Students apprehension and affective inertia in a Twitter-based activity: Evidence from students of an economics degree

Students' affective inertia can lead to their resistance to conducting an activity. This article aims to identify the characteristics of an e-learning activity carried out via Twitter that can help teachers reduce the possible incidence of such inertia. The analysis, based on structural equation modelling and applied to a sample of 105 students, reveals that e-learning activities should be useful and enjoyable in order to reduce affective inertia. Furthermore, students that are more apprehensive towards using social networking sites (SNS) are more likely to experience affective inertia, and having high expectations regarding the activity's enjoyment are less likely to reduce their inertia, compared to those who are less apprehensive about SNS use. This research offers important implications for teaching practice on the designing of e-learning activities. •Positive expectations of benefits and enjoyment reduce affective inertia.•SNS apprehension is a psychological trait that increases affective inertia.•Benefits and enjoyment are less effective to reduce inertia for apprehensive students.•SNS-based activities should be meaningful and well-designed to reduce affective inertia.