Descriptive analysis of social media adoption and utilization in AACSB schools

Abstract

Technology is constantly evolving and its advancements are taking us to new peaks across the globe. Social media networking has made a remarkable impact, connecting people around the world, making a difference in every field such as business, education, healthcare, and so on. Specifically, in the case of universities, there is a radical increase of social media usage by the millennial generations for gathering information about the university brand, technology, and education. The purpose of this study is to measure the adoption and utilization of social media with respect to various characteristics of universities. To that end, data is collected from the AACSB International website and is subject to descriptive analysis. ANOVA and regression analysis used to observe the university trends in adopting four social media platforms, specifically, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. The results show that the public universities in both business & accounting sectors adopted social media significantly more than other groups, and that LinkedIn is the predominant communication social network among such universities. Furthermore, the ANOVA and regression analysis predict that university characteristics like region, type, level, and program show similar levels of significance on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn while enrollment and operating budget show significant impact on the number of likes or followers respectively.