Digital Literacy and Academic Achievement in Principles of Marketing among Business Education Students in Public Universities in Southwest Nigeria

The Post – COVID-19 experience hastening the paradigm shift to e-learning has exposed somestructural gaps in many public universities, where limited digital literacy continues to hinderbusiness education students’ academic achievement and practical readiness. This paperinvestigated the influence of Digital Literacy as Determinants of Academic Achievement inPrinciples of Marketing among Business Education Students in Public Universities in Southwest,Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was used. The population of the study was 4607 BusinessEducation Students with a sample of 363 respondents. Two instruments Digital LiteracyQuestionnaire (DLQ) (r = 0.73) and Principles of Marketing Achievement Test (PMAT) (r= 0.82)were used for data collection. Frequencies, Percentages, Means, and Multiple Regression wereused for data analysis. The result showed that there is a moderate level of digital literacy (mean =3.0) and low level of academic achievement in Principle of Marketing (mean = 2.47). Theregression analysis revealed that digital literacy significantly influenced academic achievement (R= 0.522, R2 = 0.272, (1,299) = 111.991, p<0.05). The study concludes there is a gap betweenstudents’ ability to navigate digital tools and their academic achievement, suggesting that digitalliteracy alone may not directly translate to higher academic outcomes without targeted support andacademic engagement strategies. Recommendations included, integration of blended learning thatcombine learning tools with traditional teaching, organization of regular digital literacyworkshops, and establishment of digital literacy clubs or peer mentoring systems.