Volume 32 .
April 2025 ISSN 0216-423X (Prin.
ISSN 2622-2667 (Onlin.
JOURNAL of ACCOUNTING.
BUSINESS and MANAGEMENT The Relationship between Principles-Based Accounting Rules and Audit Fees Dawna Drum.
Zenghui Liu, and Huishan Wan The Exploratory Study of Business and STEM StudentsAo Perceptions of LinkedIn Xia Zhang.
Lin Chen, and Yujian Fu Firm Fundamentals.
Corporate Life Cycle and Stock Market Crash:
Evidence from an Emerging Economy Muhammad Shahin Miah Cheating at Ethics: An Ernst and Young Case Study Devon Baranek and Kathleen Dunne Enhancing Efficiency Performance Measurement of Zakat Institutions:
A Proposed New Index Fera Tjahjani.
Rosnia Masruki, and Norhazlina Ibrahim Examining Behavioral Biases among Investors in the Saudi Arabian Stock Market: A Behavioral Finance Approach Naseem Al Rahahleh Determinants of Minimum Audit Fee Compliance: Evidence from an Emerging Economy Md.
Rezaul Karim.
Md.
Jamil Sharif, and Tama Lika Khasnobish How Does Industry Structure Affect Upside Cost Stickiness? An Explanation for IT Industry Byunghoon Jin Ernst & YoungAos $100 Million SEC Penalty:
A Case Study of Cheating on CPA Ethics Examinations and Cover-Up Stephen Errol Blythe The Controversies of Accounting for Employee Stock Options: A Historical and Theoretical Review Xiang Liu and Yongliang Stanley Han Journal of Accounting.
Business and Management (JABM) vol.
32 no.
The Exploratory Study of Business and STEM StudentsAo Perceptions of LinkedIn Xia Zhang* Lin ChenA Yujian FuA Abstract Our study examines whether there are differences mainly between business students and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn when they use LinkedIn to construct their professional and social identity, as a social capital, as a platform for building relationship with trust, as a platform of professional or business opportunities, and as an interactive learning resource.
Our study employs a survey among college students at two different settings of public and private universities in the U.
The findings reveal that there are no significant differences in business students or STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn as a social capital, or as a platform of building relationship with trust, or as a platform of professional career However, our findings reveal that business and STEM students have different perceptions and usage of LinkedIn as a resource for interactive learning.
Our study benefits college students to utilize LinkedIn effectively in their learning and career.
Our study fills the gap to examine the differences between young business students and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn at two higher educational institutions.
Keywords: LinkedIn, career development, business students.
STEM students, social identity, interactive learning resource.
INTRODUCTION
In todayAos emerging technology age, people connect with each other over the different social media platforms.
LinkedIn is one of the most professional social networking platforms for employers, employees, and business professionals.
LinkedIn becomes one of the best platforms for professionals to promote themselves, through updating professional accomplishments, work and educational experience, (Hairston et al.
, 2.
While todayAos college students are adept at using social media in a casual context.
Wankel .
notes that students use social media as an invaluable tool to develop professional proficiency with business objectives and enter the workforce.
The purpose of our study is to examine whether STEM or business students perceive differently the impact of LinkedIn.
Prior studies have examined social networking sites and their motivations, effects, factors, and outcomes in different disciplines.
The effects of social networking sites are generally classified as three areas.
The first area is social networking sites and how they * Corresponding author and associate professor of Department of Accounting & Finance.
College of Business & Public Affairs.
Alabama A&M University, 4900 Meridian St.
Huntsville.
AL, 35811.
Tel: 1 256 372 4786.
E-mail: xia.
zhang@aamu.
Webpage:
https://w.
edu/academics/colleges/business-public-affairs/index.
A Assistant professor of accounting.
Eberhardt School of Business.
University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Ave.
Stockton.
California 95211.
E-mail: lchen4@pacific.
A Professor.
College of Engineering.
Technology, and Physical Sciences.
Alabama A&M University, 4900 Meridian St.
Huntsville.
AL, 35811.
E-mail: yujian.
fu@aamu.
Zhang et al.
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impact their usersAo social identity (Boyd & Heer, 2006.
Ellison et al.
, 2007.
and Pempek et al.
, 2.
The second area is the effect of social networking sites on their usersAo career development (Heifetz, 2015.
Beach, 2.
The third area includes social networking sites and their impact on usersAo academic performance .
Mazer et al.
, 2007.
