The Effect of Social Networks on the Educational and Research Performance of postgraduate Students at the University of Mazandaran, Iran

Social networks and deep interactions and communication between postgraduate students and their professors is one of the most important and influential factors in educational and research performance. Considering the effects of formal and informal social networking in higher education system, this study seeks to investigate its impact on the academic performance of postgraduate students in the University of Mazandaran. The statistical population of this study consists of all postgraduate students of Mazandaran University in 2017 academic year. It is a survey study research and the data were collected by questionnaires. The research sample includes 358 people selected through simple random sampling method. The findings of the research show that formal social network had no significant effect on the educational and research performance of postgraduate students, but informal social network had the most positive effect (β = 0.505) on their performance. The variable of intimacy in the social network (β = 0.351) was the second strongest predictor of educational and research performance. The next effective variables were social network size (β = 0.222), social network quality (β =0.182) and access (β = 0.094). The adjusted coefficient of determination indicates that the independent variables of this survey explained 0.44% of the variance of the dependent variable of the study, i.e. the educational and research performance of the postgraduate students.As a result, it is necessary for university education planners to benefit from informal social networking capabilities and use it as an important communication mechanism for improving the educational and research performance of postgraduate students.