Influence of gender and career interest on African university students’ perceived difficult concepts in the study of public administration

Abstract

There have been few studies on topic difficulty in the public administration curriculum of African universities. This is further problematized by non-existent literature on the relationships between gender, future career interest and country of study on student difficulty in the study of public administration. This is a gap in the public administration literature which this study attempts to fill. The work is significant to the extent that our understanding of ‘where the shirt tights’ regarding topics that students find difficult will guide teachers and other stakeholders in applying appropriate remedies. The purpose of the study is to find out (a) what topics in public administration students find difficult to learn; (b) if there are statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities; (c) if there are statistically significant relationship between student’s career interest and concept difficulty in the study of public administration; and (d) if there are statistically significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration. Quantitative method was employed with sample (N = 650). The study reports bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics as moderately difficult; significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty; and significant relationship between student future career interest and concept difficulty. We suggest curriculum development that would improve students’ knowledge by laying more emphasis on the perceived difficult areas in the study of public administration, gender, and encourage early students’ interest in public sector career choices.

Keywords

Public administration difficult concepts African universities career interest country of study

Introduction

The growth of the literature on topic difficulties within the last two decades has indexed an increase in students’ aversion towards key concepts (Okebukola and Jegede, 1989). The literature on student difficulty in the study of public administration in Africa is scant; yet students studying public administration eventually become the human resource base of Africa’s public and private sectors. This necessitates studies on variables that are likely to influence student difficulties in the study of public administration. Largely dominant in the sciences, many studies have investigated the influence of gender, career interest and country of origin on difficulty in the study of various subjects. These studies are lacking in the areas of public administration and worth replicating.

At different stages of developments of different countries in Africa, the training in public administration has changed to meet the changing needs of the country. For instance, public sector reform has hardly been off the governmental agenda of Western countries, albeit the old craft skills of traditional public administration remain of utmost importance (Rhodes, 2016). The subsequent phases of reforms need to improve the traditional craft skills with the understanding that the question does not remain at traditional skills or new skills of New Public Management or New Public Governance but what works, of what skills fit in a particular context (Rhodes, 2016).

Despite these opinions, most reforms on public sector efficiency and public administration do not take into consideration the ability of students to grasp these traditional skills and to ensure public service efficiency. However, many reforms in other sectors and subjects have taken into consideration the influencing factors relating to student understanding in the given areas (see Ardies et al., 2015; and Ebenuwa-Okoh’s, 2010). Further, most of these studies in other areas have considered the relationships between student gender, career interest and country of study in relation to concept difficulties. These studies are worth replicating in the area of public administration to establish the relationships (if any) between these variables and student difficulties. While this investigation is necessary, there is need to identify what constitutes difficulty in the study of a concept, topic or subject.

Perception is one of the mental processes or skills human beings engage in (Agogo and Onda, 2014). It is a cognitive activity in learning which is seen as the process of making sense out of something (Agogo and Ondo, 2014) assert that learners’ perception is often affected by factors such as interest, motivation, attention, self-concept as well as thinking and creativity. In line with these, Agogo and Onda (2014) suggests that what may be difficult to one may be easy to another because the concepts of easiness or difficulty differ. Irrespective of the situation, concept difficulty affects students’ performance in such a subject; public administration not an exception.

While attempts have been considered on perceptions, some authors have directly attempted defining the concept of difficulty. Michael (2007) defines hard or difficulty as requiring a disproportionate effort to achieve a goal. He further emphasized that this definition relates more to how students and teachers view the word. Difficult concepts are concepts that are difficult to teach and difficult to learn (Ivowi, 1999).

Buah and Akuffo (2017) identified that some of the factors that made some topics difficult include the lack of practical teaching and the overload of the curriculum. In a number of cases, the difficulty of a subject, concept or topic is dependent on the ability of the average student to understand the said topic. Many students usually will find topics difficult or hard to learn depending on different factors; including phobia of public administration, fears, apathy and wrong perception.

From experiences of the researchers, student difficulty in understanding public administration may arise out of not making time to learn, preconceived biases of the subject difficulty and large classroom sizes making it difficult for students to gain the appropriate attention from lecturers to concepts they do not understand.

