DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS AND RESEARCH OUTPUT/PUBLICATION IN GOVERNMENT-OWNED UNIVERSITIES IN THE SOUTH-SOUTH REGION OF NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study determined the relationship between digital immigration and research output/publication in government-owned universities in the South-South region of Nigeria. The explanatory cross sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted twenty-four thousand, seven hundred and ninety (24790) teaching staff across twenty-two (22) government-owned universities across the six (6) South-South States in Nigeria. After the application of Taro Yamene formula, the sample size of the study was three hundred and ninety-four (394) teaching staff across twenty-two (22) government-owned universities across the six (6) South-South States in Nigeria. After validation by the supervisors and two other experts in the Department of Office and Information Management, Cronbach alpha was used to test the reliability of the instrument. A total of three hundred and ninety-four (394) copies of the questionnaire was administered to the respondents by the researcher with the help of two research assistants and 352 copies were retrieved. The univariate analysis was carried out using mean and standard deviation, while the bivariate analysis was done using Pearson Product Moment Correlation in SPSS version 27.0. The Partial Correlation was used to run the multivariate analysis. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used in testing the hypotheses one to nine, while hypothesis ten was tested using Partial Correlations. The findings revealed that a significant positive relationship exists between dimensions of digital fluency, such as digital natives, digital immigrants, and digital outcasts and measures of teaching staff performance in government-owned universities in the South-South region of Nigeria, such as teaching effectiveness, research output/publications, and teaching commitment. The study concluded that sustained investment in digital infrastructure, continuous staff technological development, and inclusive digital transformation policies are essential for enhancing teaching staff performance and advancing the global competitiveness, innovation, and sustainability of government-owned universities in the South-South region of Nigeria. Hence, it was recommended amongst others that the management of universities in South-South, Nigeria should establish advanced digital innovation hubs within faculties to encourage digitally fluent lecturers to develop technology-driven teaching models, virtual research collaborations, and multimedia instructional resources that can further enhance teaching effectiveness and research productivity.