these social networking sites
the comparative study between these two personalities will (SNS) has increased exponentially. Social networking sites
be analysed on education level (postgraduate and under- (SNS) in general are called social media (Boyd & Ellison,
graduate) and gender (male and female). The research was 2008). Social media (SM) is used extensively to share con-
initiated by identifying the factors of social media impacting tent, initiate discussion, promote businesses and gain advan-
students’ academic performance. Thereafter, the scale was tages over traditional media. Technology plays a vital role
developed, validated and tested for reliability in the Indian to make SM more robust by reducing security threats and
context. Data were collected from 408 students segregated increasing reliability (Stergiou et al., 2018).
into 202 males and 206 females. Two hundred and thirty- As of January 2022, more than 4.95 billion people are
four students are enrolled in postgraduation courses, whereas using the Internet worldwide, and around 4.62 billion are
174 are registered in the undergraduate programme. One- active SM users (Johnson, 2022). In India, the number of
way ANOVA has been employed to compare the extraver- Internet users was 680 million by January 2022, and there
sion and introversion students of different education levels were 487 million active social media users (Basuray, 2022).
and gender. A significant difference is identified between According to Statista Research Department (2022), in India,
extraversion and introversion students for the impact of SM is dominated by two social media sites, i.e. YouTube
social media on their academic performance. and Facebook. YouTube has 467 million users followed by
Facebook with 329 million users.
Keywords Social networking sites · Academic Although almost all age groups are using SM platforms
performance · Social media · Personality traits · Education to interact and communicate with their known community
levels · Extraversion and introversion · Gender (Whiting & Williams, 2013), it has been found that social
media sites are more popular among youngsters and specifi-
cally among students. They use SM for personal as well as
academic activities extensively (Laura et al., 2017). Other
than SM, from the last two years, several online platforms
* Sourabh Sharma such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet are pre-
[email protected]
ferred to organize any kind of virtual meetings, webinars
Ramesh Behl and online classes. These platforms were used worldwide
[email protected]
to share and disseminate knowledge across the defined user
1
International Management Institute (IMI), Bhubaneswar, community during the pandemic. Social media sites such as
India Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp and blogs are

13
Vol.:(0123456789)
550 Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559

comparatively more open and used to communicate with The addiction to social media is found more among the
public and/or private groups. Earlier these social media plat- students of higher studies which ruins the academic excel-
forms were used only to connect with friends and family, lence of an individual (Nalwa & Anand, 2003). Among
but gradually these platforms became one of the essential the social media users, Facebook users’ academic perfor-
learning tools for students (Park et al., 2009). To enhance mance was worse than the nonusers or users of any other
the teaching–learning process, these social media sites are social media network. Facebook was found to be the major
explored by all types of learning communities (Dzogbenuku distraction among students (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010).
et al., 2019). SM when used in academics has both advan- However, other studies report contrary findings and argued
tages and disadvantages. Social media helps to improve that students benefited from chatting (Jain et al., 2012),
academic performance, but it may also distract the students as it improves their vocabulary and writing skills (Yunus
from studies and indulge them in other non-academic activi- & Salehi, 2012). Social media can be used either to excel
ties (Alshuaibi et al., 2018). in academics or to devastate academics. It all depends on
Here, it is important to understand that the personality the way it is used by the students. The good or bad use of
traits of students, their education level and gender are critical social media in academics is the users’ decision because
constructs to determine academic performance. There are both the options are open to the students (Landry, 2014).
different personality traits of an individual such as openness, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) defined social media as
conscientiousness, extraversion and introversion, agreea- user-generated content shared on web 2.0. They have also
bleness and neuroticism (McCrae & Costa, 1987). This classified social media into six categories:
cross-functional research is an attempt to study the impact
of social media on the academic performance of students (1) Social Networking Sites: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
while using extraversion and introversion personality traits, and Instagram are the social networking sites where a
education levels and gender as moderating variables. user may create their profile and invite their friends to
join. Users may communicate with each other by shar-
ing common content.
Literature Review (2) Blogging Sites: Blogging sites are individual web pages
where users may communicate and share their knowl-
There has been a drastic change in the internet world due edge with the audience.
to the invention of social media sites in the last ten years. (3) Content Communities and Groups: YouTube and Slide-
People of all age groups now share their stories, feelings, share are examples of content communities where peo-
videos, pictures and all kinds of public stuff on social ple may share media files such as pictures, audio and
media platforms exponentially (Asur & Huberman, 2010). video and PPT presentations.
Youth, particularly from the age group of 16–24, embraced (4) Gaming Sites: Users may virtually participate and enjoy
social media sites to connect with their friends and family, the virtual games.
exchange information and showcase their social status (Boyd (5) Virtual Worlds: During COVID-19, this type of social
& Ellison, 2008). Social media sites have many advantages media was used the most. In the virtual world, users
when used in academics. The fun element of social media meet with each other at some decided virtual place and
sites always helps students to be connected with peers and can do the pre-decided things together. For example,
teachers to gain knowledge (Amin et al., 2016). Social media the teacher may decide on a virtual place of meeting,
also enhances the communication between teachers and stu- and students may connect there and continue their
dents as this are no ambiguity and miscommunication from learning.
social media which eventually improves the academic per- (6) Collaborative Content Sites: Wikipedia is an example
formance of the students (Oueder & Abousaber, 2018). of a collaborative content site. It permits many users to
When social media is used for educational purposes, it work on the same project. Users have all rights to edit
may improve academic performance, but some associated and add the new content to the published project.
challenges also come along with it (Rithika & Selvaraj,
2013). If social media is incorporated into academics, Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are in trend
students try to also use it for non-academic discussions since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Raja &
(Arnold & Paulus, 2010). The primary reason for such Kallarakal, 2020). MOOCs courses are generally free,
distraction is its design as it is designed to be a social and anyone may enrol for them online. Many renowned
networking tool (Qiu et al., 2013). According to Englan- institutions have their online courses on MOOCs plat-
der et al. (2010), the usage of social media in academics form which provides a flexible learning opportunity to
has more disadvantages than advantages. Social media the students. Students find them useful to enhance their
severely impacts the academic performance of a student. knowledge base and also in career development. Many