Understanding of concepts usually are contingent on a relationships of some factors or their influences on the given topic (see Crosser’s, 1991; Ebenwura-Okoh’s, 2010). For instance, Ebenwura-Okoh’s (2010) reports that there is no significant difference between male and female respondents in their academic performance. His study concludes that being male or female is not a significant predictor of academic performance as a result of concept difficulties with subject areas. Similarly, Crosser’s (1991) found a statistically significant difference in composite test battery scores favouring both older males and older females. Besides, older males scored significantly higher than younger males did in total reading sub scores. While these pertain in the sciences, the relations between gender and difficulty in the study of public administration is unknown.

In relations to career interest, a study by Ardies et al. (2015) report that second grade students show an increased interest in technology and larger career aspirations than their peers in the first grade and they become less anxious about technology. They develop a more positive perception of the consequences of technology. They note that, all differences are significant. This finding further shows the significant relations between students’ career interest and grades of students. As much as the findings is reflective in the sciences, there is need to find out what the situation is, in public administration since no such finding seem to exist in the public administration literature.

This study will investigate student difficulties in understanding 10 topics in the public administration syllabus in African universities. In most African universities, the syllabus for public administration at the undergraduate levels usually with some exceptions entails politics, bureaucracy (definitions, history, features, advantages and disadvantages), public policy (definitions, types, benefits), decentralization (definitions, types, features, advantages and disadvantages), governance (definitions, principles), public personnel administration (definitions, training and development, compensation), Corruption (definitions, forms, consequences), Arms of Government(legislature, executive and judiciary), ethics(code of conducts, conflict of interests, ethical dilemmas), and defining public administration (definition-managerial, occupational, legal and political). These topics have been selected for investigation on the basis that, they are usually on the public administration syllabus in African universities.

The gap

Research on student difficulties in the study of public administration in Africa is scant especially in the area of gender, future career interest, country of origin and their influences on student difficulty in the study of public administration. Yet in the scant studies that have investigated difficulties in the study of public administration, no attempts are made at investigating the relationships between gender, future career expectations and country of study. This gap in literature calls for a study to create new knowledge in the field of public administration on how these variables affect student difficulties in the study of public administration.

Purpose of the study and research questions

This study had four main purposes – find out (a) the level of difficulty of various concepts in the study of public administration in African universities; (b) find out if there are statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities (c) find out if there are statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities and (d) find out if there are statistically significant relationship between country of origin and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities

The questions which the study sought answers to were:

What topics in public administration do students find difficult to learn?

Are there statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities?

Are there statistically significant relationship between student’s career interest and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities?

Are there statistically significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities?

Theoretical underpinnings

Piaget’s theory of cognitive constructivism have been found suitable for this study

Piaget’s cognitive constructivist theory, propounded in 1973 proposed that children progress through a sequence of four stages. These stages are assumed to reflect qualitative differences in children’s cognitive abilities. He emphasized the holistic approach to learning – a child constructs understanding through exploring and experiencing his or her environment. Later in (1985) Piaget’s theory was expanded to explain how new information is shaped to fit with the learners existing knowledge, and how existing knowledge is modified to accommodate new information. Key elements in the cognitive process are assimilation which occurs when a learner perceives new objects or events in terms of existing schedules or operations; accommodation which occurs when an existing scheme or operation has been modified to account for a new experience; equilibration which is the master developmental process, encompassing both assimilation and accommodation.

Piagets theory particularly relates to country (environment) as a variable stemming from his exposition that that a child constructs understanding through exploring and experiencing his or her environment.

What pertains in literature

Although scant literature exist on the relationships between gender, future career interest and country of study on student difficulty in the study of public administration, literature abound in other areas on the relationships between these variables and subject difficulties. This section borrows from such knowledge to establish the conceptual basis of this study.

In relation to the gender of students, the work of Bishu et al. (2019) argue that, because organizations employ gendered structures and processes, it is incumbent on faculty to teach students not just about organizational architecture, but also how to identify the architectural elements that differentially influence women and men. Tekkaya et al. (2001) in a study to identify contents in biology considered difficult for Turkish students to absorb and whether sexual category differences influence students’ perceptions found significant difference in perception by gender using 368 high school students; 184 boys, and 184 girls.

