ONLINE MARKETING SERVICES AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC EMANCIPATION OF YOUTHS OF THE NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between online marketing services and socio-economic emancipation of youths of  the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between online marketing services and measures of socio-economic emancipation such as self-employment and relative financial stability. The study adopted the Explanatory Cross-Sectional Survey Research Design. The accessible population of the study consisted of 360 youths who are owners and Managers of tech start-ups (businesses that provide data processing/analytics services, online marketing and subscription services) across nine states in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. No further sampling was done. After validation by the supervisors and two other experts in Management, Cronbach alpha was used to test the reliability of the instrument. Out of 360 copies of the questionnaire administered, a total of 315 copies were retrieved. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26.0 was used for the analyses. Mean and standard deviation were used for the univariate analysis; Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient was used for the bivariate analysis, while the multivariate analysis was done using Partial Correlation. Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. It was found that online marketing services are significantly and positively correlated with socio-economic emancipation of youths of Niger Delta in terms of self-employment and relative financial stability. The study concluded that engaging in datapreneurship activities such as online marketing services optimizes socio-economic emancipation of youths of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Among other things, it was recommended that the Government of Nigeria should provide periodic hands-on digital training for Niger Delta youths in order to equip them with prerequisite online marketing skills to harness internet marketing potentials.