13
Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559 551

standalone universities have collaborated with the MOOCs of social media on adolescence, and addictiveness of social
platform and included these courses in their curriculum media in students. There are no published research studies
(Chen, 2013). where the impact of social media was studied on students’
Security and privacy are the two major concerns asso- academic performance by taking their personality traits, edu-
ciated with social media. Teachers are quite apprehensive cation level and gender all three together into consideration.
in using social media for knowledge sharing due to the same So, in the present study, the impact of social media will be
concerns (Fedock et al., 2019). It was found that around evaluated on students’ academic performance by taking their
72% teachers were reluctant to use social media platforms personality traits (extraversion and introversion), education
due to integrity issues and around 63% teachers confirmed level (undergraduate and postgraduate) and gender (male
that security needs to be tightened before using social media and female) as moderating variables.
in the classroom (Surface et al., 2014). Proper training on
security and privacy, to use social media platforms in aca-
demics, is needed for students and teachers (Bhatnagar &
Pry, 2020). Objectives of the Study
The personality traits of a student also play a significant
role in deciding the impact of social media on students’ aca- Based on the literature review and research gap, the follow-
demic performance. Personality is a dynamic organization ing research objectives have been defined:
which simplifies the way a person behaves in a situation
(Phares, 1991). Human behaviour has further been described 1. To identify the elements of social media impacting stu-
by many renowned researchers. According to Lubinski dent’s academic performance and to develop a suitable
(2000), human behaviour may be divided into five factors, scale
i.e. cognitive abilities, personality, social attitudes, psycho- 2. To test the validity and reliability of the scale
logical interests and psychopathology. These personality 3. To analyse the impact of social media on students’ aca-
traits are very important characteristics of a human being demic performance using extraversion and introversion
and play a substantial role in work commitment (Macey personality trait, education level and gender as moderat-
& Schneider, 2008). Goldberg (1993) elaborated on five ing variables
dimensions of personality which are commonly known as
the Big Five personality traits. The traits are “openness vs.
cautious”; “extraversion vs. introversion”; “agreeableness Research Methodology
vs. rational”; “conscientiousness vs. careless”; and “neuroti-
cism vs. resilient”. Sampling Technique
It has been found that among all personality traits,
the “extraversion vs. introversion” personality trait has a Convenience sampling was used for data collection. An
greater impact on students’ academic performance (Costa online google form was floated to collect the responses from
& McCrae, 1999). Extrovert students are outgoing, talka- 408 male and female university students of undergraduation
tive and assertive (Chamorro et al., 2003). They are posi- and postgraduation streams.
tive thinkers and comfortable working in a crowd. Introvert
students are reserved and quiet. They prefer to be isolated
and work in silos (Bidjerano & Dai, 2007). So, in the pre- Measure
sent study, we have considered only the “extraversion vs.
introversion” personality trait. This study is going to analyse Objective 1 To identify the elements of social media impact-
the impact of social media platforms on students’ academic ing student’s academic performance and to develop a suit-
performance by taking the personality trait of extraversion able scale.
and introversion as moderating variables along with their A structured questionnaire was employed to collect the
education level and gender. responses from 408 students of undergraduate and post-
graduate streams. The questionnaire was segregated into
three sections. In section one, demographic details such as
Research Gap gender, age and education stream were defined. Section two
contained the author’s self-developed 16-item scale related
Past research by Choney (2010), Karpinski and Duberstein to the impact of social media on the academic performance
(2009), Khan (2009) and Kubey et al. (2001) was done of students. The third section had a standardized scale devel-
mostly in developed countries to analyse the impact of oped by John and Srivastava (1999) of the Big Five person-
social media on the students’ academic performance, effect ality model.