Chu & Meulemans, 2008.
Gabre & Kumar, 2012.
Irwin et al.
, 2012.
McCorkle & McCorkle.
Paul et al.
, 2012.
and Stone et al.
, 2.
Most of the prior literature mainly focuses on the impact of personal social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, while only a few studies examine the impact of professional social network sites.
LinkedIn on usersAo social identity and career development.
McCorkle and McCorkle .
investigate the impact of LinkedIn on developing college studentsAo social networking skills.
Florenthal .
states that career development, compared with other three categoriesinterpersonal communication, online identity, and information, is the category gratifying only LinkedIn college users, compared with Facebook.
MySpace and Bebo.
In addition, some practitioner articles examine the impact of LinkedIn on business professionals when they use LinkedIn to build their professional relationship (Kaplan, 2009.
Hairston et al.
, 2.
Little research examines the underrepresented groups, e.
African American studentsAo usage of social networking sites.
Gabre and Kumar .
find that compared to non- African American students.
African American students have higher stress when using social networking sites.
Mathiyalakan et al.
find that Hispanic students use Facebook more for academics than African American students.
More recently.
Zhang and Chen .
conduct a survey among the underrepresented students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU.
and find that LinkedIn as a social media tool, is important for students at colleges, specifically for accounting students at HBCUs to develop professional networking and present their social identity.
Our study is important because of the following perspectives.
First, in a world where technology is rapidly changing.
LinkedIn, as a professional social networking platform, penetrates professionals, especially business and STEM professionalsAo lives.
Second, according to the Pew research center 2021 social media use study (Auxier & Anderson, 2.
LinkedIn remains popular with college students who account for 51% of the LinkedIn Third, to our knowledge, no prior literature investigates business students and STEM studentsAo perceptions of usage of LinkedIn.
Finally, our study extends Zhang and Chen .
to employ a survey among the college students at one private Caucasian dominate university in the Midwestern U.
and one public HBCU in the Southeastern With reference to the prior literature on the impact of the social network sites on the society, our study employs social cognitive theory and motivation theory to explore the impact of LinkedIn on business and STEM students in three aspects: social and professional identity and building relationship with trust, career development, and interactive learning resources.
Our study contributes to the social network sites literature in the following ways.
First, this study examines the influence of the professional social platform LinkedIn on young adults in college environment, which has only been researched in a few studies.
Second, the study is the first academic study to explore business students and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn.
Finally, the study helps both business and STEM students realize the impact of LinkedIn on their life and career.
Therefore, our study may encourage college students to use LinkedIn more effectively and efficiently.
Furthermore, this study provide evidence to educators at universities about the importance of the social networking sites on college students, so that educators have incentives to educate and train their students appropriately to benefit the society.
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The study is organized as follows.
We review the literature and develop hypotheses in Section 2.
We develop methodology in Section 3.
We discuss the results and findings in Section 4.
Finally, we summarize the findings and limitations in Section 5.
II.
LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
Background LinkedIn serves as the professional platform to showcase usersAo profile, expertise, recommendations and connections.
Through LinkedIn, the users can interact with other professionals, offer services, find jobs, build network, and promote individuals (Damnjanovic et al.
, 2.
Therefore.
LinkedIn, as a social networking site, is important in potential professional development.
Furthermore.
LinkedIn learning offers courses covering a wide range of topics, including software, business, and creative pursuits, that incentivize students to explore various activities and develop their online media presence (Peterson & Dover, 2.
According to Gingerich and Nevland .
, the high-quality, ready-made materials from LinkedIn Learning provide participants with an opportunity that might complement their structured educational curriculum.
Drawing from prior academic literature on social networking sites as the social capital to create the social identity, platform for building relationship with trust and motivation theory, and the practical literature on LinkedIn as a professional networking platform, our study extends the prior literature to examine college studentsAo perceptions and usage of LinkedIn in terms of the four dimensions leading to the hypotheses we posit in our study.
LinkedIn as a Social Capital from Social Networking Sites According to Donath and Boyd .
, social media sites may enhance bridging the social capital since users can utilize these platforms to maintain and expand their networking relationships.
Users of social networking sites may disclose personal information to strengthen their social relationships (Maksl & Young, 2.
Ellison et al.
find that there is a relationship between the usage of Facebook and the social capitalAos formation and maintenance.
LinkedIn, as an important professional social networking website, has influences on professionals to social cognitive perspectives.
Little prior literature examines the differences of perceptions of LinkedIn usage among different majors.
