The influence of social media literacy on student engagement in online learning

Abstract Background Recent years have seen the proliferation of online courses that have been initiated either in accordance with the natural rhythms of educational technology growths or in force majeure situations. This adds complexity to understanding the influence of potential factors on online student engagement. Objectives The present study conducted an essential inspection to explore the relationship between student social media literacy and their engagement in online learning settings. Methodology A sample of 1015 undergraduate students participated in this study and the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) was chosen for evaluating the research model. In addition, to provide more information on the prioritization of strategic actions, the importance‐performance map analysis (IPMA) was also performed. Results In a two‐factor construct, social media literacy was found to have a significantly positive relationship with aspects of student engagement in the online learning environment. The influence of technical competence is still undeniable, but the effect of cognitive competence on online student engagement is more significant. In addition, appearing in the fourth quadrant (low performance ‐ high importance) in all IPMA presentations, the anticipatory reflection is the construct that should be prioritized for improvement to augment student engagement in online learning.