SOURCE:

Faculty: Social Sciences
Department: Mass Communication

CONTRIBUTORS:

Chiaha Chukwuemeka
Dunu Ifeoma

ABSTRACT:

The study assessed female civil servants’ perception and pattern of use of new media in South East Nigeria. This is against the backdrop of extant literature that suggests low level of use of Internet by females globally and the general pattern of use more for social activities than for formal official purposes The specific objectives therefore were to ascertain the knowledge level of female civil servants on internet/new media usage; to ascertain their patterns of internet/new media usage; to identify the Internet search engines mostly used by the female civil servants; to find out the female civil servants’ perception of the use of the Internet; and to find out the challenges faced by them in their use of the Internet at the workplace and others. Situated within the framework of the Technological Determinism and Uses and Gratifications Theories, the study adopted the mixed method approach involving quantitative (survey) and qualitative (in-depth interview). The study population was female state civil servants in the South East Nigeria numbering 67, 738. A sample of 486 was derived using the Australian Calculator, while the multi-stage approach was employed in selecting the sample units across ministries and departments within the study area. For the in-depth interview, four respondents were purposively selected from each of the five states in the South East, making a total of 20 interviewees. Data analysis was both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data were analysed using simple percentage tables and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, while the qualitative data were thematically analysed. The study found that about 92% of female civil servants in South East Nigeria were knowledgeable about the Internet/new media and that majority used Internet for work at their offices. However, the study also revealed that these female civil servants used the new media in their homes much more than their offices despite the challenge of high personal financial cost due to, data unavailability, irregular power supply and unavailability of gadgets. Although, majority of the respondents perceived the Internet as relevant to their jobs, the study found very low usage of these new media applications and technologies for office use. Rather there was a high use of these new media especially the social media networks by these female civil servants for socialization and connecting with friends. This supports argument from literature that these new media (social media) are mainly social with the primary purpose of creating and enabling participation and socialization of people in these sites. The pattern of use therefore was irregular; with a high amount of usage in homes than offices. The findings support evidence from literature concerning women being late adopters of technology since data revealed that the technical use of the Internet appears to be a challenge to them since they have not fully understood its complex applications but are rather highly knowledgeable on the general usage of these technologies. What the study discovered is that the use of Internet by female civil servants who are in the majority in the civil service and who also seem to have the job that requires the use of these new media is still at the peripheral level. The study recommended that governments of the five South East states should engage in extensive and regular training of staff in the government ministries to catch up with the variety of uses the Internet could be applied in the office and thus facilitate a technology based civil service that can compete and is of standard with other developed countries. There is also need to ensure that internet-enabled devices are installed in the offices of civil servants and equipment provided to ensure effectiveness.