An online peer learning through social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram has been networking interrelated undergraduates as social groups in higher learning institutions. In that respect, it has become an emerging phenomenon in the academia. Yet, not much is known about the effect of social media on the undergraduates? academic achievement. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to identify the relationship of students’ peer engagement, academic self-efficacy, social influence, peer feedback and collaboration with students’ academic achievement while practising online peer learning via social media and at the same time to predict the factors that influencing students’ academic achievement among undergraduate students in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The study was based on the quantitative method in nature with a correlational design using a set of the questionnaire as instrument adapted from previous studies and validated by a panel of experts. The sampling technique is stratified. A total of 376 responses were collected. The finding of regression analysis indicated that five of the variables have a significant effect while the only peer feedback has an insignificant effect. The most important factor is social influence, followed by collaboration, performance expectancy, peer engagement and academic self-efficacy. The model explained 38.9% of the variation in the academic achievement of undergraduate students at UPM. As a result, this study confirms that collaboration between peer in an online environment is valid and able to predict the academic achievement.
Ab Jalil, H., & de Laat, M. (2014).Discovering the Pattern of Interactions in Online Discussions
Using the Social Network Analysis Principle. Malaysian Journal of Distance Education, 16(2), 83-108.
Ab Jalil, H., McFarlane, A., Ismail, I. A., & Rahman, F. (2008).Assisted Performance–A Pragmatic
Conception of Online Learning. International Journal of Instruction, 1(2), 57-76.
Ajjan, H., & Hartshorne, R. (2008).Investigating Faculty Decisions to Adopt Web 2.0
Technologies: Theory and Empirical Tests. The Internet and Higher Education, 11(2), 71-80.
Ahmad, I., Saeed, M., & Salam, M. (2013). Effects of Corrective Feedback on Academic
Achievement of Students: Case of Government Secondary Schools in Pakistan. International Journal of Science and Research, 2(1), 36-40
Almadhoun, N. M., Lai, F.W. & Dominic, P.D.D. (2012).An Examination of Social Networking
Sites Usage among Students in the Malaysian Universities. Proceedings of the International Conference on Management, Economics and Finance, Sarawak, Malaysia, Oct. 15-16, 2012.
Al-rahmi, W. M., Othman, M., S., & Musa, M. A. (2014).The Improvement of Students?
Academic Performance by Using Social Media through Collaborative Learning in Malaysian Higher Education. Asian Social Science, 10(8), 210-221.
Al-Rahmi, W., & Othman, M. (2013). The Impact of Social Media Use on Academic Performance
among University Students: A Pilot Study. Journal of Information Systems Research and Innovation, 4, 2-10.
Arnold, N., Ducate, L., Lomicka, L., & Lord, G. (2009).Assessing Online Collaboration among
Language Teachers: A cross-institutional case study. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 8(2), 121-139.
Astin, A. W. (1984). Student Involvement: A Developmental Theory for Higher Education.
Journal of College Student Personnel, 25(4), 297-308.
Balakrishnan, V., & Shamim, A. (2013). Malaysian Facebookers: Motives and Addictive
Behaviours Unraveled. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1342-1349.
Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy Mechanism in Human Agency. American Psychologist, 37(2),
122.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
Barnard, L., Paton, V. O., &Lan, W. Y. (2008). Online Self-Regulatory Learning Behaviors as a
Mediator in the Relationship between Online Course Perceptions with Achievement. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 9(2), 1?11.
Cantoni, V., Cellario, M., & Porta, M. (2004). Perspectives and challenges in elearning: towards
natural interaction paradigms. Journal of Visual Languages & Computing, 15(5), 333-345.
Chang, S. C., & Tung, F. C. (2008).An Empirical Investigation of Students? Behavioural Intentions
to Use the Online Learning Course Websites. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(1), 71-83.
Chen, N. S., Wei, C. W., Wu, K. T., & Uden, L. (2009).Effects of High Level Prompts and Peer
Assessment on Online Learners? Reflection Levels. Computers & Education, 52(2), 283-291.
Cho, V., Cheng, T. E., & Lai, W. J. (2009).The Role of Perceived User-Interface Design in
Continued Usage Intention of Self-Paced E-Learning Tools. Computers & Education, 53(2), 216-227.
Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling Technique. New York: John Wiley & Son Inc.
De Raadt, M., Toleman, M., & Watson, R. (2005). Electronic Peer Review: A Large Cohort
Teaching Themselves? In Proceedings ASCILITE 2005: 22nd Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education: Balance, Fidelity, Mobility-Maintaining the Momentum? 1, 159-168.
Dietz-Uhler, B., & Bishop-Clark, C. (2001).The Use of Computer-Mediated Communication to
Enhance Subsequent Face-To-Face Discussions. Computers in Human Behavior, 17(3), 269-283.