13
552 Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559

Demographics Validity and Reliability of Scale

There were 408 respondents (students) of different edu- Objective 2 Scale validity and reliability.
cation levels consisting of 202 males (49.5%) and 206 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha
females (50.5%). Most of the respondents (87%) were test were used to investigate construct validity and reliability,
from the age group of 17–25 years. 234 respondents respectively.
(57.4) were enrolled on postgraduation courses, whereas The author’s self-designed scale of ‘social media impact-
174 respondents (42.6) were registered in the under- ing students’ academic performance’ consisting of 16 items
graduate programme. The result further elaborates that was validated using exploratory factor analysis. The princi-
WhatsApp with 88.6% and YouTube with 82.9% are the ple component method with varimax rotation was applied to
top two commonly used platforms followed by Instagram decrease the multicollinearity within the items. The initial
with 76.7% and Facebook with 62.3% of students. 65% eigenvalue was set to be greater than 1.0 (Field, 2005). Kai-
of students stated that Google doc is a quite useful and ser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) with 0.795 and Bartlett’s test of
important application in academics for document creation sphericity having significant values of 0.000 demonstrated
and information dissemination. the appropriateness of using exploratory factor analysis.
The result of exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s
alpha is shown in Table 1. According to Sharma and Behl

Table 1  Exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha for the self-developed scale of “Social media impact on academic performance”
Factors Items retained in fac- Factor loading
tor analysis

Accelerating impact
My grades are improving with the help of study materials shared on social media platforms Yes 0.918
For expressing our thoughts, social media platforms are the best means Yes 0.913
Our teachers share assignments and class activities on social media platforms which eventually help Yes 0.820
us in managing our academics better
Academic discussions on public/private groups accelerate my understanding of the topics Yes 0.562
Eigenvalue: 3.275; Percentage of Variance: 20.472
Cronbach’s alpha: 0.819
Deteriorating impact
My academic performance negatively affected due to unlimited use of social media Yes 0.814
Distraction from studies is more when social media is added to academics Yes 0.808
My grades have deteriorated since I am engaged on these social platforms Yes 0.780
Addiction to social networking sites, affecting my academic performance Yes 0.761
I have observed mood swings and irresponsible behaviour due to social media posts Yes 0.631
Eigenvalue: 3.967; Percentage of Variance: 24.795
Cronbach’s alpha: 0.876
Social media prospects
Social media sites increase employment prospects Yes 0.715
I use social networking sites (SNS) to spread and share knowledge with my classmate Yes 0.686
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) help me in the self-learning mode Yes 0.679
I use materials obtained from social media sites to complement what has been taught in the class Yes 0.634
Eigenvalue: 1.416; Percentage of Variance: 8.851
Cronbach’s alpha: 0.711
Social media challenges
Cyberbullying on social media platforms makes me anxious Yes 0.834
Privacy and security on social networking sites are the biggest challenges in academics Yes 0.736
Social media is a barrier for me to being engaged in face-to-face communication Yes 0.528
Eigenvalue: 1.303; Percentage of Variance: 8.143
Cronbach’s alpha: 0.701
Total variance: 62.260

