Social Media Use and Academic Performance: Insights for Human Resource Development and Institutional Governance

This study examined the influence of social media use on academic performance among undergraduate students, with implications for human resource development and institutional governance. The study adopted a quantitative survey research design, and data were collected from 250 undergraduate students using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that social media use was high among respondents, with many students using social media for both academic and non-academic purposes. Academic use of social media had a positive and significant effect on academic performance, while non-academic use of social media and social media addiction had negative significant effects. The results also showed that digital self-regulation, academic engagement, and institutional digital support positively influenced academic performance. The regression model explained 47.9% of the variance in academic performance, indicating that the selected predictors meaningfully contributed to students’ academic outcomes. The study concludes that social media is neither inherently beneficial nor harmful; its effect depends on students’ purpose of use, level of self-regulation, academic engagement, and institutional support. The study recommends that higher education institutions should promote responsible social media use through digital literacy training, student support systems, digital wellness programmes, and responsible-use policies. The findings contribute to human resource development by emphasizing digital discipline, employability skills, responsible online behavior, and professional digital competence among students.