Effects of gender, age, and internet competency on internet usage among academicians during the movement control order (MCO) in Malaysia

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has caused various unprecedented impacts to the whole world. In relation to this, Malaysia has enforced the Movement Control Over (MCO) starting on 18 March 2020 in order to fight the global COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and caused socio-economic shocks that left no one untouched. The pandemic also has forced all employees, including academicians, to practice Work from Home (WFH). In relation to this, the implementation of e-learning may incur academicians’ acceptance that might be influenced by their attitudes towards internet connection, utilizing electronic equipment, and others to ensure an effective e-learning process. This study is aimed to examine the effects of gender, age, and internet competency on internet usage among academicians during the MCO. A total of 223 respondents participated in this study through a purposive sampling method which was conducted among academicians using an online questionnaire. Chi-square analysis was performed to examine the association among genders, age groups, and internet competency with internet usage. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between the respondents’ genders and internet competency on internet usage among academicians during the MCO (χ2 = 0.002, p<0.05). However, it was found that there is no significant relationship between the respondents’ age and their internet usage (χ2 = 0.665, p>0.05). In a situation where the country is facing the COVID-19 pandemic and the MCO, the use of the internet has become very important. This study also found that there are differences in internet usage among respondents of different genders and levels of efficiency. But when the online learning method was implemented, all academicians were no exception. Therefore, the age difference of academicians was found not to affect the use of the internet. Future studies by adding more respondents among teachers and those from private institutions are recommended, other than focusing on attitudes and perceptions which will benefit various parties, especially the academicians.