Further results from a study by Donnelly et al. (2012) investigating the existence and degree of gender disparity in various types of formative and summative assessment in a first year undergraduate physics course at the University of Edinburgh found that male students are significantly outperforming female students on conceptual understanding diagnostic tests taken at the point of entry to university and that this performance gender gap persists after a semester of teaching. They further assert that, female students outperform males on continually assessed work, while for end-of-course examinations the picture is less clear. There is no significant gender dependence on average learning gains seen during peer instruction episodes in lectures, though individual question pairs can display marked gender differences.

Also, a study by Petiprin and Johnson (1991) revealed significant gender and attributional style differences, with men and subjects with self-serving attributional styles scoring higher on the criterion than women or subjects with self-derogating attributional styles. A statistically significant three-way interaction indicated that the effects of item difficulty on subsequent performance were dependent on each subject’s attributional style and gender. On the other hand, the works of Agogo and Onda (2014) examined students’ difficulty in senior secondary school chemistry in Benue State. They found no significant difference between male and female chemistry students in their perceived difficulties.

In a study of student interests, Renninger and Hidi (2002) suggested that there are different types of interest and achievement relations depending on the type of interest a student holds for subject content. However, students can be supported to develop interest and work with subject content for which they initially have a less-developed interest. Kunter et al. (2007) found that students’ perceptions of rule clarity and teacher monitoring are positively related to their interest in mathematics. Further, Marsh and Cooper (1981) found that students’ prior subject interest in a course showed similar correlations with student ratings of instructional effectiveness in two university settings. In addition, although these correlations were not high, prior subject interest predicted student ratings better than any of 15 other student/course/instructor characteristics considered (e.g., expected grade, class size, workload/difficulty, teacher rank).

Similarly, the works of Kalaf-Hughes (2019) argued that in the case of large, general education courses, student interaction with course material may be predicated on their interest in the subject matter. The study added that students with low interest in American government report greater interaction and engagement with the free, online text than their colleagues using a traditional commercial text. The study further found that students reporting a high interest in the American government engage with a traditional text at a greater rate than an open text.

Furthermore, Hazari et al. (2017) on the effect of peers’ interest in high school biology, chemistry, and physics classes on students’ STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) related career intentions and course achievement found that students who experience such an interest quorum are more likely to choose STEM careers. They further found smaller positive effects of interest quorums for course performance in some cases, with no detrimental effects observed across the study.

With respect to studying environments which can be related to students country of study, Tosto et al. (2016) found that classroom environment do no correlate with mathematics achievement once intrapersonal factors and alternative test performance were included in the model, but was associated with subject interest and academic self-concept. Perceptions of classroom environment may exercise an indirect influence on achievement by boosting interest and self-concept. Mehmood (2018) on identifying the cause for poor performance of adult English as foreign language (EFL) learners in Saudi Arabia. Using the major causes behind learners’ failure to be affective filters, the study found that EFL learners in Saudi Arabia raise affective filters, and that a change in classroom environment helps learners lower their affective filters.

Methodology

A quantitative design was adopted to collect data for this study. In doing so, the Difficult Concept in Public Administration Questionnaire (DCPAQ) was designed and administered.

Participants

Two West African countries, Ghana and Nigeria were selected for the study. This was based on two considerations. Both countries are anglophone hence comparable in terms of language to investigate the primary goal of the study – topics/concepts that students find difficult to learn. It would have been a weakness of the study if countries selected did not use the same language in the delivery of public administration syllabus for African universities.

Secondly, of the countries operating the public administration syllabus in West Africa, Ghana and Nigeria inherited the public sector from the same colonial master (Britain) thus showing similarities in their perspectives of public administration. This provides some guarantee that the sample of the study from both countries will reduce the possibility of committing type 1 error.

Participants in this study were 650 public administration students from four public and one private university in Nigeria and Ghana; from an initial administration of 900 questionnaire. The universities were selected on one criterion; that a university should have taught public administration as a course or programme for 10 years. All five universities met the criterion.

