Gender Differentiation and Perceived Ease of Usage of Electronic Resources by University Students in Selected Private Universities in Nigeria
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ISSN (Print): 0972-2467 ISSN (Online): 0976-2477 SRELS Journal of Information Management, Vol 55(3), June 2018, p. 117-127 DOI: 10.17821/srels/2018/v55i3/123059 Gender Differentiation and Perceived Ease of Usage of Electronic Resources by University Students in Selected Private Universities in Nigeria Adefunke S. Ebijuwa* Olusegun Oke Library, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso. P.M.B 4000, Oyo State, Nigeria; [email protected] Abstract The importance of electronic resources as the bedrock of provision of accurate, easy to access, relevant and, up-to-date information in learning and research cannot be over-emphasized. Through electronic resources’ use students have ac- for effective learning and research by students, studies have shown that their proper and maximum use is still a mat- cess to global resources for their academic activities. However, despite the potential benefit electronic resources holds electronic resources use by students in selected private universities in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey designter for discussion.with a population This study, of 4,452 therefore, undergraduate examined students.perceived Multi-stage ease of use sampling and gender technique differences was asused factors in selecting influencing the sample size for the study. Questionnaire was used for data collection which was analysed using descriptive statistics, standard deviation, Cross Tab Analysis (Pearson Chi-Square) and T-test. The result of the analysis revealed low usage of electronic resources by the students. It further revealed a renowned difference in gender differentiation. Also, a respondents perceived use of electronic resources easy to use. However, the major constraints to electronic resources significant proportion of the students did not use electronic resources frequently. In addition, this study found that the- use by students were lack of knowledge of search techniques to retrieve information effectively, insufficient user train- mendsing, lack that of awareness,concerted effort download by university delay and libraries constant may power ameliorate failure. the The problems findings of indicated low use. thatTherefore, both perceived libraries should:ease of integrateuse and gender e-resources significantly search influencedtechniques students’and retrieval use ofskills electronic into the resources. curriculum Based of Use on of the Library findings, taught the atstudy the univerrecom- sities, create awareness strategies by under taking university-wide lecture on access, promote e-resources through the use of e-mail alert and social media platforms, adopt various motivational strategies to encourage the use of electronic resources and should also endeavour to have standby generator, Inverter or Solar Power to limit the problem of constant power failure. Keywords: Electronic Resources, Gender, Nigeria, Perceived Ease of Use, Private Universities, Students, University 1. Introduction the university library is often considered the most important resource centre of the parent institution. In the drive to The importance of libraries in the educational system is support teaching, learning and research activities in the re-echoed by Udoh-Ilomechine (2008) that the responsibility universities, library collections have expanded to include of supporting learning and research within the university electronic resources (e-resources). Using e- resources, environment, through the provision of information materials students and staff of university communities have access to has always been that of the university library. Because of this, global resources for their scholarly work. *Author for correspondence Gender Differentiation and Perceived Ease of Usage of Electronic Resources..... Electronic resources are information materials that 1.2 Research Question the library provides access to in an electronic format. 1. What is the level of electronic resources use by These resources include E-journals, E-books, CD-ROMs, students? and OPAC etc. They are widely accessible through the 2. What is the frequency of use of electronic resources computers and handheld mobile devices and are available by students? in different subject. They are invaluable research tools 3. How do students perceive the ease of use of electronic with many benefits that can positively influence the resources? academic performance of students. No doubt, various 4. What are the constraints to use of electronic resources University libraries make a large investment in the by students? provision of e-resources and accompanying computer- based technology to support teaching, learning and 1.3 Hypotheses research activities of the academic community. According to Dadzie (2005) e-resources are extremely The following null hypotheses guided the conduct of this useful resources that complement traditional print-based study and they were tested at 0.05 level of significance. materials. In the view of Sharma (2009) electronic resources Ho1: There is no significant relationship between are essential in ensuring efficient retrieval and dissemination students’ perceived ease of use and their electronic of information which is of prime importance to any university resources use. library. Despite the potentials they hold for effective learning Ho2: There is no significant difference between students’ and research, some studies have established that their general gender on and their use of electronic resources. use is very low (Daramola, 2016; Madondo, Sithole & Chisita, 2017). Nevertheless, the success of the implementation of 2. Theoretical Background e-resources may depend on some factors. Thus, the degree 2.1 Technology Acceptance Model to which a person believes that using a system would be free of effort and gender could be determining factors to In the initial Technology Acceptance Model, Davis (1989) the use of e-resources. It is on this premise that this study states that the success of a system is determined by the is being carried out to investigate gender differentiation and user acceptance of the system which is measured by three perceived ease of usage of electronic resources by students in factors Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and selected private universities in Nigeria. Attitudes towards usage of the system. Thus, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have been used in 1.1 Objectives of the Study understanding technology, adoption and use. Davis (1989) defines Perceived Ease of Use as “the degree to which a The main objective of the study is to determine gender person believes that using a particular system would be differentiation and perceived ease of usage of electronic free of effort”. In the context of this study, perceived ease resources by students in the selected private universities of use is the extent to which a student believes that using in Nigeria. e-resources will be free from effort. The specific objectives are to: However, researchers have observed that perceived 1. Find out the level of use of electronic resources by usefulness has a more significant influence on use of students e-resources than perceived ease of use (Tibenderana & 2. Ascertain the frequency of use of electronic resources Ogao, 2010). They observed that “usefulness was more by students significantly affected by usage than ease of use” and that 3. Determine gender differences in the use of electronic “perceived usefulness had a stronger correlation with user resources by students acceptance of technology”. Thus, to guide the study, using 4. Find out the perceived ease of use of electronic PEOU, it is proposed that when e-resources are easy to resources by students use, students will use more frequently. Although, the TAM 5. Ascertain the relationship between perceived ease of has been reported as the most widely used and robust use and gender on electronic resources use by students theoretical model in Information Science in the study of 6. Identify the constraints to use of electronic resources acceptance and use of information and communication by students 118 SRELS Journal of Information Management | Vol 55(3) | June 2018 Adefunke S. Ebijuwa technology, The model wasmodified to eliminate attitude to be complex, non-flexible and not easy to use. More variable as they found through a study that attitude played so, the use of EIR does not meet the information needs a minor role in system usage behaviour. of the students. The major challenge faced by student when using EIR was found to be frequent power cut 2.2 Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use with 75% respondent rate. The finding also revealed a of Technology (UTAUT) positive relationship between perceived ease and use of EIR at (p=0.00; p<0.05). The study concluded that the UTAUT model is an information system model formulated students perceived EIR as complex and not flexible to by Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis (2003). UTAUT use. Therefore, the study recommended that libraries model explains user intentions to use an information should do more by providing technical support and system and subsequent usage behaviour. The model training to ensure optimal use of EIR. consists of four key core determinants of intention and usage: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social 2.3.2 Gender Differences and Electronic influence, and facilitating conditions and four moderators Resources Use of key relationships: Gender, Age, Experience, and Voluntariness. The core determinants are the key factors Gender could also be a determining factor impacting the which