13
Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559 553

(2020), “High loading on the same factor and no substantial As mentioned in Fig. 1, four dependent factors (Accel-
cross-loading confirms convergent and discriminant validity erating Impact, Deteriorating Impact, Social Media Pros-
respectively”. pects and Social Media Challenges) were derived from EFA
The self-developed scale was segregated into four fac- and used for analysing the impact of social media on the
tors, namely “Accelerating Impact”, “Deteriorating Impact”, academic performance of students having extraversion and
“Social Media Prospects” and “Social Media Challenges”. introversion personality traits at different education levels
The first factor, i.e. “Accelerating Impact”, contains and gender.
items related to positive impact of social media on students’ Students having a greater average score (more than three
academic performance. Items in this construct determine on a scale of five) for all personality items mentioned in
the social media contribution in the grade improvement, Table 2 are considered to be having extraversion personality
communication and knowledge sharing. The second factor or else introversion personality. From the valid dataset of
“Deteriorating Impact” describes the items which have a 408 students, 226 students (55.4%) had extraversion person-
negative influence of social media on students’ academic ality trait and 182 (44.6%) had introversion personality trait.
performance. Items such as addiction to social media and The one-way ANOVA analysis was employed to determine
distraction from studies are an integral part of this factor. the impact of social media on academic performance for
“Social Media Prospects” talk about the opportunities cre- all three moderators, i.e. personality traits (Extraversion vs.
ated by social media for students’ communities. The last Introversion), education levels (Undergraduate and Post-
factor “Social Media Challenges” deals with security and graduate) and gender (Male and Female). If the sig. value
privacy issues created by social media sites and the threat of for the result is >  = 0.05, we may accept the null hypothesis,
cyberbullying which is rampant in academics. i.e. there is no significant difference between extraversion
The personality trait of an individual always influences and introversion personality students for the moderators;
the social media usage pattern. Therefore, the impact of otherwise, null hypothesis is rejected which means there is
social media on the academic performance of students may a significant difference for the moderators.
also change with their personality traits. To measure the per- Table 3 shows the comparison of the accelerating
sonality traits, the Big Five personality model was used. This impact of social media on the academic performance of
model consists of five personality traits, i.e. “openness vs. all students having extraversion and introversion personal-
cautious”; “extraversion vs. introversion”; “agreeableness ity traits. It also shows a comparative analysis on educa-
vs. rational”; “conscientiousness vs. careless”; and “neuroti- tion level and gender for these two personality traits of
cism vs. resilient”. To remain focussed on the scope of the students. In the first comparison of extraversion and intro-
study, only a single personality trait, i.e. “extraversion vs. version students, the sig. value is 0.001, which indicates
introversion” with 6 items was considered for analysis. A that there is a significant difference among extraversion
reliability test of this existing scale using Cronbach’s alpha and introversion students for the “Accelerating Impact” of
was conducted. Prior to the reliability test, reverse scor- social media on academic performance. Here, 3.781 is the
ing applicable to the associated items was also calculated. mean value for introversion students which is higher than
Table 2 shows the reliability score, i.e. 0.829. the mean value 3.495 of extraversion students. It clearly
Objective 3 To analyse the impact of social media on specifies that the accelerating impact of social media is
students’ academic performance using extraversion and more prominent in the students having introversion per-
introversion personality traits, education level and gender sonality traits. Introversion students experienced social
as moderating variables. media as the best tool to express thoughts and improve
The research model shown in Fig. 1 helps in addressing academic grades. The result is also consistent with the
the above objective. previous studies where introvert students are perceived to
use social media to improve their academic performance

Table 2  Cronbach’s alpha test Personality traits Cronbach’s alpha value

for the scale of extraversion vs.
introversion personality traits Extraversion vs. introversion
I see myself as someone who is talkative 0.829
I see myself as someone who is reserved and quiet
I see myself as someone who is full of energy and enthusiasm
I see myself as someone who has an assertive personality
I see myself as someone who is sometimes shy, self-conscious
I see myself as someone who is outgoing, sociable

13
554 Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559

Fig. 1  Social media factors

impacting academic perfor-
mances of extraversion and
introversion personality traits of
students at different education
levels and gender

Table 3  One-way ANOVA: Factor Group N Mean SD F Stat Sig.

determining “Accelerating
Impact” among extraversion and Accelerating impact Extraversion 226 3.495 0.8912 11.68 0.001
introversion personality traits
Introversion 182 3.781 0.7997
students at different education
levels and genders Postgraduate students
Accelerating impact Extraversion 129 3.643 0.741 7.388 0.007
Introversion 105 3.901 0.7081
Undergraduate students
Accelerating impact Extraversion 99 3.292 1.033 5.102 0.025
Introversion 77 3.621 0.8862
Male students
Accelerating impact Extraversion 115 3.578 0.9519 0.049 0.825
Introversion 87 3.604 0.7651
Female students
Accelerating impact Extraversion 111 3.418 0.8921 23.079 0
Introversion 95 3.964 0.7377

Significant at the 0.05 level

(Amichai-Hamburger et al., 2002; Voorn & Kommers, more of an accelerating impact of social media on their
2013). Further at the education level, there was a signifi- academic performance.
cant difference in postgraduate as well as undergraduate Like Table 3, the first section of Table 4 compares the
students for the accelerating impact of social media on the deteriorating impact of social media on the academic perfor-
academic performance among students with extraversion mance of all students having extraversion and introversion
and introversion, and introverts seem to get better use of personality traits. Here, the sig. value 0.383 indicates no
social media. The gender-wise significant difference was significant difference among extraversion and introversion
also analysed between extraversion and introversion per- students for the “Deteriorating Impact” of social media on
sonalities. Female introversion students were found to gain academic performance. The mean values show the moder-
ating deteriorating impact of social media on the academic

13
Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559 555

Table 4  One-way ANOVA: Factor Group N Mean SD F Stat Sig.

