Is social media engagement affected by privacy concerns or protected by social media trust? Appraising undergraduates of the Imam Abdul Rahaman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The current outbreak of audio and video leaks, fake account IDs, tapping phone calls of renowned celebrities and well-reputed politicians, and sensitive information breaching of worthy institutions of the world warned social media users of Saudi Arabia. Undergraduate students are using social media sites for academic, professional, and recreational purposes however they are concerned about the privacy and protection of their personal information. The study was proposed to investigate social media fatigue, privacy concerns, privacy violation experiences, perceived secondary control and self-efficacy, social media trust, and engagement among undergraduates. A survey method based on an adopted questionnaire was employed to collect data from a total of 245 undergraduate students who were studying in engineering college, business administration college, computer science college, and medicine college programs at Imam Abdul Rahaman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. It found that students preferred Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat as social media platforms. The students were slightly concerned about social media fatigue however they were much more concerned about privacy and personal information protection. Perceived secondary control was moderately good and they were confident about their self-efficacy skills to ensure privacy. There were gender differences of opinion in terms of previous privacy violation experiences and privacy self-efficacy skills. The study would help social media providers look into the privacy concerns that are affecting social media engagement among undergraduates in Saudia Arabia.