Toward Digital Citizenship: Examining Factors Affecting Participation and Involvement in the Internet Society among Higher Education Students

The current study aims to understand digital citizenship, based on the assumptions of Ribble (2014), by examining factors affecting participation and involvement in the Internet virtual societies among higher education students. A quantitative approach using a survey questionnaire was implemented. The participants were 174 students from the Faculty of Education at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia. The descriptive statistics show that the students generally have good levels of perceived Internet attitude, computer self-efficacy, and digital citizenship, especially in terms of respecting oneself and others online. The factors affecting digital citizenship are computer experience, daily average technology use, students’ attitudes toward the Internet, and computer self-efficacy. Students with higher levels of computer experience are more involved in activities related to educating oneself and connecting with others online compared with students with less experience. Further, students with higher levels of daily average technology use tend to protect themselves and others online more compared with students with lower levels of technology use. Moreover, higher levels of students’ Internet attitude and computer self-efficacy are associated with higher levels of respect for oneself and others, of educating oneself and others, and of total digital citizenship. Based on the current study findings, appropriate recommendations are proposed in terms of policy and practice.