Title: Understanding the usage pattern towards LinkedIn
Authors: Dhir Kharwa (222090)
Atharva Mehetar (222094)
Shubham Meshram (222096)
Shreejit Nair (222101)
Introduction: LinkedIn has emerged as a powerful tool for individuals to connect with professionals, build networks, and explore career opportunities. The world’s largest networking platform has gone beyond simply being an online resume repository in recent years, becoming a platform that supports meaningful relationships between students, alumni, and industry professionals. This research seeks to explore various aspects of college students’ engagement with LinkedIn.
Objective: To understand the usage pattern of college students towards LinkedIn.
Literature Review
Davis, Joanna, et. al., (2020) conducted a survey which showed that extraversion and a protean career orientation significantly predicted networking ability, which in turn predicted both the number of contacts on LinkedIn and the frequency of LinkedIn usage. The findings further show that while the number of contacts may be a highly salient feature of LinkedIn profiles, it is not a dominant predictor of benefits attainment.
Lexis, Louise, et. al. (2023) argues that students were less confident in their ability to build and engage with professional networks, although they thought this was important. The lack of long-term career aspirations apparent in the headlines and summaries suggests students have limited their aspirations to completing study or getting their first job, and not for whole of career development. This suggests that students were not developing their pre-professional identity, or were at least not conscious of doing so, even as they engaged in specialised postgraduate education with defined career outcomes.
Data Collection
Based on the above problem, a survey was conducted amongst the students of Kohinoor Business School and Kohinoor Management School. The questions were framed on the basis of Likert Scale, and the following were asked to students:
- I use LinkedIn for employment opportunities.
- I participate in academic-related LinkedIn groups.
- I update my profile with extracurricular achievements.
- I face difficulty in producing LinkedIn content.
- I do not engage in conversation with my connections.
Data Analysis
After conducting a survey of 100 students, the following results were extracted:
|
|
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Q5 |
|
Mean |
0.64 |
-0.12 |
0.34 |
0.19 |
0.13 |
|
Standard Deviation |
1.12 |
1.16 |
1.30 |
1.06 |
1.08 |
|
Standard Error |
0.11 |
0.12 |
0.13 |
0.11 |
0.11 |
|
Z |
5.72 |
-1.06 |
2.59 |
1.83 |
1.23 |
|
Results |
Agree |
Neutral |
Agree |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Conclusion
- Students are positive towards using LinkedIn for employment opportunities.
- Students are neutral about participation in academic-related LinkedIn groups.
- Students are positive about updating their profile with extracurricular achievements.
- Students are neutral about facing difficulty in producing LinkedIn content.
- Students are neutral on engaging in conversation with their connections.
References
Davis, Joanna & Wolff, Hans-Georg & Forret, Monica & Sullivan, Sherry. (2020). Networking via LinkedIn: An examination of usage and career benefits. Journal of Vocational Behaviour. 118. 103396. 10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103396.
Lexis, Louise & Weaver, Debbi & Julien, Brianna. (2023). STEM students see the value of LinkedIn as a career development tool and continue to use it in the long-term post-assignment. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. 14. 53-70. 10.21153/jtlge2023vol14no1art1510.