Influence of gender on attitude towards the use of social media for continuing professional development among academic librarians in Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of gender on attitude towards the use of social media for continuing professional development among academic librarians in Ogun State, Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach Descriptive survey design was used for the study. Research instrument used was questionnaire where 79 copies were administered to academic librarians, using total enumeration sampling technique. Five universities in Ogun State, Nigeria were selected for the study. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as percentage, frequency, mean, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and t-test for data analysis. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 19) was used to run the analysis. Findings The study revealed that WhatsApp (75.0 per cent) is the most frequently used social media for continuing professional development among academic librarians. Attitude towards the use of social media for continuing professional development among academic librarians is positive. There is no statistically significant gender difference in attitude towards the use of social media for continuing professional development (t = 0.097, df = 54 and p > 0.05). There is significant moderate positive relationship between attitude towards social media use and frequency of use of social media (r = 0.439; p < 0.05). Originality/value The study was necessary to identify gender difference in attitude towards the use of social media for continuing professional development by academic librarians in Ogun State, Nigeria.