Abstract
This study investigates the bidirectional predictive links between global citizenship and social media competence through the application of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The study utilized data gathered from 353 university students enrolled at Turan University. Two structural models were tested through second-order reflective structures. In Model 1, global citizenship (social responsibility, global competence, global civic engagement) predicted the dimensions of social media competence (technical usability, content interpretation, content generation, anticipatory reflection). In Model 2, the direction was inverted to investigate the predictive capacity of social media competence regarding the facets of global citizenship. The results reveal that all structural paths in both models are statistically significant. In Model 1, the content generation dimension had the greatest effect (β = 0.513, f² = 0.357). In Model 2, global civic engagement emerged as the most strongly predicted dimension (β = 0.447, f² = 0.249). However, Model 2 did not describe the social responsibility dimension very well (R² = 0.034). R² values ranged from weak to moderate (0.034–0.263). A comparison of the two models indicated that global citizenship exerts a more significant influence on social media competence than vice versa. The findings indicate that an integrated approach to global citizenship education and digital literacy initiatives may be beneficial.