Examining “Deteriorating
Impact” among extraversion and Deteriorating impact Extraversion 226 2.535 0.969 0.764 0.383
introversion personality traits
Introversion 182 2.615 0.852
students at different education
levels and genders Postgraduate students
Deteriorating impact Extraversion 129 2.547 0.9436 0.645 0.423
Introversion 105 2.642 0.8342
Undergraduate students
Deteriorating impact Extraversion 97 2.52 1.0065 0.168 0.682
Introversion 77 2.579 0.8799
Male students
Deteriorating impact Extraversion 115 2.722 0.9233 0.598 0.44
Introversion 87 2.621 0.9155
Female students
Deteriorating impact Extraversion 111 2.611 0.7943 4.545 0.034
Introversion 95 2.342 0.9814

Significant at the 0.05 level

performance of extraversion and introversion personality introversion personality students for the social media
students. Unlimited use of social media due to the addic- prospects. The higher mean value of both personality stu-
tion is causing a distraction in academic performance, but dents indicates that they are utilizing the opportunities
the overall impact is not on the higher side. Further, at the of social media in the most appropriate manner. It seems
education level, the sig. values 0.423 and 0.682 of post- that all the students are using social media for possible
graduate and undergraduate students, respectively, show employment prospects, gaining knowledge by attend-
no significant difference between extraversion and intro- ing MOOCs courses and transferring knowledge among
version students with respect to “Deteriorating Impact of other classmates. At the education level, postgraduation
Social Media Sites”. The mean values again represent the students have no significant difference between extraver-
moderate impact. Gender-wise, male students have no differ- sion and introversion for the social media prospects, but
ence between the two personality traits, but at the same time, at the undergraduate level, there is a significant difference
female students have a significant difference in the deterio- among both the personalities, and by looking at mean val-
rating impact, and it is more on extroverted female students. ues, extroverted students gain more from the social media
The significant value, i.e. 0.82, in Table 5 repre- prospects. Gender-wise comparison of extraversion and
sents no significant difference between extraversion and introversion personality students found no significant

Table 5  One-way ANOVA: Factor Group N Mean SD F Stat Sig.

Examining “Social Media
Prospects” among extraversion Social media opportunities Extraversion 226 3.704 0.716 3.031 0.082
and introversion personality
Introversion 182 3.574 0.782
traits students at different
education levels and genders Postgraduate students
Social media prospects Extraversion 129 3.893 0.6356 0.086 0.77
Introversion 105 3.869 0.6308
Undergraduate students
Social media prospects Extraversion 97 3.451 0.7418 5.717 0.018
Introversion 77 3.172 0.7919
Male students
Social media prospects Extraversion 115 3.713 0.655 1.487 0.224
Introversion 87 3.589 0.7887
Female students
Social media prospects Extraversion 111 3.694 0.7773 1.499 0.222
Introversion 95 3.561 0.7793

Significant at the 0.05 level

13
556 Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559

difference in the social media prospects for male as well two personality types. In the overall comparison, it has been
as female students. discovered that both personalities (extraversion and introver-
Table 6 shows the comparison of the social media chal- sion) have a significant difference for only one factor, i.e.
lenges of all students having extraversion and introversion “Accelerating Impact of Social Media Sites” where students
personality traits. It is also doing a comparative analysis on with introversion benefited the most. At the education level,
education level and gender for these two personality traits of i.e. postgraduate and undergraduate, there was a significant
students. All sig. values in Table 6 represent no significant difference between extraversion and introversion personali-
difference between extraversion and introversion personality ties for the first factor which is the accelerating impact of
students for social media challenges. Even at the education social media. Here, the introversion students were found to
level and gender-wise comparison of the two personalities, benefit in postgraduate as well as undergraduate courses. For
no significant difference is derived. The higher mean values the factors of deteriorating impact and social media chal-
indicate that the threat of cyberbullying, security and privacy lenges, there was no significant difference between extra-
is the main concern areas for extraversion and introversion version and introversion personality type at the different
personality students. Cyberbullying is seen to be more par- education levels.
ticularly among female students (Snell & Englander, 2010). Surprisingly, for the first factor, i.e. the accelerating
impact of social media, in gender-wise comparison, no
significant difference was found between extraversion and
Conclusion introversion male students. Whereas a significant difference
was found in female students. The same was the result for
The use of social media sites in academics is becoming the second factor, i.e. deteriorating impact of social media
popular among students and teachers. The improvement or of male and female students. For social media prospects and
deterioration in academic performance is influenced by the social media challenges, no significant difference was identi-
personality traits of an individual. This study has tried to fied between extraversion and introversion students of any
analyse the impact of social media on the academic perfor- gender.
mance of extraversion and introversion personality students.
This study has identified four factors of social media which
have an impact on academic performance. These factors are:
accelerating impact of social media; deteriorating impact Findings and Implications
of social media; social media prospects; and social media
challenges. The personality trait of a student plays a vital role in
Each of these factors has been used for comparative anal- analysing the impact of social media on their academic
ysis of students having extraversion and introversion per- performance. The present study was designed to find the
sonality traits. Their education level and gender have also difference between extraversion and introversion person-
been used to understand the detailed impact between these ality types in students for four identified factors of social

