Political factors' influence on student's records management effectiveness in the Nigerian University system

Abstract

European Journal of Research and Reflection in Management Sciences Vol. 3 No. 2, 2015 ISSN 2056-5992 Progressive Academic Publishing, UK Page 29 www.idpublications.org POLITICAL FACTORS’ INFLUENCE ON STUDENTS’ RECORDS MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS IN THE NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM ANGELA E. NWAOMAH, PhD University Registrar Adventist University of Africa Private Bag Mbagathi 00503, Nairobi KENYA ABSTRACT Students’ records are critical in achieving university’s goals and objectives. This study therefore examined the political factors that influence students’ records management effectiveness in Nigerian universities. A survey design was employed for the study. The population consisted of 1,123 students’ records officers and 470 university administrators from randomly selected three federal, three state and three private universities in south-south geo-political zone of Nigeria. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select the sample for the study consisting of 564 records officers and 237 administrators giving a sum of 801. A total of 531 copies of the questionnaire were validly completed and returned making it 66.3% successful. Data was collected with a self-structured questionnaire validated with overall Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient =0.81. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were employed to analyze data processed from responses of the survey. The results revealed that at the 0.05 level of significance, the p-values of (0.0116, 0.3237 and 0.4038) indicated political factors had significant influence on students’ records management effectiveness in the federal universities, but not in the state and private universities. Findings of this research will provide the university administrators and records officers with better understanding of political factors influencing effective management of students’ records in the Nigerian universities.