20.500.12556/DKUM-96154 Exploring the impact of digital communication on the academic and social integration of erasmus students doctor of philosophy thesis Raziskovanje vpliva digitalne komunikacije na akademsko in socialno integracijo Erasmus študentov The Erasmus+ programme is the European Union programme supporting actions in education and training, youth, and sport. Numerous students participate in and gain several benefits of the Erasmus+ European exchange programme. Although Erasmus+ is often understood as an educational programme, with success measured in terms of credentials or course credits, the programme also stresses the importance of personal development. Although studies have shown that developing close relationships with host nationals increases life quality and academic performance while reducing stress levels, an issue most frequently related to mobility is insufficient social integration with host students. In literature, there is a lack of research, providing an efficient response to the issue of social integration and, thus, suggesting approaches towards boosting social integration of Erasmus students with host nationals. Also, as the COVID-19 pandemic was a unique historical moment that disrupted socialisation and everyday life in general as well as education, it was important to examine its effect on student integration. Accordingly, the lessons learned from this unique societal phenomenon lead us further to examine the post-pandemic student integration. Following Kim’s cross-cultural adaptation theory and Bochner’s international student friendship network model, while considering that technology and digital communication are an active enabler for creating connections, the objective of our research was dual. Firstly, we aimed to understand the factors affecting student integration in challenging societal situations, and, secondly, we proposed a novel conceptual model of how social integration is explained by academic integration, digital communication and student satisfaction with the learning environment. The study was based on an explanatory design of mixed method research on a sample of Erasmus+ students in Croatia. Qualitative data were collected through the interviews, while quantitative data were retrieved with an online survey questionnaire and structural equation modelling was employed to examine the data. The findings of the qualitative research revealed that Erasmus+ students showed low social integration with Croatian students, while the pandemic and lockdown have not had an important impact on their daily routines and only moderately affected the integration level. These findings also showed that the most frequently used mobile application (for communication and initiation of social activities) among Erasmus+ students WhatsApp and that most online and offline social activities were initiated by communication through WhatsApp. Qualitative findings also showed that students appreciated and welcomed the host HEI’s initiative for inclusion and integration. Following the qualitative research, quantitative research also showed that WhatsApp is the dominant communication platform, while Instagram is used for content-sharing. Furthermore, digital communication with the local university environment had a significant positive effect on social integration with host university students, while peer digital communication within the Erasmus community had a strong positive effect on social integration within that community. Additionally, qualitative research showed that academic integration significantly and positively predicted both forms of social integration - with host university students and with Erasmus student. In terms of theoretical implications, the findings of our study revealed that Kim’s cross-cultural adaptation theory has a potential to be applicable in the context of digital communication as well, as we found that students most often use WhatsApp for communication with local students at the host university, thus enabling connection vital to integration, while the practical implications show that digital communication tools have a vast potential in increasing the integration of host and Erasmus+ incoming students. Program Erasmus+ je program Evropske unije, ki podpira ukrepe na področju izobraževanja in usposabljanja, mladine in športa. Številni študenti sodelujejo v evropskem programu izmenjav Erasmus+ in od njega pridobijo številne prednosti. Čeprav se Erasmus+ pogosto razume kot izobraževalni program, katerega uspeh se meri s kvalifikacijami ali kreditnimi točkami, program poudarja tudi pomen osebnega razvoja. Čeprav so študije pokazale, da razvijanje tesnih odnosov z državljani gostitelji povečuje kakovost življenja in akademski uspeh, hkrati pa zmanjšuje raven stresa, je z mobilnostjo najpogosteje povezana težava nezadostna socialna integracija s študenti gostitelji. V literaturi primanjkuje raziskav, ki bi učinkovito odgovorile na vprašanje socialne integracije in s tem predlagale pristope za spodbujanje socialne integracije študentov Erasmus z državljani gostitelji. Ker je bila pandemija COVID-19 edinstven zgodovinski trenutek, ki je motil socializacijo in vsakdanje življenje na splošno ter izobraževanje, je bilo pomembno preučiti njen vpliv na integracijo študentov. Zato nas izkušnje, pridobljene s tem edinstvenim družbenim pojavom, vodijo k nadaljnji preučitvi integracije študentov po pandemiji. V skladu s Kimovo teorijo medkulturne prilagoditve in Bochnerjevim modelom mednarodnega študentskega prijateljstva je bil cilj naše raziskave dvojen, čeprav smo upoštevali, da sta tehnologija in digitalna komunikacija aktivna dejavnika za ustvarjanje povezav. Prvič, želeli smo razumeti dejavnike, ki vplivajo na integracijo študentov v zahtevnih družbenih situacijah, in drugič, predlagali smo nov konceptualni model, kako se socialna integracija pojasnjuje z akademsko integracijo, digitalno komunikacijo in zadovoljstvom študentov z učnim okoljem. Študija je temeljila na pojasnjevalni zasnovi mešane metode raziskave na vzorcu študentov Erasmus+ na Hrvaškem. Kvalitativni podatki so bili zbrani z intervjuji, kvantitativni podatki pa s spletnim anketnim vprašalnikom, za pregled podatkov pa je bilo uporabljeno modeliranje strukturnih enačb. Ugotovitve kvalitativne raziskave so pokazale, da so študenti Erasmus+ pokazali nizko socialno integracijo s hrvaškimi študenti, medtem ko pandemija in zaprtje nista pomembno vplivala na njihove dnevne rutine in sta le zmerno vplivala na raven integracije. Te ugotovitve so tudi pokazale, da je bila najpogosteje uporabljena mobilna aplikacija (za komunikacijo in začetek družabnih dejavnosti) med študenti Erasmus+ WhatsApp in da je bila večina spletnih in nespletnih družabnih dejavnosti sproženih s komunikacijo prek WhatsAppa. Kvalitativne ugotovitve so prav tako pokazale, da so študenti cenili in pozdravili pobudo gostiteljske visokošolske ustanove za vključevanje in integracijo. Po kvalitativni raziskavi je kvantitativna raziskava prav tako pokazala, da je WhatsApp prevladujoča komunikacijska platforma, medtem ko se Instagram uporablja za deljenje vsebin. Poleg tega je imela digitalna komunikacija z lokalnim univerzitetnim okoljem pomemben pozitiven učinek na socialno integracijo s študenti gostiteljske univerze, medtem ko je imela vrstniška digitalna komunikacija znotraj skupnosti Erasmus močan pozitiven učinek na socialno integracijo znotraj te skupnosti. Poleg tega je kvalitativna raziskava pokazala, da akademska integracija pomembno in pozitivno napoveduje obe obliki socialne integracije – s študenti gostiteljske univerze in s študenti Erasmus. Kar zadeva teoretične posledice, so ugotovitve naše študije pokazale, da ima Kimova teorija medkulturne prilagoditve potencial za uporabo tudi v kontekstu digitalne komunikacije, saj smo ugotovili, da študenti najpogosteje uporabljajo WhatsApp za komunikacijo z lokalnimi študenti na gostiteljski univerzi, kar omogoča povezavo, ki je ključnega pomena za integracijo, medtem ko praktične posledice kažejo, da imajo orodja za digitalno komunikacijo velik potencial za povečanje integracije gostiteljskih in prihajajočih študentov Erasmus+. Erasmus+ cross-cultural adaptation theory higher education social integration digital communication COVID-19 Erasmus+ cross-cultural adaptation theory visokošolsko izobraževanje socialna integracija spletna komunikacija COVID-19 true true false [V. Senci] Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Doktorsko delo/naloga 2025-12-04 10:51:41 2026-08-03 15:45:12 2026-08-06 03:10:56 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 Maribor 0 Maribor 172 f. 0000-00-00 NiDoloceno NiDoloceno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 316.772.5:316.4.063.3-057.875(4-6EU)(043.3) 286944771 DOK_Senci_Vida_2025.pdf DOK_Senci_Vida_2025.pdf 1 FFAEE608DAA259C81F391439A5E781C2 e7ad4f69262d694760de4a5b02cb9f768c9693c1a06f860bc61d05a861ffb7e1 25a201ed-d0fc-11f0-b6ea-00155d000105 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=201132 Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko 0 0 0