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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 9, No. 7
Publication Date: July 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/abr.97.10073. Ebunu, A. A., & Onyeike, V. C. (2021). Social Media Networking and Collaborating Learning as Correlates of Principals' Performance
in Public Secondary Schools in Delta State, Nigeria. Archives of Business Research, 9(7). 59-70.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Social Media Networking and Collaborating Learning as
Correlates of Principals' Performance in Public Secondary
Schools in Delta State, Nigeria
Ebunu, A. A.
Dr. V. C. Onyeike
ABSTRACT
This study examined the relationship between social media networking,
collaborating learning and principals' performance in public secondary schools in
Delta State. Two research questions guided the study. Two hypotheses were also
tested in the study at 0.05 significant level. The study adopted the correlation
design. The study population was the 427 principals in public secondary schools in
Delta State Post-Primary Education Board. The sample size was 342 principals
serving in public secondary schools in Delta State. The multistage sampling
technique was used to select the sample. The instruments used to generate data
were two questionnaires social media networking, collaborating learning and
principals' performance, with reliability coefficients of 0.96 and 0.89 (SMNCL) and
(PPQ). The generated data were analyzed using Pearson r and simple regression, t- test associated with simple regression. The findings of the study revealed that social
media networking had a positive and strong relationship with principals'
performance. The study also revealed that collaborative learning was significantly
related to principals' performance in public secondary schools in Delta State. The
recommendations made included school principals exploring social media as a
veritable avenue for connecting and learning in different experts in different social
media tools and online academic community. The study also recommended that
principals should maximize the benefits of teamwork, collaboration, and
knowledge synergy with their professional colleagues as a pathway to improving
their school leadership skills and competencies.
INTRODUCTION
The level of employee engagement primarily determines the level of organizational
performance. High employee performance is the goal of all organizations. Performance is the
process of carrying out a given task to achieve intended results. Employee performance is a
principal determiner but not the exclusive prerequisite for career advancement and success in
labour market adventure. This suggests that performance is the level of goal attainment by an
individual or organization. In other words, performance is relative and implies that it can be
positive or negative, which means that the task can perform poorly or adequately. If that is true,
then poor task execution is a bad performance. If there is bad performance, then there is also
good performance. Therefore, the difference between them tends to arise from the quality of
knowledge or the skills the performer has, which will enable him/her to perform something
effectively or poorly. Experience is, therefore, the moderator or determiner of performance.
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol. 9, Issue 7, July-2021
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Ion and Criveanu (2016) defined performance as the act of completing a given task effectively
that the outcome results in the achievement of set objectives. Scholars agree that the concept
of performance has two dimensions. The first dimension focuses on the behavioural aspect of
the idea, while the second dimension looks at the outcome. The behavioural dimension of
performance refers to what a worker does in the work context. It embraces school principals'
behaviours, such as setting school goals and developing school improvement plans, policies,
rules.
However, performance is not just behaviours or the school principal's actions but also the
assessment of such activities and their antecedents, using measurable indicators to ascertain
their outcome and contribution to school administrative effectiveness and goal achievement.
Hence, the outcome dimension of performance is referred to as the effects of an individual's
work-related behaviours. This dimension is concerned with the performer's preparedness and
quality of competencies he/she has and utilizes to bring about desirable outcomes. For
instance, a school principal's behaviours may lead to disciplined school and quality school
leadership, resulting in attaining secondary education goals. These suggest that principal
performance is not just his/her action but also the effects of the action and enhance school
effectiveness. Effectiveness in this context is the extent of school goal achievement.
In light of the above, principal performance can be defined as the degree to which a school
principal uses school resources to accomplish secondary education goals in a particular
secondary school (Akhta & Cheema, 2014:25). As the school leader, the principal is responsible
for setting time-specific targets and goals for the school, mobilizing human and material
resources towards attaining set goals. The school principal's crucial role is to ensure that
teachers' teaching and learning are appropriately coordinated and effectively carried out. The
principal has to provide the need to perform their pedagogical duties. Principal performance
depends on various factors related to the quality of administrative knowledge and managerial
skills they have and apply in the work context to foster school operations and effectiveness.