Table 6  One-way ANOVA: Factor Group N Mean SD F Stat Sig.

Examining “Social Media
Challenges” among extraversion Social media challenges Extraversion 226 3.273 0.889 0.707 0.401
and introversion personality
Introversion 182 3.2 0.857
traits students at different
education levels and genders Postgraduate students
Social media challenges Extraversion 129 3.375 0.874 2.067 0.152
Introversion 105 3.21 0.8737
Undergraduate students
Social media challenges Extraversion 97 3.136 0.8946 0.134 0.714
Introversion 77 3.186 0.8386
Male students
Social media challenges Extraversion 115 3.322 0.8353 0.398 0.529
Introversion 87 3.245 0.8767
Female students
Social media challenges Extraversion 111 3.222 0.9421 0.263 0.608
Introversion 95 3.158 0.8405

Significant at the 0.05 level

13
Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559 557

media and their impact on students’ academic perfor- behaviour according to their education level and gender for
mance. The education level and gender were also added extraversion and introversion personalities has also been
to make it more comprehensive. The implications of this explored.
study are useful for institutions, students, teachers and
policymakers.
This study will help the institutions to identify the right Limitation and Future Scope of Research
mix of social media based on the personality, education
level and gender of the students. For example, technologi- Due to COVID restrictions, a convenient sampling tech-
cal challenges are faced by all students. It is important for nique was used for data collection which may create some
the institutions to identify the challenges such as cyberbul- response biases where the students of introversion person-
lying, security and privacy issues and accordingly frame ality traits may have intentionally described themselves as
the training sessions for all undergraduate and postgradu- extroversion personalities and vice versa. This study also
ate students. These training sessions will help students creates scope for future research. In the Big Five person-
with extraversion and introversion to come out from pos- ality model, there are four other personality traits which
sible technological hassles and will create a healthy eco- are not considered in the present study. There is an oppor-
system (Okereke & Oghenetega, 2014). tunity to also use cross-personality comparisons for the
Students will also benefit from this study as they will be different social media parameters. The other demographic
conscious of the possible pros and cons that exist because variables such as age and place may also be explored in
of social media usage and its association with students’ future research.
academic performance. This learning may help students
to enhance their academic performance with the right
use of social media sites. The in-depth knowledge of all Author contributions All authors contributed to the study concep-
tion and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were
social media platforms and their association with academ- performed by Dr. SS and Prof. RB. The first draft of the manuscript
ics should be elucidated to the students so that they may was written by Dr. SS, and all authors commented on previous versions
explore the social media opportunities in an optimum man- of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
ner. Social media challenges also need to be made known
to the students to improve upon and overcome with time
(Boateng & Amankwaa, 2016).
Funding No funds, grants, or other support was received.
Teachers are required to design the curriculum by
understanding the learning style of students with extra- Availability of data and material Complete data and material is
version and introversion personality type. Innovation available to support transparency.
and customization in teaching style are important for the
holistic development of students and to satisfy the urge for Declarations
academic requirements. Teachers should also guide the
students about the adverse impacts of each social media Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict
of interest.
platform, so that these can be minimized. Students should
also be guided to reduce the time limit of using social Ethical approval All procedures performed in studies involving
media (Owusu-Acheaw & Larson, 2015). human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of
Policymakers are also required to understand the chal- the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964
Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical
lenges faced by the students while using social media in standards.
academics. All possible threats can be managed by defin-
ing and implementing transparent and proactive policies. Consent to participate Verbal informed consent was obtained from
As social media sites are open in nature, security and pri- the participants.
vacy are the two major concerns. The Government of India Consent to publication Verbal consent is obtained for publication
should take a strong stand to control all big social media
companies so that they may fulfil the necessary compli-
ances related to students’ security and privacy (Kumar &
Pradhan, 2018).
The overall result of these comparisons gives a better References
insight and deep understanding of the significant differ-
Alshuaibi, M., Ibrahim, S., Ibrahim, A. A. S., Mohd, F., Shamsu-
ences between students with extraversion and introversion din, D. A., & Arshad. (2018). Use of social media, student
personality type towards different social media factors and engagement, and academic performance of business students
their impact on students’ academic performance. Students’