Hoda et al.
compares the intensity of social networks usage and online-bonding social capital show that they differ significantly LinkedIn and Facebook.
Therefore, we believe the LinkedIn as a social capital has impact on both business students and STEM students and form the first hypothesis.
H1: there are no significant differences between business students and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn as social capital in constructing their social and professional identity at different institutions.
LinkedIn as a Platform for Building Relationship with Trust Trust plays a significant role in building relationship, also applies in online social network (Lai & Turban, 2.
Social exchange theory explains that there is a reciprocal relationship between social capital and trust (Morgan & Hunt, 1994.
Putnam, 2001.
Grabner-Kryuter & Bitter, 2.
Users are more likely to trust social network sites to keep their private within the context of trust (Grabner-Kryuter & Bitter, 2.
With high levels of trust, people are more willing to provide support and take risk in information exchanges .
Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998.
Krasnova et al.
, 2010.
Lin & Lu, 2011.
Within LinkedIn.
Facebook and other online networks, the exchange of social and emotional support and valuable information would be limited without trust Zhang et al.
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established among participants.
Therefore, trust influences usersAo utilization of online social network to create value (Grabner-Kryuter & Bitter, 2.
According to social network and social capital theories, trust is considered as an important context in relationships between social networking sites and their users, that determines interaction patterns within online social networks (Grabner-Kryuter & Bitter, 2.
Chang et al.
finds that user behavior in the social networksAo context was shown to be influenced by trust and the privacy concern has more influence on LinkedIn usersAo trust than Facebook usersAo trust.
Our study complements the prior studies to examine the perceptions of the business students and STEM students about the LinkedIn as a platform to build up professional relationship with trust.
Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:
H2: there are no significant differences between the perceptions of the business students and STEM on LinkedIn as a platform to build up professional relationship with trust.
LinkedIn as a Platform of Professional or Business As a social networking site.
LinkedIn provides both personal and social benefits to users.
The motivations of using social networking sites have been studied in prior literature and there are two types of motivations: intrinsic and extrinsic (Reiss, 2.
Kwon and Wen .
investigate the extrinsic motivations for social networking sitesAo usage and find that users intend to use the social networking site if it meets their perceptions and provides opportunities to build and maintain relationships.
More specifically.
McCorkle and McCorkle .
find that LinkedIn provides opportunities for users to build professional networking, search jobs, share achievements and develop Ryan and Deci .
study the intrinsic motivation and indicate that the intrinsic motivation Aurefers to doing of an activity for the inherent satisfactions of the activity itselfAy (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p.
LinkedIn users receive satisfaction through their activities on LinkedIn, including creating profiles, posting comments, connecting professionals, and applying jobs, which aligns to the intrinsic motivation.
The prior literature on social capital theory and motivation theory is applied to both business and STEM studentsAo perceptions and usage of LinkedIn as a platform of professional or business opportunities.
Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis regarding usersAo perceptions of LinkedIn as a career development platform.
H3: there are no significant differences between business students and STEM studentsAo perception of LinkedIn as a platform of professional or business opportunities.
LinkedIn as an Interactive Learning Resource Finally, the effects of social networking sites as a learning resource on college studentsAo academic performance have been examined in prior studies.
Both BuzzettoMore .
and Junco .
find that social networking sites provide college students great educational opportunities for engaging in academic learning, building learning communities and strengthening interpersonal relationships.
Cooper and Naatus .
find that LinkedIn as a classroom tool, can reinforces basic concepts, increases student engagement and collaboration, and encourages students to begin building their professional networks.
Since the business disciplines are largely different from STEM disciplines, accordingly, the following hypothesis is proposed regarding the usersAo perceptions of LinkedIn as an interactive learning resource.
H4: there are significant differences between business students and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn as an interactive learning resource.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Survey Instrument The study collects data by surveying business students and STEM studentsAo experience on usage of LinkedIn at two universities in the U.
The questions in the survey are grouped into three parts.
Part A is Auuser experience on LinkedInAy, which includes five questions: AuLinkedIn account .
es/n.
Ay.
Autime of length as a LinkedIn userAy.
Aufrequency of using LinkedInAy.
Aunumber of LinkedIn connectionsAy, and Aupurpose of using LinkedInAy.
Part B has four dimensions.
Ausocial and professional identityAy .
ive question.
Autrust and building up relationshipAy .
ive question.
Aufuture career developmentAy .
ive question.
