Integrating social media-based community of inquiry with theory of planned behavior to promote equitable educational intentions among pre-service teachers in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan

An equitable education system is essential for all students to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to become productive members of society. Pre-service teachers in education play a vital role in fostering equitable educational practices. This study aimed to measure the association between the social media-based community of inquiry and pre-service teachers' intentions toward social justice and equity in education. It focused on pre-service teachers enrolled in the education departments of universities in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Pakistan. Census sampling was used to include all students enrolled in teacher education departments across universities in GB. The research utilized a multi-wave survey design, beginning with a baseline survey to assess pre-service teachers' presence on social media. This information guided the design of a community of inquiry on social media centered on the theme of social justice and equity in education. After 4 months, a second survey was conducted to measure the association between the community of inquiry and pre-service teachers' intentions toward social justice and equity. For data analysis, the study employed the partial least squares-consistent structural equation modeling (PLSc-SEM) approach. The novelty of the study lies in integrating the community of inquiry framework with the theory of planned behavior. We found a significant and positive association between the social media-based community of inquiry and pre-service teachers' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control regarding their intentions to implement social justice and equity in education. These findings hold the potential for developing prospective teachers and educational leadership with a strong focus on equity. Future research could explore creating a community of inquiry for pre-service teachers to enhance their mindset and skills for inclusive education. This aligns with the broader objective of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on fostering a more inclusive and equitable educational environment.

Social Q&A communities: A multi-factor study of the influence of users’ knowledge sharing behaviors

Recently, social Q&A communities have grown increasingly popular, serving as a primary platform for people to learn and share information. Nonetheless, fewer knowledge producers in these communities are significant than knowledge consumers. Thus, promoting users’ participation in knowledge sharing is a challenge for managers of social Q&A communities. Even though many scholars have studied factors influencing willingness to share knowledge, they tend to start with one theory and ignore the impact of several factors on behaviors. Thus, this manuscript presents a multi-factor model based on three dimensions of technology, cognition, and security to explore the effects of the six factors of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms, perceived security, and perceived privacy in terms of the three knowledge sharing methods of browsing including like and favorite, publishing and replying, and to compare users’ willingness to use the three knowledge sharing methods. A total of 482 questionnaires were collected online, and the hypotheses were tested and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). According to the results, the factors affecting different sharing methods are not the same. Perceived behavioral control and perceived security can have a significant influence on their willingness to browse, users’ willingness to publish and reply to posts is significantly influenced by their perception of behavioral control and subjective norms, while perceived usefulness also affects their willingness to respond, it can be seen that cognition is the most important factor affecting users’ knowledge sharing among the three dimensions. In addition, users’ willingness to browse is significantly greater than their willingness to reply, and their willingness to post is the lowest.