13
558 Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559

in Malaysia. International Journal of Educational Management, Johnson, J. (2022). Worldwide digital population as of January 2022.
32(4), 625–640. https://​www.​stati​sta.​com/​stati​stics/​617136/​digit​al-​popul​ation-​
Amichai-Hamburger, Y., Wainapel, G., & Fox, S. (2002). “On the world​wide/.
Internet no one knows I’m an introvert”: Extroversion, neuroti- Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The
cism, and Internet interaction. Cyberpsychology & Behaviour, Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Hori-
5(2), 125–128. zons, 53(1), 59–68.
Amin, Z., Mansoor, A., Hussain, S. R., & Hashmat, F. (2016). Impact Karpinski, A. C., & Duberstein, A. (2009). A description of Face-
of social media of student’s academic performance. Interna- book use and academic performance among undergraduate and
tional Journal of Business and Management Invention, 5(4), graduate students. In Annual Meeting of the American Educa-
22–29. tional Research Association, San Diego, CA (pp. 5–10).
Arnold, N., & Paulus, T. (2010). Using a social networking site for Khan, U (2009). Facebook student underachieve in exams. Daily
experiential learning: Appropriating, lurking, modeling and Telegraph. http://​www.​teleg​raph.​co.​uk/​educa​tionn​ews/​51452​
community building. The Internet and Higher Education, 13(4), 43/​Faceb​ook-​stude​nts-​under​achie​ve-​in-​exams.​html
188–196. Kirschner, P. A., & Karpinski, A. C. (2010). Facebook® and aca-
Asur, S., & Huberman, B. A. (2010, August). Predicting the future with demic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6),
social media. In 2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM international conference 1237–1245.
on web intelligence and intelligent agent technology (Vol. 1, pp. Kubey, R. W., Lavin, M. J., & Barrows, J. R. (2001). Internet use and
492–499). IEEE. collegiate academic performance decrements: Early findings.
Basuray, T. (2022). Social media usage in India: Statistics & facts. Journal of Communication, 51(2), 366–382.
https://​www.​stati​sta.​com/​topics/​5113/​social-​media-​usage-​in-​ Kumar, V., & Pradhan, P. (2018). Trust management issues in social-
india/#​topic​Heade​r__​wrapp​er. media marketing. In Social Media Marketing: Breakthroughs in
Bhatnagar, N., & Pry, M. (2020). Student attitudes, awareness, and Research and Practice (pp. 714–732). IGI Global.
perceptions of personal privacy and cybersecurity in the use of Landry, T. (2014). How social media has changed us: The good and
social media: An initial study. Information Systems Education the bad. Retrieved from.
Journal, 18(1), 48–58. Laura, R., Jose, B., & Braojos, J. (2017). From traditional education
Bidjerano, T., & Dai, D. Y. (2007). The relationship between the big- technologies to student satisfaction in Management education:
five model of personality and self-regulated learning strategies. A theory of the role of social media applications. Information
Learning and Individual Differences, 17(1), 69–81. & Management, 54(8), 1059–1071.
Boateng, R., & Amankwaa, A. (2016). The impact of social media Lubinski, D. (2000). Scientific and social significance of assessing
on student academic life in higher education. Global Journal of individual differences:“Sinking shafts at a few critical points.”
Human-Social Science, 16(4), 1–8. Annual Review of Psychology, 51(1), 405–444.
Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2008). Social Network Sites: Definition, Macey, W. H., & Schneider, B. (2008). The meaning of employee
history and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediatied Com- engagement. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1,
munication, 13, 210–230. 3–30.
Chamorro Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2003). Personality predicts McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor
academic performance: Evidence from two longitudinal univer- model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal
sity samples. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(4), 319–338. of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(1), 81.
Chen, J. (2013). Opportunities and challenges of MOOCs: perspec- Nalwa, K., & Anand, A. P. (2003). Internet addiction in students: A
tives from Asia. cause of concern. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 6(6), 653–656.
Choney, S. (2010) Facebook Use Can Lower Grades by 20 Percent, Okereke, C. E., & Oghenetega, L. U. (2014). The impact of social
Study Says. http://​www.​msnbc.​com/​id/​39038​581/​ns.​techn​ology_​ media on the academic performance of university students in
and_​scien​ce-​tech_​and_​gadge​ts/ Nigeria. Journal of Education and Practice, 5(33), 21–24.
Costa, P. T., & McCRAE, R. R. (1999). A five-factor theory of person- Oueder, M., & Abousaber, I. (2018). A Study on the Impact of Social
ality. The Five-Factor Model of Personality: Theoretical Perspec- Media Usage on Student Academic Performance: University of
tives, 2, 51–87. Tabuk an Example. American Academic Scientific Research Jour-
Dzogbenuku, R. K., George, A. K., & Kumi, D. K. (2019). Social nal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences, 40(1), 77–88.
media and student performance: The moderating role of ICT Owusu-Acheaw, M., & Larson, A. G. (2015). Use of social media
knowledge. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics and its impact on academic performance of tertiary institution
in Society, 18(2), 197–219. students: A study of students of Koforidua Polytechnic, Ghana.
Englander, F., Terregrossa, R. A., & Wang, Z. (2010). Internet use Journal of Education and Practice, 6(6), 94–101.
among college students: Tool or toy? Educational Review, 62(1), Park, N., Kee, K. F., & Valenzuela, S. (2009). Being immersed in social
85–96. networking environment: Facebook groups, uses and gratifica-
Fedock, B. C., McCartney, M., & Neeley, D. (2019). Online adjunct tions, and social outcomes. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 12(6),
higher education teachers’ perceptions of using social media sites 729–733.
as instructional approaches. Journal of Research in Innovative Phares, E. J. (1991). Introduction to psychology (3rd ed.). Harper
Teaching & Learning, 12(3), 222–235. Collins.
Field, A. P. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS (2nd ed.). Sage Qiu, L., Lin, H., & Leung, A. K. Y. (2013). Cultural differences and
Publications. switching of in-group sharing behavior between an American
Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. (Facebook) and a Chinese (Renren) social networking site. Jour-
American Psychologist, 48(1), 26–34. nal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(1), 106–121.
Jain, N., Verma, A., Verma, R., & Tiwari, P. (2012). Going social: The Raja, M. A. S., & Kallarakal, T. K. (2020). “COVID-19 and students
impact of social networking in promoting education. International perception about MOOCs” a case of Indian higher educational
Journal of Computer Science, 9(1), 483–485. institutions. Interactive Technology and Smart Education.
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: Rithika, M., & Selvaraj, S. (2013). Impact of social media on students’
History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. Handbook of academic performance. International Journal of Logistics & Sup-
Personality: Theory and Research, 2(1999), 102–138. ply Chain Management Perspectives, 2(4), 636–640.