, and Auinteractive learning resourcesAy .
ive question.
, total nineteen questions relating to AuLinkedIn usersAo usage and acceptanceAy.
Part C includes five demographic questions in terms of AugenderAy.
AuraceAy.
AuclassificationAy.
AuageAy, and AumajorAy.
Based on the previously discussed theories on social capital and social identity, trust and motivation theory, we also refer to Singson and Sunkara .
and Zhang and Chen .
to create the questionnaire instrument.
Responses are measured with a fivepoint scale: 1= Austrongly disagreeAy, 2= AudisagreeAy, 3= Auneither agree nor disagreeAy, 4= AuagreeAy, and 5= Austrongly agreeAy.
Participants We conduct the LinkedIn questionnaire among the students in accounting classes and computer science classes at the two selected institutions: the Caucasian dominate private university located in the Midwest of the U.
and the public HBCU located in the Southeast of the U.
Among the collected 242 responses, 44 are removed because they have the answer AunoAy for the first question Audo you have a LinkedIn account?Ay.
Among the remaining 198 valid responses, 71 are business majors, 112 are STEM majors, 15 are other majors, and 25 responses are excluded with no answers about the major.
The students earn credits by doing the survey in class.
However, the sizes of the responses are different among different questions in the questionnaire.
Therefore, our study presents the results based on the specific responses for each category accordingly.
Table 1 presents the demographic information for the 198 participants in our In terms of gender, 57.
1% are male while 42.
9% are female.
In terms of race, among 195 valid responses, 38.
5% are Caucasian, 53.
8% are African, and the remaining 7% are Hispanic.
Asian, and others.
In terms of classification, 92.
4% are undergraduate 0% of freshman, 27.
8% of sophomore, 43.
4% of junior, and 20.
2% of senior.
terms of Major, 35.
9% are business majors, 56.
6% are STEM majors, and about 7.
6% are other majors including students in arts and humanities.
To test whether gender or race affects our hypotheses, we first run SPSS Univariant analysis using AugenderAy and AuraceAy as independent variables and the four questions for AuusersAo experience of LinkedInAy as dependent variables.
We find that gender has no effect on AuusersAo experience of LinkedInAy, in terms of Aulength of timeAy.
AufrequencyAy.
AuconnectionsAy, and AupurposeAy.
We find that race has no effect on AuusersAo experience of LinkedInAy, in terms of Aulength of timeAy and AuconnectionsAy.
However, analysis results indicate that race has significant effect on AufrequencyAy .
= 0.
and AupurposeAy .
= 0.
We further run SPSS Univariant analysis using AugenderAy and AuraceAy as independent variables and all questions for H1.
H2.
H3, and H4 as dependent variables.
Analysis results indicate that gender has no effect on any variables for H 1.
H2.
H3, and H4, while race has no significant effect on any variables for H 1.
H2, and H4.
For H3, race has significant Zhang et al.
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effect on two statements: Auat LinkedIn.
I find some information about job and careerAy .
tatement 11, p= 0.
and AuLinkedIn helps me to make professional and business contactsAy .
tatement 13, p= 0.
Overall, analysis results indicate that gender or race has limited effect on our hypotheses.
Therefore, our study mainly focuses on the LinkedInAos perceptions and usage between business and STEM majors.
Table 1 Demographic Profile of Participants Valid Percent Gender:
Male Female Total Race:
White Black Hispanic Asian Native American Others Total Classification:
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Graduate Others Total Age:
Under 18 Over 40 Total Major:
Business STEM Humanity & others Total Notes: * 3 responses have no answer for AuraceAy and ** 2 responses have no answer for AuageAy.
Statistical Approach This study employs descriptive statistics to describe the frequency distributions of LinkedInAos perceptions and usage by business students and STEM students.
In addition.
Anova is conducted to compare the differences of distribution between the two major Post hoc Turkey tests are conducted to examine whether there are differences between the business students and STEM studentsAo perceptions and usage of LinkedIn.
To ensure the quality of the data collection, we conduct the pilot test among the respondents in both business majors and STEM majors and edit the questionnaire according to the feedback accordingly.
To test the data reliability, we run the SPSS Zhang et al.
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reliability analysis that Cronbach alpha values for the questions in the survey is 0.
which is above 0.
IV.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This section presents the findings of the questionnaire in terms of four dimensions: .
AuusersAo experience of LinkedInAy, .
Ausocial and professional identityAy, .