Some of the ways principals can improve their skills and expertise in school administration
include social media networking and collaborative learning (Etomes et al., 2017: Schmoker,
2005).
Social media is internet-based communication and interaction platform that offers vast and
endless possibilities for professional networking. It allows principals to continue professional
interaction in digital spaces where they can discuss educational matters and share information
to support each other in diverse areas of school administration. Kapoor et al. (2017) defined
social media as a combination of information communication technologies (ICTs) that aides
networking and interaction between individuals and organizations. Social media has also been
described as internet-based platforms and interactive software that enables individuals,
organizations, and registered users to create, participate and exchange messages. User- produced content in digital spaces via many communication channels (Davis et al., as cited in
Bodell & Hook, 2014:320).
In the view of Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012), social media is the interconnection of devices with
technologies that have implications on social facets of the internet and its multi-routing
communication possibilities for synchronous and asynchronous information exchange based
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Ebunu, A. A., & Onyeike, V. C. (2021). Social Media Networking and Collaborating Learning as Correlates of Principals' Performance in Public Secondary
Schools in Delta State, Nigeria. Archives of Business Research, 9(7). 59-70.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.97.10073
on Web 2.0 capabilities. Mcloughlin (2016) observed that Facebook and ResearchGate
increasingly became valuable tools for researchers, education organizations, and scholarly
associations. Adding that social media platforms offer chat rooms and forums with flexible real- time and asynchronous communication cum blogging features gives academic communities
valuable advantages. At the centre of social media is exchanges of information with near and
distance co-professionals and reaching out to people with expert knowledge through internet- based social media tools, such as LinkedIn, Wikis, Word-press, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp,
e-mail.
Social media helps users connect with other people from distant countries for friendship,
marital, and professional purposes. This implies that social media helps bridge the distance
between individuals as video uplinks and calls embedded in most social media tools bring
closure comparable to face-to-face communication (Huang & Benyoucef, 2013:246-248). Bodell
and Hook (2014) stated that one of the most significant advantages of social media is that it
enables people of similar interests and professional calling to find each other and establish
contact to advance their shared goals. Furthermore, most networks allow their users to post
messages or ideas and push them across the network for friends and other users to see and
probably comment (Bartels et al., 2019:2-20).
The fact that professionals need to contact other people to keep abreast of new developments
in one's field is well-established in the literature. Hence, social media offers a wide range of
networking and learning opportunities to professionals, students, and anybody who cares to
learn. Usman and Igbozuruike (2019) observed that social media provides ample opportunities
for people to learn and practice networking through the interactive and discursive engagement
of one another in issues of interest or simply for the satisfaction of social needs for affection.
For instance, Facebook allows users to post comments on their friends' pages, while private
messaging is standard for all networks. Burns and Santally (2019, November) observed that
some network tools have the facility to share photos, audio, and video, while some have video- uplink capabilities, instant messaging facilities, and blogging technologies. Some social media
tools are restricted to some persons due to ethical reasons and professional qualifications.
From a professional development point, if school principals can learn how to use technology,
they will be better positioned to take advantage of learning opportunities created by social
media. This means that principals that are not technology savvy will be limited in utilizing
opportunities that come with social media networking; in this view, principals who are not
computer literate need to acquire computer appreciation skills to exploit learning and
networking benefits beyond the physical context fully. As the digital environment now offers
diverse professional leverages, one can build an online profile, market a school's product, and
services and project one's professional identity to international clients.
Donelan (2016) observed that a great deal of academia is increasingly embracing social media
tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to engage the public and fellow professional
colleagues in online discussions and lectures. This agrees with Al-Mukhaini et al.'s (2014)
findings, whose study showed that 64% of the learners usually log in to YouTube, Facebook,
and Twitter to seek clarity. In comparison, 88% added that their knowledge of ICT skills was
enhanced as they began to use social media tools. The scholars further reported that 82% of