Din, N., Yahya, S., & Haron, S. (2012). Information Retrieval and Academic Performance among
Facebook Users. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 68, 258-268.
Diseth, Å. (2011).Self-Efficacy, Goal Orientations and Learning Strategies as Mediators between
Preceding and Subsequent Academic Achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, 21(2), 191-195.
Fallon, C. M. (2010). School Factors That Promote Academic Resilience In Urban Latino High
School Students. Loyola University, Chicago.
Flowers, T. A., & Flowers, L. A. (2008).Factors Affecting Urban African American High School
Students' Achievement in Reading. Urban Education, 43(2), 154-171.
Greene, B. A., Miller, R. B., Crowson, H. M., Duke, B. L., & Akey, K. L. (2004).Predicting high
school students' cognitive engagement and achievement: Contributions of classroom perceptions and motivation. Contemporary educational psychology, 29(4), 462-482.
Gunuc, A. P. D. S. (2014). The Relationships between Student Engagement and Their Academic
Achievement. International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications, 5(4), 216-231.
Hammond, M. (2000). Communication within On-line Forums: The Opportunities, the
Constraints and the Value of a Communicative Approach. Computers & Education, 35(4), 251-262.
Harasim, L. (2000). Shift Happens: Online Education As A New Paradigm In Learning. The
Internet and Higher Education, 3(1), 41-61.
Hashim, J. (2008). Factors Influencing the Acceptance of Web?Based Training in Malaysia:
Applying the Technology Acceptance Model. International Journal of Training and Development, 12(4), 253-264.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007).The power of feedback. Review of educational research, 77(1),
81-112.
Haythornthwaite, C. (2006). Facilitating Collaboration in Online Learning. Journal of
Asynchronous Learning Networks, 10(1), 7-24.
Ho, L. A., Kuo, T. H., & Lin, B. (2010). Influence of Online Learning Skills in Cyberspace. Internet
Research, 20(1), 55-71.
Hsu, M. K., Wang, S. W., & Chiu, K. K. (2009). Computer Attitude, Statistics Anxiety and Self-
Efficacy on Statistical Software Adoption Behavior: An Empirical Study of Online MBA Learners. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(2), 412-420.
Janicki, T., & Liegle, J. O. (2001). Development and evaluation of a framework for creating web-
based learning modules: a pedagogical and systems perspective. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(1), 58-84.
Joo, Y. J., Lim, K. Y., & Kim, J. (2013).Locus of control, self-efficacy, and task value as predictors
of learning outcome in an online university context. Computers & Education, 62, 149-158.
Kahiigi, K., E., Vesisenaho, M., Hansson, H., Danielson, M., & Tusubira, F. F. (2012).Modelling a
Peer Assignment Review Process for Collaborative ELearning. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 11(2), 67-79.
Kolek, E. A., & Saunders, D. (2008). Online Disclosure: An Empirical Examination of
Undergraduate Facebook Profiles. NASPA Journal, 45(1), 1-25.
Komarraju, M., & Nadler, D. (2013). Self-Efficacy And Academic Achievement: Why Do Implicit
Beliefs, Goals, And Effort Regulation Matter? Learning and Individual Differences, 25, 67-72.
Korir, D. K., & Kipkemboi, F. (2014).The Impact of School Environment and Peer Influences on
Students? Academic Performance in Vihiga County, Kenya. International Journal of Huanities and Social Science, 4 (5), 240- 251.
Krause, K. L. & Coates, H. (2008). Students? engagement in first-year university. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(5), 493-505.
Leng, G. S., Lada, S., Muhammad, M. Z., Ibrahim, A. A. H. A., & Amboala, T. (2011). An
Exploration of Social Networking Sites (SNS) Adoption in Malaysia Using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Intrinsic Motivation. Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, 16(2), 1- 27.
Li, X. (2012).Weaving Social Media into a Business Proposal Project. Business Communication
Quarterly, 75(1), 68-75.
Liu, I. F., Chen, M. C., Sun, Y. S., Wible, D., & Kuo, C. H. (2010).Extending the TAM Model to
Explore the Factors That Affect Intention to Use an Online Learning Community. Computers & Education, 54(2), 600-610.
Loo, C. W., & Choy, J. L. F. (2013).Sources of Self-Efficacy Influencing Academic Performance of
Engineering Students. American Journal of Educational Research, 1(3), 86-92.
Mali, A. S., & Hassan, S. S. S. (2013). Students? Acceptance Using Facebook as a Learning Tool: A
Case Study. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 3(9), 2019-2025
McGorry, S. Y. (2002). Online, but on Target? Internet-based MBA Courses: A case study. The
Internet and Higher Education, 5(2), 167-175.
McGroarty, M. E., & Zhu, W. (1997). Triangulation in Classroom Research: A Study of Peer
Revision. Language Learning, 47(1), 1-43.
