Motivation for WhatsApp use among Students at the University of Jeddah

Abstract

As the twenty-first century has progressed, the processes of learning and imparting knowledge have increasingly followed a modern, digitized approach that makes use of modern communications. The recent and ongoing development of online communication platforms now allows millions of users to communicate with each other quickly and easily. WhatsApp, which is very popular with Saudi Arabian college students, is a social networking site that is primarily used on smartphones as an application for instant messaging. The research presented here explores the motivations that drive Saudi Arabian college students to use WhatsApp. Moreover, this research sheds light on the advantages and disadvantages of WhatsApp and elucidates the students’ perceptions of how WhatsApp use impacts the quality of their university education. This study is of an exploratory, qualitative design and the study sample comprised 23 undergraduate students from the University of Jeddah. An online questionnaire, containing open-ended questions, was used to identify the key factors that motivate students to use WhatsApp. The findings reveal that the simplicity and popularity of WhatsApp are the most significant factors in students’ decision to use it. The key advantages of using WhatsApp were found to be its fast speed and ease/efficiency of reaching recipients. Students indicated that they mainly used the app to establish or maintain contact with classmates and professors, and that they believed the use of WhatsApp had a positive effect on the quality of their education. However, while the app is clearly popular, some students reported the self-destructive nature of some WhatsApp messages as an important disadvantage.