The use of internet in management sciences: Evidence from higher educational institutions

The purpose of this study was to explore the students' attitudes towards the use of the internet among students in the College of Business Administration at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University for the academic year 2019-2020. Using data from a self-administered survey that was adopted and adapted from previous studies, the results of this study indicate that the respondents have a positive attitude toward using the internet, which is reflected in the high percentages of using the internet. The results of this study should be useful to policymakers at the university level and the classroom level as there is a positive attitude in disseminating knowledge in the higher educational setting.


*Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) has become increasingly common, affecting many aspects of our personal and professional lives as well as several of our recreational activities. For example, ICT skills have become a major part of educational programs (Thomas and Stratton, 2006;Abedalaziz et al., 2013). One of the most interesting outcomes of the information age is the rapid rise of the internet. The social, cultural, and economic structure of the modern world is affected by this development. The Internet extends our access to data, allows for new channels of information access, and is a platform for a wide range of online services in the areas of education, culture, trade, and entertainment. Every college student discusses the significance of the use of the internet for educational activities (Nachmias et al., 2000).
Most of those students, however, do not have deep insights as to how beneficial it is for educational research and development purposes. Indeed, in the areas of technology, healthcare, communication, and education, the internet has brought considerable revolutions. Today, the internet can be used as a teacher for students. Students are able to use the internet to obtain information and necessary knowledge about projects in no time. The internet continues to contribute to the growth of students' education potential despite debates and criticisms against the use of the internet for students. It goes without saying that hub of information and knowledge from which students can definitely be benefitted. On the internet, you can find the content you need and of the highest quality. There are many blogs on the internet that provide the most pertinent content and study materials that can help the students to grow academically. The internet also allows increased connectivity and communication between teachers and students. In today's times of COVID-19 pandemic where physical education has almost closed for students, the internet has made it possible for students and teachers to continue learning and teaching, respectively. It would have been impossible without the internet to continue educational activities with such a pandemic on the head. Teachers and students can now connect and communicate with each other via the internet for educational purposes irrespective of their locations and distances. Students today do not know how life was when there was no internet. Their elders had been probing through thick encyclopedias to gain information. They had to go to libraries to read books and save information. Students can now use search engines over the internet to get information very quickly as compared to physical search by going to libraries and exploring books over there. Today, they can get updated information on anything with minimal effort. They can read electronic books. They do not have to go to libraries now because they have the facility to get all kinds of information right in the comfort of their homes. In self-study, the internet plays a vital role. It saves students' precious time. They do not have to worry about collecting books and arranging money for that purpose because the internet has made it all readily available to them. It is just a few clicks away for the students to access whatever book they want for self-study. For students, time is very precious. Online discussions using social media channels over the internet is a landmark of the internet technology.
Presently, the importance of education for students to gain personal and professional success cannot be denied. There are two meanings of the term "education." The first meaning refers to the time that students spend while studying at the university on the basis of which they receive an educational certificate, which is called a "degree." The second meaning refers to the acquisition of selfeducation based upon individual requirements to acquire and develop the new and the unknown worlds. This is of huge value for a society that is in constant change and evolution. Schools and colleges are implementing the use of ICT tools so that students can get equipped with the most modern technological tools which help them enhance their learning process. Distance learning has been made possible in the most sophisticated fashion. Students, who incorporate the use of IT in their education or those who take help from the internet for research purposes, get higher GPAs than those who are not familiar with IT or who get distracted when they are online. College students spent most of their time in online communication with their peers to discuss complex academic concepts. There are a lot of surveys that show that students make good use of information technology to improve their education potential and knowledge development. It not only improves their academic potential but also makes them equipped with essential communication skills that they need to flourish in their professional lives. (Hubináková and Mikula, 2018;Schmidt and Cohen, 2010).
The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes of Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University's students towards the use of the internet for the academic year 2019-2020. To the best of the researcher's awareness, there is a dearth of research exploring the usage of the internet among college students.
The remainder of the paper proceeds as follows. The next section highlights the methodology. The third section discusses the findings of the study. The final section addresses the conclusion.