Aubuilding up connections and relationship with trustAy, .
Aufuture career developmentAy, and .
Auinteractive learning resourcesAy.
The results of Anova indicate that there are no significant differences among the participants regarding their perceptions of the questions in the first three dimensions in terms of different type of institutions.
However, there are significant differences among the participants in different majors of the perceptions of LinkedIn as an interactive learning platform.
UsersAo Experience of LinkedIn We present four questions regarding AuusersAo experience of LinkedInAy in Table 2.
The survey results from question 1: Auhow long have you been a LinkedIn user? .
ength of tim.
Ay indicate that 58 out of 71 .
%) respondents from business majors have one year and above LinkedInAos using experience, while 78 out of 105 .
%) respondents from STEM majors have LinkedInAos using experience.
The survey results from question 2: Auon average, how often do you check LinkedIn .
?Ay Show that 55 out of 71 .
%) business majorsAo respondents and 72 of 102 .
%) STEM majorsAo respondents check LinkedIn at least once a month.
Compared with STEM majors, business majors are more likely to log in to LinkedIn often to connect or view other peopleAos profiles and postings.
Table 2 Users Experience on LinkedIn Questions Business Major STEM Major AuHow long have you been a LinkedIn user? (Length of tim.
Ay < 1 year 13 .
1-2 years 31 .
2-3 years 20 .
3-4 years 6 .
4-5 years 0 .
> 5 years 1 .
Total 71 .
AuOn average, how often do you check LinkedIn? (Frequenc.
Ay At least once a week 8 .
Once to several times a month 17 .
At least once a day 9 .
Once several times a week 21.
Once every 2-3 months 16 .
Total 71 .
AuHow many LinkedIn AoConnectionsAo do you have? (Connectio.
Ay * None 6 .
Up to 10 19 .
Total 69 .
Others 3 .
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To be continued Table 2.
Questions Business Major STEM Major Others AuWhat do you mostly use LinkedIn for? (Purpos.
Ay ** A relevant community 0 .
Stay up to date 4 .
Get new connections 16 .
Check out how connections doing 0 .
Update profile 4 .
Helpful for career 45 .
Total 69.
Notes: * 2 business and 1 STEM respondents have no response for Q3.
** 2 business respondents choose both a and b.
14 STEM respondents choose the combined six answers.
other respondent chooses the combined six answers.
Question 3 of the survey is: Auhow many LinkedIn AoconnectionsAo do you have? .
Ay.
The results show that 44 out of 69 .
%) business majorsAo respondents and 52 out of 104 .
%) STEM majorsAo respondents have more than 11 connections.
For question 4: Auwhat do you mostly use LinkedIn for .
?Ay, about 65% .
out of .
of business majors and 65% .
out of .
of STEM majors believe LinkedIn is Auhelpful for careerAy.
We further conduct Chi-squared test for the LinkedInAos using experience and the results indicate that there are no significant differences at all dimensions between the two groups: business students and STEM students.
In summary, the results of the survey in Table 2 indicate that the majority of the business students and the majority of the STEM students in our sample have over one yearAo experience of using LinkedIn.
64% of business students and 50% STEM have built over 10 connections.
They have incentives to check LinkedIn, which include building new connections, searching jobs and developing H1: LinkedIn as a Platform of Social and Professional Identity Tables 3 reports survey questions and results for five statements .
tatements 1-.
to evaluate social and professional identity in LinkedIn usersAo perceptions.
Panel A in Table 3 summarizes the descriptive statistics of the five statements about LinkedIn as a platform of social and professional identity.
To test whether there are significant differences of the perceptions and usage of LinkedIn between the two major groups, business students and STEM students in terms of the five statements.
Anova and post hoc Turkey tests are conducted and the results are presented in panel B of Table 3.
Insert Table 3 here.
The mean scores of the two major groups .
usiness and STEM) on statement 1 (AuI try to present myself in a favorable way on LinkedInA.
52 and 4.
32 on the fiveLikert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 1.
866, p= 0.
AuLinkedIn helps me to present my best sides to othersAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups on statement 2 (AuLinkedIn helps me to present my best sides to othersA.
are the same .
on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
104, p= 0.
On statement 3: AuI often update or edit my profile information on LinkedInAy, the mean scores of the two major groups are 3.
28 and 3.
53 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is significant (F= 3.
697, p= 0.
However, the post hoc Turkey test result indicates that there are no significant differences .