13
Psychol Stud (October–December 2022) 67(4):549–559 559

Sharma, S., & Behl, R. (2020). Strategic Alignment of Information Whiting, A., & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: A
Technology in Public and Private Organizations in India: A Com- uses and gratifications approach. Qualitative Market Research:
parative Study. Global Business Review, 1–18. An International Journal, 16(4), 362–369.
Snell, P. A., & Englander, E. (2010). Cyberbullying victimization Yunus, M., & Salehi, H. (2012). The effectiveness of Facebook groups
and behaviors among girls: Applying research findings in the on teaching and improving writing: students’ perceptions. Inter-
field. Journal of Social Sciences. national Journal of Education and Information Technologies, 6,
Statista Research Department. (2022). Countries with the most Face- 87–96.
book users 2022. https://​www.​stati​sta.​com/​stati​stics/​268136/​top-​
15-​count​ries-​based-​on-​number-​of-​faceb​ook-​users/ Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
Stergiou, C., Psannis, K. E., Kim, B. G., & Gupta, B. (2018). Secure jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
integration of IoT and cloud computing. Future Generation Com-
puter Systems, 78, 964–975. Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under
Surface, J. L., Stader, D., & Armenta, A. (2014). Educator sexual mis- a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s);
conduct and nondisclosure agreements: Policy guidance from mis- author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article
souri’s amy hestir student protection act (Vol. 29). Educational is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and
Leadership Faculty Publications. applicable law.
Voorn, R. J., & Kommers, P. A. (2013). Social media and higher edu-
cation: Introversion and collaborative learning from the student’s
perspective. International Journal of Social Media and Interactive
Learning Environments, 1(1), 59–73.

13