Direct and indirect effects of smartphone use on academic performance of undergraduate students in Tanzania

The global proliferation of smartphone usage in higher learning institutions is high. Students are still struggling to find the best way to use their smartphones, especially in relation to their academic endeavours. That is to say, the contribution of smartphones to the student's academic performance is still debatable. Little research has embarked on quantitative measurement and specifically on the causal relationship existing between general smartphone use and academic performance whether direct or indirect using formal performance models and/or theory. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the direct and indirect impact of general smartphone-use on the academic performance of undergraduate students in Tanzania. This study used a snowball sampling technique for the distribution of questionnaires to a total of 412 respondents. The combinations of descriptive, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM) were employed. The results show that smartphone use by students in higher learning institutions has an indirect impact on their academic performance.