Ahmad Bin Zainal Abidin Multimedia University, Jln Ayer Keroh Lama, Bukit Beruang, Melaka, Malaysia

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1 Personality and Nature of Internet Use among MMU Students Hawa Binti Rahmat Rohaidah Binti Mashudi Multimedia University. Jln Ayer Keroh Lama, Bukit Beruang, Melaka, Malaysia Maizatul Azila Binti Chee Din Ramlee Bin Adnan Ahmad Bin Zainal Abidin Abstract - The paper is meant to study the relationship between big five personality and nature of internet use among students of Multimedia University (MMU), Malaysia. Specifically the objectives are: 1) to investigate the association between the big five personality traits and the nature of internet use; 2) to examine the correlation between the big five personality traits and internet dependency; 3) to find out the relationship between gender and internet usage MMU, not only as the higher learning institution at the core of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), but also serves as a mechanism for the development of the high tech of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry of the country. Hence, the students are very much exposed to ICT in their studies and learning environment. However, studies show that personality plays significant role on how the students absorb or adapt to the ICT environment. Therefore, by applying quantitative method using survey design, the paper found supporting evidences to confirm the previous findings on personality and internet use. Current study has confirmed the previous studies on the relationship between personality and nature of internet use. The results may assist the university management on enhancing capacity building for students and make use of their preferences on nature of internet use to develop more creative ways in teaching and learning. Finally, it may contribute to the existing body of knowledge in the field of elearning. Keywords - big five personality, elearning, internet usage, Multimedia University I. INTRODUCTION The research is meant to study the relationship of big five personality using International Personality Item Poll (IPIP) and nature of internet use among Multimedia University students. Data were collected based on a quantitative method of survey design. 1

2 Hawa Binti Rahmat, Rohaidah Binti Mashudi, Maizatul Azila Binti Chee Din, Ramlee Bin Adnan, and Ahmad Bin Zainal Abidin II. LITERATURE REVIEW Personality is best described as individual differences. A psychologist, Gordon Allport (Funder, 1991) defined personality as,...relatively enduring predispositions that influence our behaviour across many situations. In other words, personality is our traits that are consistent across situations such as very shy and introvert, outspoken, open minded and extrovert. Despite these individual differences, there are some similarities over liking on some things or gadget. The Internet appears to have become an ever increasing part of many people s activity (Rahmat, 2004). Moreover, Azhar (2003) believed that, for some individuals, the computer not only rivals their real world, but also prefer to commune with a computer, rather than with their family members. In relation to internet use among its heavy user, popular press and academic circles in the United States and United Kingdom continuously reporting it as internet addiction (Gackenbach, 1998). Moreover, Nightingale (2002) described these people as internet obsession. According to Young (1998), an established researcher on the study on abnormal internet usage, internet addiction will affect marriages, dating relationships, parentchild relationships, and close friendships. On top of that, a study by McKenna and Bargh (2000) has revealed that social anxiety as a dominant predictor for an individual to be more susceptible to internet addiction. Besides, a lonely individual is also another variable that predicts who will be more prone to build internet relationship. This is threatening news especially for our generation. Subsequently, studies on type of personality traits that were most likely to be susceptible to internet dependency would be explored further. Interestingly, a study on personality and internet use conducted by Tosun and Lajunen (2010) using Eysenck s personality dimension, has found that...extroversion was the only personality dimension that is related to maintaining long-distance relationships, and supporting daily face-toface relationships. The study also revealed that...psychoticism and neuroticism were found to be positively associated with the expression of true self on the Internet Meanwhile, in another study by Amichai-Hamburger and Ben-Artzi (2003), on the relationship between extraversion, neuroticism, differential internet use and loneliness, revealed that male who was neurotic and extrovert tend to use internet related to information and leisure service. On the other hand, female who was neurotic and lonely tend to use internet that relates to social service only. Moreover, in a study on the differences in openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion between online game players and non-players reported a higher score on openness, conscientiousness and extraversion than nonplayers but no difference in agreeableness and neuroticism (Teng, 2008). Furthermore, Young and Robert (1998) in their attempt to investigate personality traits of those considered dependent users of internet, using 16 PF instrument, discovered that Dependents is ranked high in term of being self-reliant, a strong preference for solitary activities, and tend to restrict their social outlets. Dependents were also abstract thinkers who appear less conforming to social convention and more emotionally reactive towards others. The results also shown that Dependents tended to be sensitive, vigilant, and private individuals. Moreover, in a study by Landers and Lounsbury (2006), to address the relationship between personality traits and internet usage, using Adolescent Personal Style Inventory (APSI) -Big Five traits, revealed a hierarchical regression analysis that extraversion and conscientious are significantly predict internet usage. Interestingly, in a study by a group of researchers (Abdul Karim, Ahmad Zamzuri, Muhammad Nor, 2009) on type of students at public university in Malaysia, using Goldberg s 50 five personality measurement items, found out that personality traits such Special Issue of the International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management, Vol. 19 No. SP2, February,

