Gender Differentiation and Perceived Ease of Usage of Electronic Resources by University Students in Selected Private Universities in Nigeria

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 access to global resources for their academic activities. However, despite the potential benefit electronic resources holds for effective learning and research by students, studies have shown that their proper and maximum use is still a matter for discussion. This study, therefore, examined perceived ease of use and gender differences as factors influencing electronic resources use by students in selected private universities in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a population of 4,452 undergraduate students. Multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting 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 significant proportion of the students did not use electronic resources frequently. In addition, this study found that the respondents perceived use of electronic resources easy to use. However, the major constraints to electronic resources use by students were lack of knowledge of search techniques to retrieve information effectively, insufficient user training, lack of awareness, download delay and constant power failure. The findings indicated that both perceived ease of use and gender significantly influenced students’ use of electronic resources. Based on the findings, the study recommends that concerted effort by university libraries may ameliorate the problems of low use. Therefore, libraries should: integrate e-resources search techniques and retrieval skills into the curriculum of Use of Library taught at the universities, 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.

Use of electronic resources in research and learning in a health sciences library in Ghana: An analysis of awareness and perception of users

“…Therefore, it could be said that the determinants elements such as computer self-efficacy, perception of external control, computer anxiety, perceived enjoyment, and objective usability with exception of computer playfulness do not influence the gender of users. The results disagreed with previous studies that there is a relationship between gender and perceived ease of use of e-resources by students (Bassi and Camble, 2011; Ebijuwa, 2018; Ikolo, 2012). On the other hand, there is a significant relationship between gender and computer playfulness.…”

“…They concluded in their results that there is no statistically significant difference between males and females on the use of electronic resources and that the gap is negligible. On the contrary, Bassi and Camble (2011) and Ikolo (2012) revealed a statistical difference between male and female students’ attitudes, towards the use of electronic resources for their various information needs.…”

Urban Railway Connection: Opportunities, Challenges, Development Opportunities

“…Therefore, the University Library is highly used by undergraduate students of the University. Similar result obtained by Ebijuwa and Mabawonku [25] showed that Science and Engineering students topped their respondents while male were 67.7% respondents, and students between ages 17 -25 accounted for over 85%. Table 2 presents the information on the utilization of the library.…”

“…Agboola and Bamigboye [24] revealed significant influence of level of study on library use in one of the three universities studied. In other studies, Ebijuwa and Mabawonku [25] found that age made relative significant contribution but gender and academic discipline did not. Oyedum [5] also found that course of study made significant relative contribution to the use of university libraries while Tolutope [19] revealed relative contribution of gender on utilization of library software.…”

Digital resources and the reading habits of university students in Nigeria

“…Examples include educational movies, databases, e-books, e-reports, online course materials, and websites. Ebijuwa (2018) stated that computers and mobile devices have made DRs readily available, and they cover a wide range of topics. Ngugi and Mberia (2014) stated that people, especially young adults, are spending more time reading digital materials due to the expanding number of DRs available today.…”