5.4 Findings
5.5.1 ICT Infrastructure
5.5.1.2 Mobile Phone Use
156
Table 5. 9: Cross-tabulation of Gender and Mobile Phone Ownership among Academic Staff (N=224)
Gender
How many mobile phones do you own?
Total
One Two Three More than three
Male 80 71 18 1 170
47.1% 41.8% 10.6% 0.6% 100.0%
Female 22 25 7 0 54
40.7% 46.3% 13.0% 0.0% 100.0%
Total 102 96 25 1 224
45.5% 42.9% 11.2% 0.4% 100.0%
Source: Survey data, 2016
The respondents were asked to indicate if at all they owned other mobile devices such as iPad or Galaxy tab besides mobile phone. Findings obtained from the student respondents show that 65 (21%) answered in the affirmative while 245 (79%) stated that they did not own such devices. Similarly, only a few academic staff 94 (42.7%) indicated that they owned such devices while the majority 126 (57.3%) pointed out that they did not own them.
Notwithstanding this, the level of ownership among academic staff, as was the case with mobile phones, was higher when compared to students.
157
Table 5. 10: Cross-tabulation of Frequency of Mobile Phone Use and Gender of the Students (N=311)
Gender
How often do you use your mobile phone?
Total Very
frequently Frequently Moderately Rarely
Very rarely
Male 110 57 30 3 0 200
55.0% 28.5% 15.0% 1.5% 0.0% 100.0%
Female 64 35 10 1 1 111
57.7% 31.5% 9.0% 0.9% 0.9% 100.0%
Total 174 92 40 4 1 311
55.9% 29.6% 12.9% 1.3% 0.3% 100.0%
Source: Survey data, 2016
Findings in Table 5.10 show that over half of the students 174 (55.9%) used their mobile phones very frequently. Another 92 (29.6%) students stated that they used their mobile phones frequently and 40 (12.9%) used them moderately. Only 5 (1.6%) used their phones either rarely or very rarely. The findings have also shown minor disparities in terms of mobile phone usage in relation to gender. In this regard, female students seemed to use mobile phones a lot more when compared to male students (See differences in percentage ratings in Table 5.10). The Chi–square (χ2) cross-tabulation test indicated that there was no statistically significant correlation between gender and frequency of mobile phone usage among students, χ2 = 4.305, df = 4, p = 0.366.
Another Chi – square (χ2) cross-tabulation test was conducted to determine if gender had an effect on the frequency of mobile phone usage among academic staff. Findings showed no statistically significant correlation between gender and mobile phone usage amongst academic staff, χ2 = 3.070, df = 2, p = 0.215. Findings shown in Table 5.11, however, indicate that majority of academic staff 167 (76.3%) used their mobile phones very frequently with female academic staff 45 (84.9%) using them more than their male counterparts 122
158
(73.5%). Another 35 (16.0%) academic staff used their mobile phones frequently whilst only 17 (7.8%) used them moderately. Slightly more male academic staff than females indicated that they used their mobile phones either frequently 29 (17.5%) or moderately 15 (9.0%) (See findings in Table 5.11). Findings made in relation to mobile phone usage and gender are at variance to the UTAUT model which asserts that gender has a moderating effect on usage of technology.
Table 5. 11: Cross-tabulation of Frequency of Mobile Phone Use and Gender for Academic Staff (N=219)
Gender
How often do you use your mobile phone?
Total Very frequently Frequently Moderately
Male 122 29 15 166
73.5% 17.5% 9.0% 100.0%
Female 45 6 2 53
84.9% 11.3% 3.8% 100.0%
Total 167 35 17 219
76.3% 16.0% 7.8% 100.0%
Source: Survey data, 2016
Findings of the cross-tabulation of the frequency of mobile phone usage in relation to age among academic staff show a relatively high usage of mobile phone across all the age groups, with over 50% of the respondents in the different age groups indicating that they used their mobile phones very frequently. However, academic staff in the 50 – 60 age group registered a remarkably high percentage of usage 24 (85.7%). The findings in Table 5.7 showed that mobile phone ownership in this age group was highest amongst the academic staff with 19 (67.9%) of the respondents owning two mobile phones whilst another 3 (10.7%) stated that they owned three or more mobile phones. These findings indicate that there could be a relationship between the number of mobile phone ownership and frequency of use. Academic staff within the 20-30 age group 23 (76.7%), 31-40 age group 58 (75.3%) and 41-50 age
159
group 56 (77.8%) also registered very high frequencies of use. Relatively lower rates of usage were registered among academic staff over 60 years of age whereby only 6 (50.0%) of them indicated that they used their mobile phones very frequently, 2 (16.7%) indicated that they used them frequently whilst 4 (33.3%) indicated that they used them moderately (See detailed findings in Table 5.12).
Table 5. 12: Cross-tabulation of Age Range and Frequency of Mobile Phone Use among Academic Staff (N=219)
Age range
How often do you use your mobile phone?
