Abstract
Background: This study examined the determinants of use of electronic resources by the professoriate in the social sciences and humanities departments of three universities in Nigeria. The constructs of the unified theory of acceptance and utilisation of technology (UTAUT), namely, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions, were used as determinants, and were extended to include self-efficacy, attitude and anxiety because of their theoretical and practical significance in the context of this study. Objectives: This study examined the determinants of the use of electronic information resources by the professoriate in the social sciences and humanities departments of three federal universities in Nigeria. Method: This study used a descriptive survey to study the determinants of use of electronic information resources by the professoriate. An adapted questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 246 professors from the three universities. Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: The results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, attitude and social influence significantly influenced the professoriate’s intention to use electronic resources in comparison to self-efficacy, anxiety and facilitating conditions. The descriptive statistics, however, revealed high self-efficacy and low anxiety means scores, and showed the significance of these constructs in extending the UTAUT model within the context of this study. Conclusion: Extending the UTAUT in the academic context shows the relevance of these constructs in improving information services to the professoriates as a unique group.
Highlights
Electronic information resources (EIR) have transformed the scholarly communication landscape, with the advent of the World Wide Web (Steele 2014)
The results of the demographic attributes show that the University of Ibadan had the highest number of professoriate (70; 42.4%), is the Obafemi Awolowo University (55; 33.3%), while the University of Lagos had the least (40; 24.2%)
The distribution of professoriate according to faculty showed that majority of the respondents were from faculties of arts (65; 39.4%), followed by social sciences (55; 33.3%) and education (43; 26.1%), while law faculties (2; 1.2%) recorded the http://www.sajim.co.za fewest number of professoriates
Summary
Electronic information resources (EIR) have transformed the scholarly communication landscape, with the advent of the World Wide Web (Steele 2014). EIR has become popular across higher institutions all over the world and academics are using the platform to access relevant and current information for various purposes especially for teaching and research. With the help of EIR, the professoriate can access library resources and services online via networks from their offices or homes without the need to go to the library physically (Aregbesola & Oguntayo 2014). Users of EIR have cited several motivations for its use; these include: speed, easy search function, ease of use, flexibility, convenience, and portability (Aregbesola & Oguntayo 2014; Bar-Ilan et al 2003). This study examined the determinants of use of electronic resources by the professoriate in the social sciences and humanities departments of three universities in Nigeria. The constructs of the unified theory of acceptance and utilisation of technology (UTAUT), namely, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions, were used as determinants, and were extended to include self-efficacy, attitude and anxiety because of their theoretical and practical significance in the context of this study
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