ASSESSMENT OF EXTENT OF SKILLS POSSESSED BY SECRETARIES FOR EFFECTIVE ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT IN POLYTECHNICS IN NORTH-CENTRAL, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was aimed at assessing the extent of skills possessed by secretaries for
effective electronic records management in Polytechnics in North-Central, Nigeria.
Two research questions guided the study. Two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05
level of significance. The population of the study comprised 366 secretaries in ten
Polytechnics in North-Central, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire with 27 items was
developed by the researcher and validated by two experts. The Cronbach Alpha
coefficient measure of internal consistency was used to test the reliability of the
instrument. The result of the reliability test for sections of the questionnaire 0.97 and
0.68. The results of the reliability test yielded a value of 0.83 for the entire items in the
questionnaire respectively. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the
three research questions. The z- test and ANOVA were used to analysis data relating
to the hypotheses. The findings revealed that all the electronic records management
skill areas assessed were moderately possessed by the secretaries. This implies that
secretaries in Polytechnics in North-Central, Nigeria do not optimally possess skills
for electronic record management. The findings further showed that there were
significant differences in the mean ratings of male and female secretaries regarding
the level to which they possess skills for effective electronic records management.
Also, there was a significant difference in the mean ratings of secretaries with regards
to years of working experience on the extent of electronic records management skills
possessed for effective records management. Based on the findings, it was
recommended among others that Secretaries in Polytechnics in North-Central,
Nigeria should immediately be trained by employers, through hands on training, inservice training, workshops, seminars, and conferences on effective electronic records
management.