2.1 Perceived usefulness – Attitude toward using social networking sites

Perceived usefulness (PU) is an important component of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Hussein et al., 2022; Kumar et al., 2024; Kursan Milaković et al., 2020). Davis (1989) defined it as ‘the degree to which a person believes that using a particular technology will enhance their performance’. It is an example of extrinsic motivation because it shows that a medium can help a user get a specific result (Lorenzo‐Romero et al., 2011). In the same way, it was defined as the level of confidence that a person has that a particular system will help them perform their best (Berlianto et al., 2024). AL-Nawafleh et al. (2019) stated that PU is ‘the amount to which an individual feels that utilizing the system would improve their task’. Wicaksono and Maharani (2020) characterized it as a subjective assessment of a system’s efficacy in encouraging task completion. Natasia et al. (2022) observed that it signifies an individual’s tendency to utilize an application specifically to enhance job-related outcomes.

In the context of social media and digital platforms, the definition of PU transitions to fulfilling goal-oriented needs (Basuki et al., 2022). Pu is well-defined as “the degree to which social media users believe that using specific social media sites helps meet the needs of goal-driven individuals.” (Rauniar et al., 2014). In SNS, the above-mentioned useful functions are demonstrated through socialization, relationship expansion, and information exchange. Kowalczuk (2018) explain in a smart technology context that the smart speaker improves their productivity in job performance. While PU chains that use a new technology will also enhance job performance (Wallace & Sheetz, 2014). Perceived social media creates ease of attainment for the learning goal in the educational sector (Al-Rahmi et al., 2018). The new technology enhancement also improves the students’ academic performance in the educational sector (KeSavan & Palappallil, 2018; Wen & Walters, 2022). Another study related to the tourism sector found that to reach their destination, the users acquire more useful information (Guo et al., 2025).

According to Hamid et al. (2016) Investigation that in utilizing technology, PU is a directly interpreted behavioral intention. PU also suggests how the networking sites create efficacy, benefits, and unique value for the users (Jin et al., 2014). As Zhao and Wang (2020) PU is also significantly impacted by external factors, including social interaction, informativeness, and relevance, and frequently looks at how successfully people perform their work.

2.1.1 PU and theory

PU is the degree to which a person feels that using a new technology will enhance their job performance (Berlianto et al., 2024; Carlos Martins Rodrigues Pinho & Soares, 2011; Kursan Milaković et al., 2020; Mukherjee & Banerjee, 2019). As TAM is based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Carlos Martins Rodrigues Pinho & Soares, 2011; Guo et al., 2025; Kumar et al., 2024; Tun et al., 2025). Fred Davis conceptualized the TAM by adapting the belief–attitude–intention framework projected by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen. PU actually leads to the attitude, which in turn impacts behavioral intention or the actual usage.

PU is shaped by attitudes towards technology usefulness which is based on behavioral assumptions. Research shows that people interact with social media, online platforms, and AI tools to enhance their performance. Thus, TRA and the TPB, PU within the frameworks, offer substantial theoretical support, explaining the cognitive beliefs about usefulness that influence attitudes, intentions, and sustained technology usage. For contemporary digital adoption, the position PU is a reliable indicator (Kshetri et al., 2023; Tamilmani et al., 2021; Venkatesh & Thong, 2016).

By adding perceived behavioral control to take problems and resources into account, the TPB expands on the TRA. According to the TPB, PU is a behavioral belief that affects attitude and has a direct effect on behavioral intention (Carlos Martins Rodrigues Pinho & Soares, 2011; Tun et al., 2025). This direct connection, which is frequently used in TAM based on “planned” behavior, is predicated on the idea that users in organizational or utilitarian contexts may become committed to acting only because of a tool’s performance-enhancing advantages, independent of their personal opinions about the behavior itself (Carlos Martins Rodrigues Pinho & Soares, 2011; Lorenzo‐Romero et al., 2011). Thus, TRA highlights the shift from belief to attitude, while TPB-informed models recognize that a user’s feeling to adopt and accept a system can be strongly and directly influenced by the PU of an outcome.

2.1.2 PU relationship between attitude towards using SNS and attitude towards using SNA

PU is one of the most important factors shaping whether people choose to use a platform (Geddam et al., 2024; Lorenzo‐Romero et al., 2011; Setianto et al., 2025). Empirical evidence consistently demonstrates a significant positive relationship between PU and attitudes toward the use of SNS, indicating that platforms that are considered advantageous for social connectivity or information acquisition generate more favorable user evaluations (Berlianto et al., 2024; Gabriel & Park, 2024; Kumar et al., 2024; Lorenzo‐Romero et al., 2011). Moreover, studies indicate that PU positively influences attitudes toward SNA (Kursan Milaković et al., 2020; Zhao & Wang, 2020). This suggests that users are more likely to like advertisements when they think that the information or benefits they get from them are useful (Kursan Milaković et al., 2020; Zhao & Wang, 2020). In the end, this dual effect shows that how useful people think both the medium and its advertising are is a key factor in how positive their attitudes are and how likely they are to purchase something (Kumar et al., 2024; Mukherjee & Banerjee, 2019).

2.1.3 Theoretical effect on these relationships

The connections between PU and attitudes toward social media platform and its advertising are based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Carlos Martins Rodrigues Pinho & Soares, 2011; Du et al., 2024; Kumar et al., 2024; Tun et al., 2025). The positive or negative evaluative assessment of a particular behavior, both of the theories explained the cognitive belief that usefulness is the most important determinant of users’ attitude (Du et al., 2024; Kumar et al., 2024; Tun et al., 2025). In the digital realm, empirical studies consistently demonstrate a significant positive relationship between PU and attitudes toward SNS. Users are considerably more inclined to create positive assessments if they perceive the platform as augmenting their effectiveness in social engagement or knowledge acquisition (Berlianto et al., 2024; Gabriel & Park, 2024; Hussein et al., 2022; Lorenzo‐Romero et al., 2011; Mukherjee & Banerjee, 2019). Furthermore, a well-documented correlation exists between PU and attitudes toward SNA. When consumers perceive that advertisements, including sponsored posts or short-video ads, offer valuable, relevant, or informative content, they develop a more positive attitude toward interacting with and using such advertisements (Kursan Milaković et al., 2020; Zhao & Wang, 2020). The PU of both the medium and its commercial content serves as a crucial extrinsic motivator that directly impacts user acceptance by promoting favorable behavioral attitudes (Berlianto et al., 2024; Jami Pour et al., 2023; Kursan Milaković et al., 2020; Lorenzo‐Romero et al., 2011).

PU effect directly into the TRA/TPB attitude construct. When users believe a platform will help them, whether to get work done faster, access better information, or connect more meaningful, they develop a positive attitude toward using it. According to TRA, a positive attitude is one of the strongest predictors of behavioral intention. Research on entrepreneurs using SNS found that PU was among the strongest predictors of their intention to continue using SNSs for business, validating TPB and TAM as complementary rather than competing frameworks (Di Stefano et al., 2023). Studies on TikTok, the more useful users find the platform, the more favorable their attitudes become, and the more likely they are to make purchase decisions through it, exactly the attitude-to-intention chain that sits at the core of TPB (Justyna Grabowska, 2025).