APPLICATION OF WEB-BASED RESOURCES AND ACADEMIC STAFF JOB EFFECTIVENESS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

In today’s tertiary education landscape, academic staff juggle multiple roles, including teaching, research, mentoring, publishing, and administrative duties, often under intense pressure. This study explored how the use of web-based resources impacts the job effectiveness of academic staff in public universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. An ex post facto design was adopted, targeting 200 Assistant Lecturers purposively selected from the Faculty of Education at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and the University of Cross River State (UNICROSS), with 100 from each institution. The census method was used to involve the entire group. Two validated and reliable instruments titled “Application of Web-Based Resources Questionnaire (AWBRQ) and Academic Staff Job Effectiveness Questionnaire (ASJEQ)” were used for data collection. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients ranged from .89 to .91, indicating strong reliability. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the hypothesis at a .05 significance level. Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between the use of web-based resources and academic staff effectiveness. Tools such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Moodle, institutional repositories, virtual libraries, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams were found to enhance lecturers’ performance in teaching, research, and collaboration. The study recommends that university management invest in digital infrastructure and provide continuous training to improve staff digital literacy. Additionally, policies should support the integration of web-based tools into academic processes to improve overall staff performance and institutional academic quality.