Questionnaire

INTENTION TO USE PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Many university/college students tend to pay little attention to professional social networking platforms as compared to the time spent on other popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. In actual fact, professional social networking platforms such as LinkedIn offer many benefits. LinkedIn is a professional network that allows the user to be introduced to and connect with other professionals. In short, LinkedIn is helpful in looking for job opportunities, contacts and building one’s career. This survey intends to investigate university students’ perception and intention towards using LinkedIn.

Instructions:

Please respond to each statement with whatever knowledge you have by circling your answer using the scales given. There is no right or wrong answer. Be honest in your assessment.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
Strongly Disagree / Disagree / Somewhat Disagree / Neutral / Somewhat Agree / Agree / Strongly Agree
PSC1 / LinkedIn makes it easier to develop professional social networking. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PSC2 / LinkedIn improves professional social networking. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PSC3 / LinkedIn enhances effectiveness in building professional social relationships. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PSC4 / LinkedIn helps to build professional social relationship more quickly. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PSC5 / I think LinkedIn would be useful in my professional social relationships. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PU1 / LinkedIn will enable me to acquire more information or know more people. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PU2 / LinkedIn will improve my efficiency in sharing information and connecting with others. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PU3 / LinkedIn is a useful service for interaction between members. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PEOU1 / The process of using LinkedIn is clear and understandable. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
Strongly Disagree / Disagree / Somewhat Disagree / Neutral / Somewhat Agree / Agree / Strongly Agree
PEOU2 / The process of using LinkedIn does not require a lot of my mental effort. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PEOU3 / It is easy for me to become skillful in using LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PEOU4 / LinkedIn is easy to use. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
PEOU5 / It is easy to get LinkedIn to do what I want it to do. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
SN1 / People who influence my behaviour (e.g. coursemates, friends) think that I should use LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
SN2 / People who are important to me (e.g. family members) think that I should use LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
SN3 / People who I respect (e.g. lecturer) think that I should use LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
NM1 / I think a good number of people use LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
NM2 / I think that most people are using LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
NM3 / I think there will still be many people joining LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
NP1 / I think many peers (e.g. coursemates) around me use LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
NP2 / I think most of my peers are using LinkedIn. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
NP3 / I anticipate (expect) many peers will use LinkedIn in the future. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
ATT1 / Using LinkedIn would be beneficial for me. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
ATT2 / Using LinkedIn would be a good idea. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
ATT3 / Using LinkedIn would be a wise move. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
IN1 / I intend to use LinkedIn in the future. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
IN2 / I intend to use LinkedIn whenever possible. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
IN3 / I intend to recommend LinkedIn to others. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

Personal Profile

1. How old are you? ______years old

2. What is your gender? 1. Male 2. Female

3. What is your ethnicity? 1. Malay 2. Chinese 3. Indian 4. Others

4. What is your nationality? 1. Malaysian 2. Others (please specify)______

5. Currently, what year of study are you in?

1. First year 4. Fourth year

2. Second year 5. Fifth year

3. Third year

6. Which school are you from? (e.g. School of Management) ______

7. What is your CGPA level? ______

Technology Usage

8. How often do you use social networking sites (SNS)?

1. Not at all 5. Several times a week

2. Less than once a week 6. About once a day

3. About once a week 7. Several times each day

4. 2 – 3 times a week

9. How many hours do you spent on SNS each day?

1. Almost never 5. 11 – 15 hours

2. < 1 hour 6. 16 – 20 hours

3. 1 – 5 hours 7. More than 20 hours

4.  6 – 10 hours

10. How frequently do you use SNS?

1. Extremely Infrequent 5. Slightly Frequent

2. Quite Infrequent 6. Quite Frequent

3. Slightly Infrequent 7. Extremely Frequent

4. Neither Infrequent nor Frequent

11. How many years of experience do you have in using SNS? ______years

12. What SNS do you use the most?

1. Facebook

2. Twitter

3. Instagram

4. Others (please specify)______

END OF SURVEY

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND COOPERATION

Important Notes

Topic 5

intention to use professional social networking sites

Underlying Theory:

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by Davis (1989)

Source:

Davis, F.D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319-340.

**See also the concept of Network Externalities:

Lin, K.-Y., & Lu, H.-P. (2011). Why people use social networking sites: an empirical study integrating network externalities and motivation theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(3), 1152-1161.

Research Framework

Continued next page…

Description of variables used in the questionnaire

Item code / Variable name / Source / No. of Items
PSC1, PSC2, PSC3, PSC4 and PSC5 / Perceived Social Capital / Adapted from Choi & Chung (2013) / 5
PEOU1, PEOU2 and PEOU3 / Perceived Ease of Use / Adapted from Choi & Chung (2013) / 5
PU1, PU2 and PU3 / Perceived Usefulness / Adapted from Choi & Chung (2013) / 4
SN1, SN2 and SN3 / Subjective Norm / Adapted from Choi & Chung (2013) / 3
NM1, NM2 and NM3 / Number of Members / Adapted from Lin & Lu (2011) / 3
NP1, NP2 and NP3 / Number of Peers / Adapted from Lin & Lu (2011) / 3
INT1, INT2 and INT3 / Intention to Use / Adapted from Choi & Chung (2013) / 3
Additional variable not included as part of the research framework
ATT1, ATT2 and ATT3 / Attitude towards Use / Adapted from Cheon et al. (2012) / 3

Sources:

Choi, G., & Chung, H. (2013). Applying the Technology Acceptance Model to social networking sites (SNS): impact of subjective norm and social capital on the acceptance of SNS. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 29(10), 619-628.

Cheon, J., Lee, S., Crooks, S.M., & Song, J. (2012). An investigation of mobile learning readiness in higher education based on the theory of planned behavior. Computers & Education, 59(3), 1054-1064.

Lin, K.-Y., & Lu, H.-P. (2011). Why people use social networking sites: an empirical study integrating network externalities and motivation theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(3), 1152-1161.

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