CORRELATES OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY USAGE AMONG SPORTS MANAGERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Sports management in Nigeria has a diverse range of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) needs, which include instant replays, headset and wireless microphones, goal-line and newly adopted video-assistant referee. Reports have shown that practitioners in the sports industry in Nigeria do not only lack the knowledge of these technology-assisted tools, but also have not displayed the expected attitude towards the management of these ICT devices as commonly practiced in developed countries. This consequently affects the context of the usage of ICT in the administration of sports in Nigeria. Previous studies focused largely on availability of ICT in Nigerian sports, with little emphasis on the knowledge, attitude and management practices of ICT among sports managers. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine knowledge in, attitude to and management practices of ICT as correlates of ICT usage among sports managers in Nigeria.

Davis’s Theory of Technology Acceptance Model provided the framework, while the descriptive survey design of expo-facto type was used. The simple random sampling technique was used to select a state from each of the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. All sports managers in state sports councils, sport associations and National Sports Commission in each of the six states, totalling 1,297, were enumerated. The instruments used were Knowledge of ICT Use in Sports (r=0.85); Attitude towards ICT Usage (r=0.82); Management Practices of ICT (r=0.88); and ICT Usage (r=0.79) scales. In-depth interviews were held with five sports directors out of the six. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages were used to analyse the demographic data. Quantitative data were analysed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation, Multiple regression and t-test at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were content-analysed.

The Participants were male (65.5%) and aged 41.70±2.80 years. Knowledge (r=0.37), attitude (r=0.37) and management practices (r=0.31) correlated positively with ICT usage. There was a significant joint correlation of knowledge, attitude and management practices on ICT usage (F(3;1295)=27.18; Adj. R2=0.63; R=0.62), accounting for 63.0% of its variance. Knowledge (ß=0.55), attitude (ß=0.34) and management practices (ß=0.32) significantly contributed to ICT usage. There were significant gender differences in knowledge of ICT (t=4.43; df=1295), attitude (t=7.29; df=1295) and management practices (t=7.55; df=1295) between male ( =76.42; =69.97; =70.67) and female ( =71.71; =64.65; =64.85) sports managers, respectively. There were significant differences in knowledge (t=3.63; df=1295), attitude (t=5.12; df=1295) and management practices (t=3.02; df=1295) based on years of work experience between shorter years ( =75.71; =69.36; =70.13) and longer years of work experience ( =74.02; =66.71; =67.70). Sports managers agreed that ICT would increase their productivity if there is knowledge of ICT and equipment needed were available, which will consequently influence their attitude and usage.

The knowledge of ICT and its availability will enhance sports managers use of Information and Communication. Therefore, there is need for government to make provision of the advanced technology equipment for sports management in Nigeria.