Developing a Model of the Role of New Media, with an Emphasis on Cyberspace and the Internet, in Students’ Cultural Identity

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and validate a model explaining the role of new media, particularly cyberspace and the Internet, in the formation and transformation of university students’ cultural identity. This applied study adopted an instrument-development orientation and a mixed-methods design. The qualitative study population comprised experts in educational sciences, social networks, and university academics. Fifteen eligible experts were selected through purposive snowball sampling and participated in semi-structured field interviews. The interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis to extract concepts, subthemes, and major dimensions relevant to the role of new media in students’ cultural identity. Following the qualitative analysis, the extracted indicators were evaluated and validated using the fuzzy Delphi technique to establish expert consensus and eliminate indicators considered insufficiently important for inclusion in the final model. The fuzzy Delphi validation supported the final structure of the proposed model. Four indicators were eliminated because of insufficient importance, while 114 indicators organized into 14 components and four major dimensions were ultimately confirmed. The validated dimensions were “reconstruction and transformation of cultural identity in the digital environment,” “education, awareness, and cultural governance in the digital environment,” “social interactions and cultural communication in the digital environment,” and “cultural challenges, harms, and consequences of the digital environment.” The validated components indicated a dual role of new media: they can promote the representation of local, religious, and national identity, media literacy, social capital, and intercultural interaction, while simultaneously contributing to hybrid identities, identity crises, erosion of traditional normative boundaries, adverse media consequences, and passive internalization of global culture. The validated model demonstrates that the relationship between new media and students’ cultural identity is multidimensional and bidirectional. Strengthening media literacy, purposeful cultural education, and effective institutional governance may therefore maximize the identity-enhancing capacities of digital media while mitigating their potentially adverse cultural and identity-related consequences.