3 Personality and Nature of Internet Use among MMU Students as agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability are significantly and negatively correlated with unethical internet behaviour. Furthermore, in relation to the gender of internet users, an online study by Yahoo! Inc found that 91% of European Internet users were males (Boudette, 1997). In another study conducted by Welsh on one-campus of 1,000 college students, it was also found that 8 % men dominant women on internet use (Anderson, 2001). The literature reviews show some similarities of different kind of individual differences using different type of personality instruments with preferences on the nature of use of the internet. Those were very interesting research findings that need further exploration especially on students of MMU for their preferences on internet use as well as their personality differences. MMU is one of the top private universities in Malaysia. Henceforth, with its focus on the development of the high tech of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the study is very much relevant to the self development and capacity building enhancement to both the students and university, respectively. It is also fascinating to know if there are any significant difference in terms of gender on the usage of internet among MMU students, as Martin (1998) concluded in her writing that females might be at a disadvantage in adapting to the Internet because they are more hesitant about new technology and computers. Henceforth, from the literature reviews with IPIP instrument, the present study intended to study MMU students with the following research questions. Research Questions The study would questions on; 1) is there any relationship between different personality trait and nature of internet use?; 2) is there any relationship between different personality trait and internet dependency?; 3) is there any relationship between gender and internet usage? Objectives of the Research Generally, the paper is meant to study the relationship between big five personality and nature of internet use among students of MMU. Specifically; 1) to investigate the association between the big five personality traits and the nature of internet use; 2) to examine the correlation between big five personality traits and internet dependency; 3) to find out the relationship between g ender and internet usage. III. METHODOLOGY The study applied a quantitative method using survey design. Participants The population under study were MMU students of Malaysia. There were a total of students as at 31 May Initially, about 1010 students were involved in this study. However, after running the data cleaning, only 777 were eligible for further analysis. Measures 1) Usage of internet - The questionnaire on the usage of internet was developed based on literature reviews. Cronbach s alpha for this study was α = ) Personality - The personality instrument was using IPIP by Goldberg (Goldberg, Johnson, Eber, Hogan, Ashton, Cloninger, & Gough, 2006) that was adapted from a PhD candidate from UKM who has translated the Goldberg IPIP into Bahasa Malaysia. The IPIP of 50-item version for the current research was back translated into English to cater MMU students that comprise of not only local but also international students. IPIP is an established public domain questionnaire that has been translated into more than 25 different languages. Students rated the degree to which each of the 50 items were descriptive of themselves on a 5- point Likert-type scale (1 = Very inaccurate, 5 = Very accurate). The personality traits are 3

4 Hawa Binti Rahmat, Rohaidah Binti Mashudi, Maizatul Azila Binti Chee Din, Ramlee Bin Adnan, and Ahmad Bin Zainal Abidin Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Cronbach s alpha for this study was α =.804 3) Internet dependency - The term internet dependency was used rather than internet addiction based on non-clinical study of the research paper. The questionnaire on the internet dependency was developed based on literature reviews. Cronbach s alpha for this study was α =.691. By convention, internal consistency (α) should be.70 or higher. However, according to Peter (1979), the alpha (α) of.60 and higher is considered good reliability. Data analyses were based on SPSS. III. RESULTS Firstly, the findings using Pearson correlation indicated that the big five personality traits were significantly correlated with nature of internet usage except for the relationship between neuroticism and general knowledge (r=.043). The results are shown in table 1. TABLE I CORRELATION RESULTS BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND NATURE OF INTERNET USE Secondly, the results indicated that the big five personality traits were significantly associated with internet dependency as shown in table 2. TABLE 2 CORRELATION RESULTS BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND INTERNET DEPENDENCY Finally, independent t-test indicated (t=.093, df 775, p <.05), which means there is no significant difference between gender and the internet usage. IV. DISCUSSIONS The present study confirmed the previous studies on personality differences and nature of internet use (Tosun and Lajunen, 2010; Abdul Karim, Ahmad Zamzuri, Muhammad Nor, 2009; Amichai-Hamburger and Ben- Artzi, 2003; Teng, 2008; Landers and Lounsbury, 2006; Young and Robert, 1998) even though by using different approach of personality test. Moreover, different types of personality were associated with the variability in the preferences on nature of internet use. Nevertheless, the strength of relationship between is considered weak relationship (Cohen, 1992). Most probably it is due to the demand of MMU on ICT compliance in teaching and learning that makes internet surfing as part and parcel of their life as students in MMU, but still intact, regardless of different personality traits. Finally, the result revealed that male and female students did not differ in terms of their dependency on the internet. This finding is supported by Rahmat (2004), whereby there was no significant difference between gender on internet usage and internet dependency among Malaysian adolescent. Perhaps because of MMU s multimedia in nature, therefore, the students utilise internet in their studies frequently, regardless of their gender differences. Special Issue of the International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management, Vol. 19 No. SP2, February,

