Social Media Marketing on Higher Education Students: AParallel Mediation Model of Perceived Success and HindranceFactors

Abstract

 Social media marketing has become an effective approach for HEIs to engage students with educational institutions. However, the mechanisms by which social media marketing and demographic characteristics translate into actual student impact, and the overall concept, remain complex and in need of further exploration. The present study investigates social media marketing among HEI students in Andhra Pradesh, India, by examining the mediating roles of associated factors, such as success factors and hindrance factors. The data are collected from 196 students with almost equal distribution of respondents on the demographic characteristics scale and analyzed through statistical tests such as structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, moderation analysis, regression analysis, and heat map analysis. The regression results shows that success factors and hindrance factors are found to be associated with the social media impact on the HEI students. Whereas the mediation analysis shows that social media marketing has shown a strong association with both hindrance and success factors.(???? = 0.923,???? < 0.001) Whereas the hindrance factors and the impact
of social media marketing have shown both direct and indirect impact on each other. The results suggest that social media marketing’s influence on HEI students is complex, followed by barriers and challenges, highlighting the important role played by the hindrance factors, whereas the lower important role played by the success factors, with geographical location as the primary demographic characteristics driver of social media marketing.