Total Very frequently Frequently Moderately
20-30 23 6 1 30
76.7% 20.0% 3.3% 100.0%
31-40 58 14 5 77
75.3% 18.2% 6.5% 100.0%
41-50 56 11 5 72
77.8% 15.3% 6.9% 100.0%
51-60 24 2 2 28
85.7% 7.1% 7.1% 100.0%
Over 60 6 2 4 12
50.0% 16.7% 33.3% 100.0%
Total 167 35 17 219
76.3% 16.0% 7.8% 100.0%
Source: Survey data, 2016
Students were asked to indicate their main uses of mobile phones. The average Cronbach’s Alpha values of the items to this question was 0.740 which suggested a high internal validity of the test items. Findings showed that calling was the main use of mobile phone for students
160
with 299 (94.9%) of them indicating that they strongly agree 212 (67.3%) or agree 87 (27.6%) with the statement. The rest of the students 16 (5.1%) either expressed no opinion 12 (3.8%), disagreed 2 (0.6%) or strongly disagreed 2 (0.6%) with the statement that calling was their main use of mobile phone. Students also used their mobile phones heavily for sending SMSs, connecting to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, and to check time as over 260 (80%) of them indicated that they strongly agree or agree with the statement that these were their main uses of mobile phones. Less than 54 (20%) students either expressed no opinion or disagreed that SMS or connecting to social media sites was their main use of mobile phones. Moreover, students also indicated that they used their mobile phones for surfing Internet, checking emails, to listen to music and radio, taking pictures and to set alarms and other reminder. Nevertheless, the torch, games and multi-media service (MMS) applications were used less (Details in Table 5.13).
Table 5. 13: Uses of mobile Phones among Students (N=315)
Use of mobile phone
Strongly
agree Agree
No
opinion Disagree
Strongly
disagree Total
Calling 212 87 12 2 2 315
67.3% 27.6% 3.8% 0.6% 0.6% 100.0%
SMS 123 139 31 14 8 315
39.0% 44.1% 9.8% 4.4% 2.5% 100.0%
MMS 19 56 138 53 49 315
6.0% 17.8% 43.8% 16.8% 15.6% 100.0%
Surfing Internet 134 106 54 6 15 315
42.5% 33.7% 17.1% 1.9% 4.8% 100.0%
Checking emails 103 134 46 20 12 315
32.7% 42.5% 14.6% 6.3% 3.8% 100.0%
Connecting to 210 70 20 5 10 315
161
Social media (Facebook, twitter, WhatsApp, among others)
66.7% 22.2% 6.3% 1.6% 3.2% 100.0%
To take pictures 100 143 42 23 7 315
31.7% 45.4% 13.3% 7.3% 2.2% 100.0%
Used as a torch 39 100 65 61 50 315
12.4% 31.7% 20.6% 19.4% 15.9% 100.0%
To set alarms and other reminder
83 158 43 21 10 315
26.3% 50.2% 13.7% 6.7% 3.2% 100.0%
To check time 131 132 34 13 5 315
41.6% 41.9% 10.8% 4.1% 1.6% 100.0%
To play games 39 92 70 67 47 315
12.4% 29.2% 22.2% 21.3% 14.9% 100.0%
To listen to music and radio
104 145 45 11 10 315
33.0% 46.0% 14.3% 3.5% 3.2% 100.0%
Average Cronbach’s Alpha value of the items in Table 5.13 was 0.740 Source: Survey data, 2016
Academic staff’s uses of mobile phones were largely similar to those of students save for a few. As was the case with students, academic staff used their mobile phones the most for calling with 222 (99.1%) of them indicating that they strongly agree 200 (89.3%) or agree 22 (9.8%) with the statement that this was their main use of mobile phones. One academic staff (1, 0.4%) expressed no opinion and yet another (1, 0.4%) disagreed that with the statement that calling was his/her main use of mobile phone. Just like students, academic staff used their mobile phones heavily for sending SMSs, connecting to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, and to check time, with over 180 (80%) of them
162
indicating that they strongly agree or agree with the statement that these were their main uses of mobile phones. On the contrary, 39 (17.4%) academic staff or even less either expressed no opinion, or disagreed that sending SMS, connecting to social media tools and checking time was their main use of mobile phones. Other commonly used functions of mobile phones for academic staff were surfing Internet, taking pictures, and setting alarms and other reminder. Despite the similarities, academic staff also differed in their use of mobile phones with students in that they used their mobile phones more for checking emails than students.
Conversely, students used their mobile phones to listen to music and radio more than academic staff. (Full details are presented in Table 5.14).
163
Table 5. 14: Uses of Mobile Phones among Academic Staff (N=224) Use of mobile phone
Strongly
agree Agree No
opinion Disagree Strongly
disagree Total
Calling 200 22 1 1 0 224
89.3% 9.8% 0.4% 0.4% 0.0% 100.0%
SMS 93 101 26 3 1 224
41.5% 45.1% 11.6% 1.3% 0.4% 100.0%
MMS 18 29 122 25 30 224
8.0% 12.9% 54.5% 11.2% 13.4% 100.0%
Surfing Internet 109 64 31 10 10 224
48.7% 28.6% 13.8% 4.5% 4.5% 100.0%
Checking emails 131 59 23 4 7 224
58.5% 26.3% 10.3% 1.8% 3.1% 100.0%
Connecting to Social media (Facebook, twitter, and WhatsApp)
126 59 22 8 9 224
56.3% 26.3% 9.8% 3.6% 4.0% 100.0%
To take pictures 52 108 38 20 6 224
23.2% 48.2% 17.0% 8.9% 2.7% 100.0%
Used as a torch 19 84 63 32 26 224
8.5% 37.5% 28.1% 14.3% 11.6% 100.0%
To set alarms and other
reminder 44 110 38 21 11 224
19.6% 49.1% 17.0% 9.4% 4.9% 100.0%
To check time 89 100 26 5 4 224
39.7% 44.6% 11.6% 2.2% 1.8% 100.0%
To play games 4 32 62 56 70 224
1.8% 14.3% 27.7% 25.0% 31.3% 100.0%
To listen to music and
radio 12 92 51 29 40 224
5.4% 41.1% 22.8% 12.9% 17.9% 100.0%
164
Average Cronbach’s Alpha value of the items in Table 5.14 was 0.723 Source: Survey data, 2016
5.5.1.3 ICT Infrastructure Necessary for Adoption and Use of Library and Information