SELF-MANAGEMENT, AWARENESS AND USE OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCESAS PREDICTORS OF SCHOLARLY PUBLICATION OUTPUT OF RESEARCHERS IN NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Scholarly publication output is the quality and quantity of intellectual products produced by a scholar. It is regarded as a mark of the level of research productivity and prestige of researchers in National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) in Nigeria. Previous studies had shown that scholarly publication output among researchers in Nigerian agricultural sector which includes NARIs is relatively inadequate. This could be largely attributed to their low awareness and non-use of relevant information materials like electronic-resources in the process of conducting research and developing their findings as scholarly publication output. Previous studies focused more on factors like availability of funds and re-training programmes than self-management, awareness and use of electronic resources as predictors of scholarly publication output. This study, therefore, was carried out to examine self-management, awareness and use of electronic resources as predictors of scholarly publication output of researchers in NARIs. Social Cognitive and Achievement Motivation theories and Campbell’s Model of Job Performance provided the framework, while the survey design of the correlational type was adopted. The 15 NARIs and their 1,089 researchers were enumerated. A questionnaire with four sub-scales was used: Self-management (r=0.77), Awareness of Electronic Resources (r=0.71), Use of Electronic Resources (r=0.92) and Scholarly Publication Output (r=0.79). All the scales were calibrated into three (high, moderate and low).Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation and Multiple regressions at 0.05 level of significance. Researchers’ age was 53.40 ± 6.75years and65.0% had spent more than seven years on the job. Scholarly publication articles in learned journals (x̅=3.41), co-authored textbooks (x̅=3.00), complete textbooks (x̅=2.92), chapters in book (x̅=2.89), patents and certified inventions (x̅=2.89), conference proceedings (x̅=2.72), seminar papers (x̅=2.61) and technical reports (x̅=2.52 were moderate as against the threshold of 2.50. Their level of awareness of electronic resources (x̅=89.35) was high as against the test interval of 80-116, while the use of electronic resources (x̅=70.51) were moderately used as against the test interval of 40-79. Self-management was high (x̅=44.76) as against the test interval of 41-60. Self-management (r=0.49), awareness (r=0.40) and use of e-resources (r=0.81) significantly correlated with scholarly publication output positively. All the independent variables jointly predicted scholarly publication output (F (3;1086) = 4.18; Adj. R2 = 0.51), accounting for 51.0% of its variance. The use of electronic resources (β=2.22), self–management (β=0.14) and awareness of electronic resources (β=0.11) relatively contributed to scholarly publication output of the researchers. Self-management, awareness and use of e-resources enhanced scholarly publication output among researchers in National Agricultural Research Institutes in Nigeria. Researchers should get familiar with electronic resources that are relevant to their mandate and use them frequently to enhance scholarly publication output.