= 0.
between business and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn to Auupdate or edit my profile information on LinkedInAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups on statement 4 (AuI would like to post my professional photoA.
10 and 3.
96 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result Zhang et al.
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is not significant (F= 0.
943, p= 0.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM on statement 5 (AuI would like to list my college/university as the place where I am studying/studiedA.
55 and 4.
24 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is significant (F= 4.
745, p= 0.
Furthermore, post hoc Turkey test in Panel C of Table 3 shows that the difference is statistically significant between business and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn as a platform of social and professional identity .
<0.
Table 3 H1 - LinkedIn as a Positive Social Capital to Construct Social and Professional Identity Statement 1 AuI try to present myself in a favorable way on LinkedInAy Statement 2 AuLinkedIn helps me to present my best sides to othersAy Statement 3 AuI often update or edit my profile information on LinkedInAy Statement 4 AuI would like to post my professional photoAy AuI would like to list my college/university as the place where I am Statement 5 studying/studiedAy Panel A: Descriptive Statistics Statement 1 Statement 2 Statement 3 Statement 4 Statement 5 Mean (Standard Deviatio.
Business n= 71 n= 46 n= 69 n= 71 n= 71 32 .
STEM
n= 112 n= 54 n= 112 n= 112 n= 111 47 .
Others n= 15 n= 13 n= 14 n= 15 n= 15 Total .
Panel B: Analyses using 1 X 3 ANOVA
ANOVA
Sum of F-Value p-Value Results Squares Statement 1 Statement 2 Statement 3 Statement 4 Statement 5 Panel C: Post Hoc Turkey HSD Multiple Comparisons Statement Pairs of Majors p-Value Statement 5 Business vs STEM Notes: significant p-values .
ne-taile.
are bold with significance at the 0.
05 level.
In terms of the perceptions of LinkedIn as a platform of social and professional identity, the results of the survey indicate that both business and STEM students present themselves in a favorable way, update the profile often, and post the professional photos.
They perceive that LinkedIn as a great channel increases their visibilities to others (DamnianoviN et al.
, 2012.
McCorkle & McCorkle, 2.
The results are in alignment with the social identity theory, and extrinsic and intrinsic benefit discussed earlier (Kwon & Wen, 2010.
Reiss, 2.
Therefore, the overall results support H 1.
H2: Linked in as a Platform of Building up Connections and Relationship with Trust Table 4 reports survey questions and results for five statements .
tatements 6-.
on usersAo perceptions of LinkedIn as an online social network to build up connections and relationship with trust.
Statement 6 is as follows: AuLinkedIn helps me to expand my networkAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 4.
20 and Zhang et al.
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24 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
194, p= 0.
Statement 7 is as follows: AuI do not participate in discussions, just watch communities for updatesAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
71 and 67 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
281, p= 0.
Table 4 H2 - LinkedIn as a Platform for Building Relationship with Trust Statement 6 AuLinkedIn helps me to expand my networkAy Statement 7 AuI do not participate in discussion, just watch communities for updatesAy Statement 8 AuI trust information obtained via professional communities on LinkedInAy AuOther LinkedIn members are open and receptive to the needs of each Statement 9 otherAy Statement 10 AuI would like to respond to the invitations in a timely wayAy Panel A: Descriptive Statistics Statement 6 Statement 7 Statement 8 Statement 9 Statement 10 Mean (Standard Deviatio.
Business n= 71 n= 69 n= 71 n= 71 n= 71 24 .
STEM
n= 112 n= 112 n= 111 n= 112 n= 111 13 .
Others n= 15 n= 15 n= 415 n= 15 n= 15 Total .
Panel B: Analyses using 1 X 3 ANOVA
ANOVA
Sum of F-Value p-Value Results Squares Statement 6 Statement 7 Statement 8 Statement 9 Statement 10 Notes: significant p-values .
ne-taile.
are bold with significance at the 0.
05 level.
Statement 8 is as follows: AuI trust information obtained via professional communities on LinkedInAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
77 and 3.
68 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 563, p= 0.
Statement 9 is as follows: Auother LinkedIn members are open and receptive to the needs of each otherAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
58 and 3.
69 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
563, p= 0.
Statement 10 is as follows: AuI would like to respond to the invitations in a timely wayAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
87 and 3.
78 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 538, p= 0.
In terms of the perceptions of LinkedIn as a platform to build up connections and relationship with trust, the Anova results indicate that both business and STEM students trust LinkedIn as a platform to expand the network, obtain information from the professional communities.
