COMPETENCIES IN SEARCHING AND EVALUATING AUTHENTICITY OF INFORMATION AS PREDICTORS OF STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE SHARING CAPACITY IN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA.

Abstract

Abstract The study examined competencies in searching and evaluating authenticity of information as predictors of knowledge sharing capacity of postgraduate students of public universities in South-east Nigeria. Two research questions were answered, two hypotheses were tested while correlational survey research design was adopted in carrying out the study. The population for the study was 13,654 postgraduate students from the ten public Universities in south-east Nigeria. Taro Yamane method was adopted in sampling 400 postgraduate students as respondents across the ten public universities. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. The instrument was subjected to validation by three experts while the reliability coefficient of the instrument was obtained using Cronbach Alpha reliability technique which yielded an overall Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.81 indicating high reliability of the instrument. Eight research assistants were engaged in data collection for the study. Out of the 400 copies of the questionnaire administered, 386 copies were retrieved and completely filled representing 96.5% return rate. Data were analysed using mean values for answering research questions while correlation statistics based on the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at 0.05 level of significance was used for testing the hypotheses. The results of the study showed that competencies in searching information and evaluating the authenticity of information highly predict knowledge sharing ability among postgraduate students of public universities in South-East Nigeria. The study among others recommended adequate in-service training, capacity building and skill update of lecturers in public universities in media and information literacy competencies for effective teaching and media and information skill acquisition of the postgraduate students that will enhance their knowledge sharing. Keywords: Competencies, information searching, evaluation, authenticity, knowledge sharing.