Purpose

This study aims to investigate the adherence to cyber ethics by undergraduates in public universities in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria when using electronic information resources (EIRs).

Design/methodology/approach

Descriptive survey research design was used for this study. A total of 7,771 undergraduates of University of Uyo (UNIUYO) and Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), Nigeria constitute the study population. The sampling technique used for the study is the multistage technique. A sampling fraction of 5% was used to arrive at a sample size of 389.

Findings

This study revealed that in UNIUYO, more than four-fifths of the undergraduates – 55 (84.6%) in science, 55 (82.1%) in engineering and 61 (81.3%) in education – noted that they used the internet on a daily basis, and in AKSU, almost all the respondents in science (50, 90.9%) and about four-fifths in engineering (45, 80.4%) observed that they also used the internet on a daily basis for academic work. Adherence to cyber ethics guidelines was high at UNIUYO in education (44.2) and science (43.0) and at AKSU in engineering (42.9) and science (44.7).

Practical implications

The use of EIRs in universities has brought enormous changes, especially on how information are accessed and used by undergraduates. As EIRs have become important component in university libraries and continuously used by undergraduates for academic work, there is the possibility that frequent accessibility and utilization could increase the chances of unethical usage. This study is therefore significant in taming the tide of abuse and misuse of e-information resources in universities.

Originality/value

The correlation between adherence to ethics guidelines and the use of EIRs was positively significant at both UNIUYO (r = 0.139*; df = 206; p < 0.05) and AKSU (r = 0.136*; df = 168; p < 0.05). A high level of adherence to cyber ethics by the undergraduates can be encouraged and maintained through the formulation of cyber ethics policy in the universities by academic librarians.

中文翻译：

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尼日利亚阿夸伊博姆州公立大学本科生网络伦理遵守和电子信息资源使用情况

目的

本研究旨在调查尼日利亚阿夸伊博姆州公立大学本科生在使用电子信息资源 (EIR) 时遵守网络道德的情况。

设计/方法/方法

本研究采用描述性调查研究设计。乌约大学 (UNIUYO) 和阿夸伊博姆州立大学 (AKSU) 的 7,771 名本科生构成了研究人群。用于研究的采样技术是多阶段技术。使用 5% 的抽样比例得出 389 个样本量。

发现

这项研究显示，在 UNIUYO，超过五分之四的本科生——55 名 (84.6%) 科学、55 (82.1%) 工程和 61 (81.3%) 教育——表示他们每天都使用互联网，在 AKSU，几乎所有科学领域的受访者 (50, 90.9%) 和大约五分之四的工程学受访者 (45, 80.4%) 观察到，他们每天也使用互联网进行学术工作。UNIUYO 在教育 (44.2) 和科学 (43.0) 以及 AKSU 在工程 (42.9) 和科学 (44.7) 方面对网络道德准则的遵守程度很高。

实际影响

大学中 EIR 的使用带来了巨大的变化，特别是在本科生如何访问和使用信息方面。由于 EIR 已成为大学图书馆的重要组成部分，并不断被本科生用于学术工作，因此频繁访问和使用可能会增加不道德使用的可能性。因此，这项研究对于遏制大学中滥用和误用电子信息资源的趋势具有重要意义。

原创性/价值

在 UNIUYO ( r = 0.139*; df = 206; p < 0.05) 和 AKSU ( r = 0.136*; df = 168; p < 0.05) ，遵守道德准则和使用 EIR 之间的相关性是显着的。通过学术图书馆员在大学中制定网络道德政策，可以鼓励和保持本科生对网络道德的高度遵守。