Both the business and STEM students are open minded and willing to receptive to peersAo needs, instead of watching communities for updates.
Therefore, the results support H2.
In summary, the results of the survey in Table 4 suggest that young adults trust LinkedIn as a professional platform to establish and develop their social identity trust (Grabner-Kryuter & Bitter, 2.
They are more willing to share information, connect Zhang et al.
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with their professional peers in order to endorse the attributes and support the branding image (Krasnova et al.
, 2010.
Lin & Lu, 2011.
and Grabner-Kryuter & Bitter, 2.
H3: LinkedIn as a Platform of Career or Professional Development Table 5 presents the survey questions and results for five statements .
tatements 11-.
on usersAo perceptions of LinkedIn as a platform of career or professional Statement 11 is as follows: Auat LinkedIn I find some information about job and careerAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 4.
03 and 02 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
0166, p= 0.
Statement 12 is as follows: AuLinkedIn helps me to contact recruiters directlyAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
60 and 3.
73 on the five-Likert The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
343, p= 0.
Table 5 H3 - LinkedIn as a Platform for Career or Professional Development Statement 11 AuAt LinkedIn.
I find some information about job and careerAy Statement 12 AuLinkedIn helps me to contact recruiters directlyAy Statement 13 AuLinkedIn helps me to make professional and business contactsAy Statement 14 AuI would like to promote a businessAy AuUsing a business collegeAos alumni group.
I can network with alumni Statement 15 to find internship or career opportunitiesAy Panel A: Descriptive Statistics Statement Statement Statement Statement Statement 15 Mean (Standard Deviatio.
Business n= 71 n= 60 n= 71 n= 71 n= 71 02 .
STEM
n= 112 n= 64 n= 111 n= 112 n= 112 13 .
Others n= 15 n= 13 n= 15 n= 15 n= 15 Total .
Panel B: Analyses using 1 X 3 ANOVA
ANOVA
Sum of F-Value p-Value Results Squares Statement 11 Statement 12 Statement 13 Statement 14 Statement 15 Notes: significant p-values .
ne-taile.
are bold with significance at the 0.
05 level.
Statement 13 is as follows: AuLinkedIn helps me to make professional and business contactsAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
99 and 99 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
616, p= 0.
Statement 14 is as follows: AuLinkedIn helps me to promote a businessAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
32 and 3.
33 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
122, p= 0.
Statement 15 is as follows:
Auusing a collegeAos alumni group.
I can network with alumni to find internship or career opportunitiesAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
84 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is not significant (F= 0.
400, p= 0.
Zhang et al.
/Journal of Accounting.
Business and Management vol.
32 no.
The results of the survey in Table 5 indicate that there is no significant difference between business students and STEM studentsAo perception of LinkedIn as a platform of professional or business opportunities.
Therefore.
H3 is supported.
Specifically, both business and STEM students perceive that LinkedIn provides information about jobs and connections with the recruiters.
Therefore.
LinkedIn benefits them in expanding their professional network (Albrecht, 2.
H4: LinkedIn as a Platform of Interactive Learning Resources Four statements .
tatements 16-.
and their results are presented in Table 6 to evaluate usersAo perceptions of LinkedIn as a platform of interactive learning resources.
Statement16 is as follows: AuLinkedIn allows me to save time when I want to share information and ideas with my connectionsAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
44 and 3.
86 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is significant (F= 6.
830, p= 0.
Additionally, the post hoc Turkey test in Panel C of Table 5 shows that business students and STEM studentsAo perception are significantly different .
<0.
Statement 17 is as follows: AuIAom an active participant in terms of comments and discussion topics startingAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 1.
87 and 2.
87 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is significant (F= 18.
232, p= 0.
The post hoc Turkey test shows that business students and STEM studentsAo perception are significantly different.
<0.
Table 6 H4 - LinkedIn as an Interactive Learning Resource AuLinkedIn allows me to save time when I want to share information and Statement 16 ideas with my connectionsAy Statement 17 AuI am an active participant in terms of comments and discussionsAy Statement 18 AuLinkedIn helps me to learn skills with expert-led coursesAy AuSocial networking sites such as LinkedIn is more distracting than helpful Statement 19 to students for academic workAy Panel A: Descriptive Statistics Statement 16 Statement 17 Statement 18 Statement 19 Mean (Standard Deviatio.
Business n= 71 n= 71 n= 71 n= 71 86 .
