Influence of Social Engineering Attacks Awareness on Competence of Business Educators in Securing Research Data in Rivers State Universities

James-Ngochindo Peace Kayii NumbaraBari Emmanuel; PhD

doi:10.56201/ijebm.vol.12.no7.2026.pg295.307

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Influence of Social Engineering Attacks Awareness on Competence of Business Educators in Securing Research Data in Rivers State Universities

James-Ngochindo Peace Kayii NumbaraBari Emmanuel, PhD

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of social engineering attacks awareness on competence of business educators in securing research data in rivers state universities. The study was carried out in Rivers State universities. Three specific objectives were posed, research questions were answered, and corresponding hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted analytic descriptive design. The study's population consisted of 148 Business Educators in Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. There was no sampling, as the entire population was used for the study. The reason was that the population size is manageable. The instrument for data collection was the researchers’ developed questionnaire “Influence of Social Engineering Attacks Awareness on Competence of Business Educators in Securing Research Data (ISEAACBESRD)" designed on a 4-point modified scale. Three experts, two from Business Education and one from Measurement and Evaluation, reviewed the instrument to ensure its content validity, and with a reliability index of 0.78. Findings revealed that both lecturers and students in Rivers State universities generally agree that phishing awareness positively influences their competence in securing research data, with students exhibiting slightly higher than lecturers, and that there is no statistically significant difference between the mean ratings of lecturers and students on the influence of phishing attack awareness on the competence of business educators in securing research data in Rivers State universities, among other findings. Based on the findings, recommendations were made, among others, that beyond awareness, institutions should implement hands-on simulations to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. Key words: Social Engineering Attacks, Phishing, Vishing, Smishing Competence, Research Data

Keywords

Social Engineering AttacksPhishingVishingSmishing CompetenceResearch Data

References

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Influence of Social Engineering Attacks Awareness on Competence of Business Educators in Securing Research Data in Rivers State Universities

Abstract

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