Methodology
In this study, the researcher made use of the simple random sampling technique for the purpose of getting data from students. Google Forums was used as the tool for collecting data for the academic year 2019-2020. As for the students participating in the study, they belonged to the Business Administration program of the Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University. For getting data, the questionnaire was distributed among the students, and the researcher gave them the timeframe of up to one week for filling and returning the filled questionnaire. At the end of this process, the researcher came up with a final sample subject containing 221 students.
Primary and secondary data collection methods were used for this study. For getting data using primary sources, the researcher designed and used a questionnaire, whereas, for secondary data collection, the researcher made use of scholarly sources like published papers and articles containing relevant information about the use of ICT in education. The questionnaire for the primary data collection was designed using information from Odell et al. (2000). 221 students returned the filled questionnaire. As far as the data analysis method for this study is concerned, the researcher used descriptive data statistics. Table 1 depicts the demographic attributes of the respondents based on specialization, gender, age, level of study, and CGPA. The specialization starts from the 3 rd level for students in the College of Business Administration in this university. It is because of this reason that the students can freely select their preferred major. As for the demographic information shown in Table 1, the specialization percentages for students in HRM, finance, MIS, law, general, and management were 5.9%, 2.7%, 2.7%, 86.9%, 0.9%, and 0.9%, respectively. Female students dominated the males as for gender representation, which was 123 female students (55.7%). As for the age group of the respondents, for the age group of 18-23, they were 110 students (49.8%), for the age group of 21-23, they were 102, and for the age group of 24-26, they were 7 students. Junior students comprised the highest number of students, which was 49%. Between 2 and 3 CGPA, there were 70% of students. The level of the study for the students was like this: junior students were 81 (36.7%), sophomores were 24 (10.9%), senior students were 42 (19%), and freshmen were only 2 (0.9%). As far as the CGPA is concerned, the number of students with less than 3 CGPA was 11 (5%), for 3-3.49 was 28 (12.7%), for 3.5-3.99 was 28 (12.7%), for 4.0-4.49 was 53 (24%), and between 4.5-5.0 CGPA was 101 (45.7%).

Empirical results
The students were asked whether their parents were educated. The students' responses towards these statements are depicted in Table 2.  Table 2 shows that the majority of the respondents, 87 (39.4%), indicated that none of their parents were educated, 75 (33.9%) have one of their parents educated, and 59 (26.7%) have both educated parents. Table 3 shows that the majority of the respondents 189 (85%) of the student having a computer, and 32 (14.5) does not have a computer at home.  Table 4 shows that the majority of the respondents, 176 (79.6%) using a computer beside and 45 (20.4) smartphone.  Table 5 shows that the majority of the respondents, 92 (41.6%) using computers for more than 7 years and 57 (25.8%) using less than one year, 37 (16.7) and 35 (15.8%) using a computer for more than 4 years. Table 6 shows that the majority of the respondents, 217 (98.2%), living at the family home, and 49 (1.8) not living at home.   Table 7 shows that the majority of the respondents, 198 (89%), live at the university hostel, 23 (10%) living outside the hostel.  Table 8 shows that most of the respondents, 67(30%) using 60-120 mints and 65 (29.4) using more than 3 hours, 53 (24.0%) less than 60 mints, 36 (16%.3) using between 121-180 mints.  Table 9 shows that the majority of the respondents, 141 (63.8%), do not use a computer to see their e-mail, 80 (36.2%) using the internet to use e-mail.    Table 11 shows that the majority of the respondents, 142 (62.9%) using the internet for social media, 79 (35.7%) do not use the internet for social media. Table 12 shows that the majority of the respondents, 138 (62.4%), do not use the internet to see news. 83 (37.6.2%) using the internet to use for see news. Table 13 shows that the majority of the respondents, 156 (70.6%), do not use the internet to play games, 65 (29.4%) using the internet to use for playing games.     Table 15 shows that the majority of the respondents, 123 (55.7%) does not using computer watching movies, 98 (44.3 %) using computer to use for watching movies. Table 16 shows that the majority of the respondents, 180 (81.4%), using computer elearning, 41 (18.6 %) do not use the computer to use for e-learning.   Table 17 shows that the majority of the respondents, 215 (97.3%), do not use the internet for other purposes, 6 (2.7.6 %) using the internet to use for e-learning.

Conclusion
This study examined the usage of the internet for the academic year 2019-2020 by students of the Business Administration program of the Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University. The results show that students are moderate to extreme level technologically optimistic. This finding demonstrates the students' positive view of the use of ICT for educational purposes. For various stakeholders, such as lecturers, management officials, university leaders, and students, the outcome of this study is highly valuable. This finding can motivate policymakers from universities and classroom management to organize activities such as symposiums, seminars, training workshops, and conferences in order to increase IT awareness and facilitate skill buildup among students as an effort to increase the quality of education.
While the research has been successful at achieving the desired goals, it still has certain limitations. For example, the number of research participants is less for a bigger perspective study. The study can be improved in the future by including more students from other fields of study like medical and engineering studies in order to get a more diversified view of the topic under study.