McLuckie, J., & Topping, K. J. (2004).Transferable Skills for Online Peer Learning. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(5), 563-584.
Mew, L., & Money, W. H. (2010).Effects of Computer Self-Efficacy on the Use and Adoption of
Online Social Networking. International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN), 2(1), 18-34.
Ministry of Higher Education. (2014). The National Higher Education Strategic Plan: beyond
2020. Putrajaya, Malaysia. Ministry of Higher Education.
Mugny, G., Butera, F., Sanchez-Mazas, M., & Perez, J. A. (1995).Judgments in Conflict: The
Conflict Elaboration Theory of Social Influence. Volume, 2 (pp.160-168). Goettingen, Germany: Hogrefe & Huber.
Multon, K. D., Brown, S. D., & Lent, R. W. (1991). Relation of Self-Efficacy Beliefs to Academic
Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Investigation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 38(1), 30-38.
Mustaffa, N., Ibrahim, F., Mahmud, W. A. W., Ahmad, F., Kee, C. P., & Mahbob, M. H. (2011).
Diffusion of Innovations: The Adoption of Facebook among Youth in Malaysia. The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 16(3), 1-15.
Novo, A., & Calixto, J. A. (2009). Academic Achievement and/or Educational Attainment: The
Role of Teacher Librarians in Students? Future: Main Findings of a Research in Portugal. In Annual Conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, Preparing Pupils and Students for the Future. Padua, Italy.
O?Brien, K. (2010). What happened to studying? Boston Globe. Retrieved 4 November 2014
from, http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/04/what_happened_to_studying.
Omar, N. H., Manaf, A. A., Mohd, R. H., Kassim, A. C., & Aziz, K. A. (2012). Graduates'
Employability Skills based on Current Job Demand through Electronic Advertisement. Asian Social Science, 8(9), 103-110.
Parker, D., & Gemino, A. (2001). Inside online learning: Comparing Conceptual and Technique
Learning Performance in Place-Based and ALN Formats. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(2), 64-74.
Pasek, Josh, eian more, & Eszter Hargittai. (2009). Facebook and Academic Performance:
Reconciling a Media Sensation with Data. First Monday, 14 (5). Available http://www.firstmonday.dk/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2498/2181.
Qin, L., Kim, Y., Hsu, J., & Tan, X. (2011). The Effects Of Social Influence on User Acceptance of
Online Social Networks. International Journal of HumanComputer Interaction, 27(9), 885-899.
Rafaeli, S., & Sudweeks, F. (1997).Networked Interactivity. Journal of Computer? Mediated
Communication, 2(4).Available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1997.tb00201.x/full.
Raoofi, S., Tan, B. H., & Chan, S. H. (2012). Self-efficacy in Second/Foreign Language Learning
Contexts. English Language Teaching, 5(11), 60.
Razak, R. A., & See, Y. C. (2010).Improving Academic Achievement and Motivation through
Online Peer Learning. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9(2), 358-362.
Roca, J. C., & Gagné, M. (2008). Understanding e-learning continuance intention in the
workplace: A self-determination theory perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(4), 1585-1604.
Rouis, S., Limayem, M., & Salehi-Sangari, E. (2011). Impact of Facebook usage on students?
academic achievement: Role of self-regulation and trust. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 9(3), 961-994.
Salman, A., Salleh, M. A. M., Abdullah, M. Y. H., Mustaffa, N., Ahmad, A. L., Chang, P. K., & Saad,
S. (2014). ICT Acceptance among Malaysian Urbanites: A Study of Additional Variables in User Acceptance of the New Media. Geografia- Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 10(6), 75-85.
Sedek, M., Mahmud, R., Jalil, H. A., & Daud, S. M. (2014). Factors Influencing Ubiquitous
Technology Usage among Engineering Undergraduates: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, 19, 18-27.
Shafique, F., Anwar, M., & Bushra, M. (2010). Exploitation of Social Media among University
Students: A case study. Webology, 7(2), 34-47.
Smith, H., & Higgins, S. (2006). Opening Classroom Interaction: The Importance of Feedback.
Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(4), 485-502.
Smith, H., Cooper, A., & Lancaster, L. (2002).Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Peer
Assessment: A Case for Student and Staff Development. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 39(1), 71-81.
So, H. J., & Brush, T. A. (2008). Student Perceptions of Collaborative Learning, Social Presence
and Satisfaction in Blended Learning Environment: Relationships and Critical Factors. Computers & Education,51 (1), 318-336.
Speight, N. P. (2009). The Relationship between Self-Efficacy, Resilience and Academic
Achievement among African-American Urban Adolescent Students. Washington, DC: Howard University.
