Application of Ethical Practices and Productivity of Lecturers in Rivers State Universities

This study examined how the application of ethical practices relates to the productivity of lecturers in Rivers State Universities, and it was guided by three objectives, three research questions and three null hypotheses. A correlational design was used, and the population covered 2354 lecturers, made up of 1330 in Rivers State University (RSU) and 1024 in Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), from which a sample of 330 lecturers, 240 from RSU and 90 from IAUE, was drawn through non-proportionate sampling. Data were gathered with two researcher-made instruments, the “Application of Ethical Practices Questionnaire (AEPQ)” and the “Productivity of Lecturers Questionnaire (PLQ)”, which three experts in RSU vetted for face and content validity, two of them in Educational Management and one in Measurement and Evaluation. Reliability was checked with Cronbach Alpha, giving overall coefficients of 0.86 for ethical practices and 0.82 for lecturers’ productivity. The research questions were answered with Pearson Product Moment Correlation, while the null hypotheses were tested with t-Transformation at the 0.05 alpha level. Results showed that punctuality, fairness in assessment and discipline, taken as ethical practices, each had a high, positive and significant link with the productivity of lecturers in the two universities. One of the recommendations made was that university administrators should put in place firm rules requiring lecturers to be on time for lectures, meetings and other academic duties so that punctuality becomes part of their daily work.