Abstract
The study investigated the perceptions of lecturers about ASNSs across different disciplines in
Southwestern Nigeria with a view to providing information about the importance of user
characteristics in the adoption and use of research tools. It identified the types of social
networking sites in use by the lecturers and determined the level of awareness of Academic
Social Networking Sites (ASNSs) of the lecturers across different disciplines. The study adopted
a descriptive survey research design. The sample for this study consisted of 240 lecturers
selected from nine public and private universities in the region. The study employed the
multistage sampling procedure. An instrument named Lecturers' Characteristics and Use of
ASNSs (LeCUA) was used to collect data for the study, while percentages, counts and mean
scores were employed to analyse the data. The results showed that ResearchGate (94%), Google
Scholar (91%) Academia.edu (66%) and LinkedIn (60%) were the popular academic networking
tools in use. The results also showed that Engineering lecturers consistently registered the
highest level of awareness in all four items of the awareness scale, while the Arts lecturers
consistently recorded the lowest level of awareness on all the items. Lecturers in Engineering
also registered the highest level of perception, unlike their counterparts in other disciplines,
particularly the Arts.
Keywords: Academic Social Networking Sites; ASNSs, ResearchGate; Academia.edu;
Disciplinary Differences
Publication Date: 2024-01-28