Stewart, E. B. (2008). School Structural Characteristics, Student Effort, Peer Associations, and
Parental Involvement the Influence of School-And Individual-Level Factors on Academic Achievement. Education and Urban Society, 40(2), 179-204.
Straub, E. T. (2009). Understanding Technology Adoption: Theory and Future Directions for
Informal Learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 625-649.
Suki, N. M., Ramayah, T., & Ly, K. K. (2012).Empirical Investigation on Factors Influencing the
Behavioral Intention to Use Facebook. Universal Access in the Information Society, 11(2), 223-231.
Sullivan, P. & McDonough, A. (2007).Eliciting positive student motivation for learning
mathematics. Paper presented at the Mathematics: Essential Research, Essential Practice: 30th Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Hobart, Tasmania.
Talib, O., Luan, W. S., Azhar, S. C., & Abdullah, N. (2009).Uncovering Malaysian Students?
Motivation to Learning Science. European Journal of Social Sciences, 8(2), 266-276.
Teclehaimanot, B., & Hickman, T. (2011). Student-Teacher Interaction on Facebook: What
Students Find Appropriate. Tech Trends, 55(3), 19-30.
Tervakari, A.-M., Silius, K., Tebest, T., Marttila, J., Kailanto, M., & Huhtam?ki, J. (2012). Peer
Learning in Social Media Enhanced Learning Environments. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 7(3), 35-42.
Topping, K. (1998). Peer Assessment between Students in Colleges and Universities. Review of
Educational Research, 68(3), 249-276.
Topping, K. J. (2005).Trends in Peer Learning. Educational Psychology, 25(6), 631- 645.
Volery, T., & Lord, D. (2000). Critical Success Factors in Online Education. International Journal
of Educational Management, 14(5), 216-223.
Van Gennip, N. A., Segers, M. S., & Tillema, H. H. (2009). Peer Assessment for Learning from a
Social Perspective: The Influence of Interpersonal Variables and Structural Features. Educational Research Review, 4(1), 41- 54.
Venkatesh, V., & Davis, F. D. (1996). A Model of the Antecedents of Perceived Ease of Use:
Development and Test. Decision Sciences, 27(3), 451-481.
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User Acceptance of Information
Technology: Toward a Unified View. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425-478.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and Language. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press.
Wang, M. T., & Holcombe, R. (2010).Adolescents? Perceptions of School Environment,
Engagement, and Academic Achievement in Middle School. American Educational Research Journal, 47(3), 633-662.
Wang, A. Y., & Newlin, M. H. (2002). Predictors of Web-Student Performance: The Role of Self-
Efficacy and Reasons for Taking an On-Line Class. Computers in Human Behavior, 18(2), 151-163.
Wang, Y.-S., Wu, M.-C., & Wang, H.Y. (2009).Investigating the Determinants and Age and
Gender Differences in the Acceptance of Mobile Learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40 (1), 92–118.
Wang, H. Y., & Wang, S. H. (2010). User acceptance of mobile internet based on the Unified
Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology: Investigating the determinants and gender differences. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 38(3), 415-426.
Welch, B. K., & Bonnan-White, J. (2012). Twittering To Increase Student Engagement in the
University Classroom. Knowledge Management & eLearning: An International Journal, 4(3), 325-345.
Wise, L.Z., Skues, J. & Williams, B. (2011). Facebook in Higher Education Promotes Social but
Not Academic Engagement. Cleland (Eds.), Changing Demands, Changing Directions. Proceedings Ascilite Hobart,1 (3),13321342.
Wood, R., & Bandura, A. (1989). Social Cognitive Theory of Organizational Management.
Academy of Management Review, 14(3), 361-384.
Wong W. M. (2001).The Effects of Collaborative Learning on Students’ Attitude and Academic
Achievement in Learning Computer Programming. Unpublished Master Thesis. The University of Hong Kong.
Yang, H. L., & Tang, J. H. (2003). Effects of Social Network on Students' Performance: A Web-
Based Forum Study in Taiwan. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7(3), 93-107.
Yeung, P., & Jordan, E. (2006).Understanding the Continued Usage of Business ELearning
Courses in HK Corporations. In Education for the 21st Century Impact of ICT and Digital Resources, 210, 245-254. Boston: Springer.
Yu, Y. (2012). Design of Management Information System for Online Police Exam Based J2EE.
Advances in Future Computer and Control Systems, 1(4), 113117
Zaremohzzabieh, Z., Samah, B. A., Omar, S. Z., Bolong, J., & Kamarudin, N. A. (2014).Addictive
Facebook Use among University Students. Asian Social Science, 10 (6), 107–116
Amin, I. M. H., Hassan, N. C., & Jalil, H. A. (2017). Predictors of Academic Achievement in Online Peer Learning among Undergraduate Students in a Malaysian Public University. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(14), 524-545.
Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode