Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 2 Advances in Business & Economics, Social Science, Communications & Media (ICAR-T2 2025)

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The Role of WhatsApp in Shaping Communication Dynamics among Students

Authors
Noornajwa Md Amin1, *, Munifah Alwi2, Raznida Isa1, Nur Salwan Gashlan2, Farah Farzana Abdul Aziz1, Noraliza Azizan1
1Faculty of Computing & Multimedia, Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*Corresponding author. Email: n_najwa@uptm.edu.my
Corresponding Author
Noornajwa Md Amin
Available Online 20 June 2026.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_35How to use a DOI?
Keywords
WhatsApp; student communication; sentiment analysis
Abstract

WhatsApp has become a fundamental means of communication among students, serving both social and academic purposes. This study examines the role of WhatsApp in shaping communication dynamics among students enrolled at three different types of institutions: private universities, university colleges, and public universities in Malaysia. This research employed a mixed-methods approach, utilising survey data and sentiment analysis of open-ended responses. The survey was distributed to 183 students through Google Forms. The results showed that 48.1% of students expressed a positive sentiment toward WhatsApp as a tool for academic collaboration, while only 47% indicated neutral views. The remaining 4.9% of students showed a negative view. The majority of participants acknowledged the effectiveness of the platform in enabling collaborative tasks, real-time discussions, and material sharing. Nevertheless, challenges such as excessive messaging and distractions from non-academic material were also observed. The study concludes that while WhatsApp is predominantly perceived as a constructive academic resource, its efficacy is significantly contingent upon group management practices and established norms of digital communication. These results highlight how informal digital platforms are reshaping contemporary academic interactions and underscore the necessity for more explicit guidelines to augment their educational value.

Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 2 Advances in Business & Economics, Social Science, Communications & Media (ICAR-T2 2025)
Series
Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
Publication Date
20 June 2026
ISBN
978-94-6239-715-6
ISSN
2352-5428
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_35How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Noornajwa Md Amin
AU  - Munifah Alwi
AU  - Raznida Isa
AU  - Nur Salwan Gashlan
AU  - Farah Farzana Abdul Aziz
AU  - Noraliza Azizan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/20
TI  - The Role of WhatsApp in Shaping Communication Dynamics among Students
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 2 Advances in Business & Economics, Social Science, Communications & Media (ICAR-T2 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 468
EP  - 482
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_35
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_35
ID  - Amin2026
ER  -