Impact of Internet and Search Engines on Students’ Understanding of Consumer Behaviour and Choices In Tertiary Institutions of Learning In Abuja, Nigeria.

Abstract

Understanding consumer behaviour and choices are crucial for marketing students in tertiary institutions of learning. Thus, the paper examined the impact of the internet and search engines on students' understanding of consumer behaviour and choices in tertiary institutions of learning in Abuja. Three research objectives and three research questions guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised 1,126 students that were drawn from three tertiary institutions in the FCT. A sample of 291 students was used for the study, using Krejae, and Morgan's (1970) sample size determination table. Sixteen items self-structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. Content validity was used. Test-retest method of reliability was used to obtain the internal consistency. The reliability index was obtained through Cornbrash's alpha (0.86). 274 questionnaires were returned valid, representing a 94% success rate. Data collected were imputed into the SPSS (25) software package where descriptive statistics, in the form of graphs and tables were generated. The study discovered among others that Google is the most used search engine by students in tertiary institutions of learning in the Federal Capital Territory. Internet search engines have positive impacts on students' understanding of consumer behaviour and choices in tertiary institutions of learning in Abuja. The study recommended among others that Faculty and Departmental lecturers should educate students on how to identify junk information while surfing through the search engines, students should attend special ICT training programmes to improve their internet search skills and the cost of internet subscription should be made affordable for students and other subscribers. . Keywords: Impact, Internet, search engines, consumer behaviour and choices