Religious orientation and digital citizenship behaviour of university undergraduates : an inter-ethnic and inter-faith comparison

Abstract

This study profiled the digital citizenship behaviour of university undergraduates from four ethnic groups, i.e. African, Arab, Asian and Caucasian, and examined the influence of religion, religious orientation, and ethnicity on these behaviours. Based on Ribble`s nine dimensions of digital citizenship, the study established the underlying structure of students` adherence to appropriate and acceptable use of digital technology, and thereafter, validated the psychometric properties of the digital citizenship and religious orientation scales and measurement model. The data for this exercise were drawn from 2,000 African, Arab, Asian and Caucasian undergraduates from 15 different countries via a multistage sampling process. Two subscales were used to capture the data. The first was a 21-item digital citizenship subscale rated on a 5-point frequency category, while the second, a religious orientation subscale with 9 items rated on a 5-point agreement category. The subscales were pilot-tested with 600 undergraduates to establish their validity and reliability prior to the actual data collection. The data were first analyzed descriptively to profile the undergraduates` conformity to digital citizenship practices, and then split into three parts for Exploratory Factor Analysis (N = 400), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (N = 400), and Structural Equation Modeling (N = 1,200). The EFA extracted five underlying dimensions of digital citizenship, namely digital commerce, digital security, digital rights and responsibilities, digital etiquette, and classroom ethics, with a variance explained of 53.84%. Of the five digital citizenship dimensions, the undergraduates showed the closest adherence to digital rights and responsibilities, where minimal differences were observed among the four ethnic groups. However, violations of digital etiquette and classroom ethics were prevalent among all ethnic groups, particularly the Caucasians. The CFA confirmed a five-factor measurement model of digital citizenship, and provided evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the digital citizenship subscale, hence extending current understanding about important attributes of digital citizenship. The SEM results explained a causal relationship between religious orientation and digital citizenship moderated by religion. The results suggest that religious orientation is a likely influencer of digital citizenship behaviour, an idea that warrants attention from tertiary learning institutions for awareness training on responsible and appropriate use of digital technology. The results also call for proactive measures from parents, university lecturers, university administrators, education policy makers, and students themselves in making sure that digital citizenship is practiced and adhered to by relevant digital technology users.