5 Personality and Nature of Internet Use among MMU Students V. CONCLUSIONS Nowadays, many people prefer to commute and communicate via online for its conveniences and cost savvy. Hence, generally the present research may contribute to the existing body of knowledge in the field of elearning. Specially, it may assist the university management on enhancing capacity building for students and make use of their preferences on nature of internet use to develop more creative ways in teaching and learning. Future research may also replicate this study among the academicians or nonstudents sample as the respondents. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wishes to acknowledge Research Management Centre (RMC) of MMU that had granted the Special Funding for Social Science Research (SFSCR) grant in completing this research. REFERENCES [1] Abdul Karim, N. S., Ahmad Zamzuri, N. H., & Muhammad Nor, Y. (2009). Exploring the relationship between Internet ethics in university students and the big five model of personality. Computers & Education, 53(1), [2] Amichai-Hamburger, Y. & Ben-Artzi, E. (2003). Loneliness and internet use. Computers in Human Behavior. 19(1), [3] Anderson, K. J. (2001). Internet use among college students: An exploratory study. Journal of American College Health, 50 (1), 21. [4] Azhar, M. (2003, June). Everyone needs a hobby, no? Jaring Internet Magazine, p [5] Boudette, L. (1997). Europe s women staying on the cyber sidelines. The Zone News Channel (ZDNN). Retrieved August, 2010, from World Wide Web: [6] Ching-I Teng. (2008). Personality Differences between Online Game Players and Nonplayers in a Student Sample. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 11(2), [7] Cohen, J (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112 (1), [8] Funder, D. C. (1991). Global Traits: A Neo - Allportian Approach to Personality Psychological Science January : [9] Gackenbach, J. (Ed.). (1998). Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal Implications. San Diego: Academic Press. [10] Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., &Gough, H. G. (2006). The international personality item pool and the future of public domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality 40 (2006) [11] Martin, J. M. (1998). Males, females, and the Internet. In Gackenbach, J. (Ed.).Psychology, and the internet: Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal implications (pp ). San Diego: Academic Press. [12] McKenna, K. Y. A and Bargh, J. A. (2000). Plan 9 from cyberspace: The implications of the Internet for personality and social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4(1), [13] Nightingale, L. V. (2002). Counseling center warns about dangers of internet obsession. Retrieved September, 2011, from World Wide Web: /free/internet.html. [14] Peter, J. P. (1979). Reliability: A review of psychometric basics and recent marketing practices. Journal of Marketing Research. 16 (1), 6-17 [15] Rahmat, H. (2004). Internet addiction, locus of control, and social isolation among Malaysian adolescents. Unpublished thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Human Sciences in Clinical and Counseling Psychology, International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM). [16] Richard N. Landers, & John W. Lounsbury. (2006)..An investigation of Big Five and narrow personality traits in relation to Internet usage. Computers in Human Behaviour, 22 (2), [17] Tosun, L. P. & Lajunen, T. (2010) Does Internet use reflect your personality? Relationship between Eysenck s personality dimensions and Internet use. Computers in Human Behaviour, 26 (2), [18] Young, K. S. & Robert, C. R. (1998). The relationship between depression and internet addiction. Cyber Psychology and Behavior. 1(1), [19] Young, K. S. (1998). Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder Cyber. Psychology & Behavior. 1(3),