ACADEMIC MOTIVATION AND USE OF INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES BY POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THREE UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract:  Institutional repositories support academic and research objectives by providing a platform for disseminating scholarly outputs. Despite their benefits, postgraduate student engagement remains low, possibly due to a lack of motivation. This study, thus, examines the relationship between academic motivation and the use of institutional repositories among postgraduate students in three universities in South-west, Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised of all 16,511 postgraduate students enrolled at the University of Ibadan, Covenant University and Obafemi Awolowo University. A two-stage sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 345 respondents. The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The findings of the study revealed that journals were the most commonly used information resource, with 50.3% of respondents being very high users of this resource. The findings also indicated a high level of academic motivation among the postgraduate students, (𝑥 =33.05). The study revealed a statistically significant relationship between academic motivation and use of institutional repositories (r = 0.289, p < 0.05). It was concluded that academic motivation is a significant factor influencing the use of institutional repositories by postgraduate students. Based on these finding, the study recommended that universities implement targeted strategies such as workshops, seminars and mentorship programmes, to enhance the academic motivation of postgraduate students in order to increase their engagement and use of institutional repositories.