STEM
n= 111 n= 112 n= 112 n= 112 27 .
Others n= 15 n= 15 n= 15 n= 15 Total .
Panel B: Analyses using 1 X 3 ANOVA ANOVA Results Sum of Squares F-Value p-Value Statement 16 Statement 17 Statement 18 Statement 19 Panel C: Post Hoc Turkey HSD Multiple Comparisons Statement Pairs of Majors p-Value Statement 16 Business vs STEM Statement 17 Business vs STEM Statement 18 Business vs STEM Statement 19 Business vs STEM Notes: significant p-values .
ne-taile.
are bold with significance at the 0.
05 level.
Zhang et al.
/Journal of Accounting.
Business and Management vol.
32 no.
Statement 18 is as follows: AuLinkedIn helps me learn skills with expert-led coursesAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 3.
07, and 67 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is significant (F= 7.
287, p= 0.
The post hoc Turkey test shows that business and STEM studentsAo perception are significantly different .
<0.
Statement 19 is as follows: Ausocial networking sites such as LinkedIn is more distracting than helpful to students for academic workAy.
The mean scores of the two major groups business and STEM are 2.
07 and 2.
93 on the five-Likert scale.
The Anova result is significant (F= 11.
583, p= 0.
The post hoc Turkey test shows that business students and STEM studentsAo perception are significantly different at .
<0.
While previous studies show that social networking sites provide college students great educational opportunities (Buzzetto-More, 2012.
Junco, 2.
, the results of the survey in Table 6 further suggest that business and STEM students have different perceptions of LinkedIn as an interactive learning resource.
Therefore.
H4 is supported.
Due to the very distinct features of the discipline, business and STEM students have statistically significant different perceptions of LinkedIn as a platform of interactive learning resources.
Specifically.
STEM students have stronger tendency to utilize LinkedIn to participate in sharing information with connections thanks to the emerging technology and to learn new skills.
More interestingly, business students are less active than STEM students in participating the comments and discussions on LinkedIn.
Compared to business students.
STEM students believe that LinkedIn causes more distraction, which is less beneficial to their academic work.
CONCLUSION
Our study extends Zhang and Chen .
to conduct a survey to investigate LinkedIn usersAo perceptions and the impact of LinkedIn on their career development and interactive learning process among business students.
STEM students, and students of Humanity and other majors at one HBCU and one Caucasian dominate private The results indicate that both business students and STEM students believe that the information shared on LinkedIn is trustable, which incentivizes them to respond the information and share with communities, present themselves favorably on the profiles, connect others in future career development.
Meanwhile, business and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn as a platform of interactive learning resources are significantly different, suggesting that STEM students believe that LinkedIn causes more distraction, which is less beneficial to their academic work than business students do.
We use questionnaire among students in accounting classes and computer science classes at two higher educational institutions to collect the data.
We find that both business and STEM students at HBCUs or at Caucasian dominate university trust and more likely to share the information on LinkedIn.
Based on the trust, the students are more likely to utilize LinkedIn as a social networking tool to present themselves.
They believe that LinkedIn is helpful in developing professional network and future career.
The study also finds that there are no statistical differences in business students or STEM studentsAo perceptions and usage of LinkedIn in terms of building relationship with trust and future career development.
However, our findings show that there are significant differences between business students and STEM studentsAo perceptions of LinkedIn as an interactive learning resource.
The study benefits college students especially business students and STEM students, future business professionals, future IT professionals and engineering professionals, educators, and the society.
Specifically, the study benefits college students in realizing the impacts of LinkedIn and using it as an effective tool on their life and Zhang et al.
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Furthermore, the study benefits educators at different universities in considering providing education for both business students and STEM students in utilizing LinkedIn to benefit the society.
There are some limitations in our study.
First, the survey in the study is conducted at one HBCU and one Caucasian dominant private university in the U.
Future study with more surveys conducted at different institutions may generalize the conclusions in our study.
Second, the study focuses on business students and STEM students.
Future study may conduct surveys among students from other majors to evaluate their perceptions and usage of LinkedIn.
Third, the statistic technique is limited to descriptive statistics due to the small sample size.
Future study can collect more data and develop analysis of group difference via Anova and other multivariate analysis approaches.
Fourth, another future study can focus on the comparison of LinkedIn and other professional network.
Finally, it is promising to explore how universitiesAo educators can apply LinkedIn to assist with studentsAo awareness of the importance of LinkedIn in social networking world.
REFERENCES