Instrumentation and data collection

The DCIPAQ was used to collect quantitative data for the study. It had five sections. Section A collected demographic data. Section B had 10 selected topics drawn from the public administration syllabus by all universities in Nigeria and Ghana. The section had a three-point rating scale of very difficult, moderately difficult and not difficult. Section C sought to know from the respondents, the factors influencing their perception of difficulty of the topics. This section had a listing of reasons for the difficulties, derived from a pilot study and placed on a four-point rating scale of: strongly agree (SA), agree (A), disagree (D) and strongly disagree (SD). Section E sought students’ suggestions for improvement on studying public administration.

Validation of DCIPAQ was conducted by a team of 15 experts in public administration and education studies. Upon endorsement of validity, the test-retest reliability coefficient of the instrument after 2 weeks of administration among 50 participants from the University of Professional Studies – Accra showed an acceptable coefficient (r = .87).

Procedure

After seeking permission from school authorities to conduct the study (university administration in some cases and lecturers in others) the research team ensured a friendly atmosphere wherein the respondents felt relaxed and ready to participate (this was achieved with the help of the universities public administration lecturers). Information which were not readily available to the respondents (such as teacher’s qualification and years of experience) were provided on a general note. The last stage of the quantitative data gathering exercise was to ensure that all participants signed the attestation statement on the questionnaire which expressed freedom of participation and willingness to do so under the authority of the university.

Ethical considerations

The current study was subject to specific ethical considerations. All participants reported their written willingness regarding their participation in the research through a signed consent on the questionnaire. Also, consents of the universities were sort either through the administration or the subject lecturer before questionnaires were administered. The aim of both processes was to reassure participants and university authorities that their participation in the research is voluntary and that they were free to withdraw from it at any point and for any reason.

Also, participants were fully informed of the objectives of the study, while they were assured that their responses were treated as confidential and used only for research purposes. Apart from the above, respondents were not harmed or abused; physically or psychologically, during the research.

Data analysis and findings

IBM-SPSS Version 23 was used to analyse the data generated from the questionnaires. After the initial raw analysis of the three-point scale of not difficult, moderately difficult. In the data coding process, not difficult was scored 1, moderately difficult = 2, very difficult = 3. For each respondent, it was then possible to get a difficulty score which ranged between 1 and 3.

Findings

The first research question in the study is: What topics in public administration do students find difficult to learn? University students surveyed indicated their level of difficulty in studying public administration on a three-point scale of very difficult, moderately difficult and not difficult (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Level of difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities.

Variable	Scale	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Bureaucracy	Not difficult	204	31.4
	Moderately difficult	367	56.5
	Very difficult	79	12.2
	Total	650	100.0
Ethics	Not difficult	410	63.1
	Moderately difficult	207	31.8
	Very difficult	33	5.1
	Total	650	100.0
Corruption	Not difficult	400	61.5
	Moderately difficult	179	27.5
	Very difficult	71	10.9
	Total	650	100.0
Arms of Government	Not difficult	376	57.8
	Moderately difficult	233	35.8
	Very difficult	41	6.3
	Total	650	100.0
Governance	Not difficult	307	47.2
	Moderately difficult	281	43.2
	Very difficult	62	9.5
	Total	650	100.0
Decentralization	Not difficult	245	37.7
	Moderately difficult	326	50.2
	Very difficult	79	12.2
	Total	650	100.0
Public Policy	Not difficult	239	36.8
	Moderately difficult	322	49.5
	Very difficult	89	13.7
	Total	650	100.0
Politics	Not difficult	211	32.5
	Moderately difficult	336	51.7
	Very difficult	103	15.8
	Total	650	100.0
Public Personnel Administration	Not difficult	332	51.1
	Moderately difficult	260	40.0
	Very difficult	58	8.9
	Total	650	100.0
Defining Public Administration	Not difficult	440	67.7
	Moderately difficult	169	26.0
	Very difficult	41	6.3
	Total	650	100.0

Table 1 presents different levels of difficulties by students of the 10 concepts in the study of public administration in Africa using frequencies and percentages. The table reveals that out of the 650 respondents, 204 respondents representing 31.4% viewed bureaucracy as not difficult, 367 respondents representing 56.5% perceived it to be moderately difficult while 79 respondents representing 12.2% perceived the study of bureaucracy to be very difficult. This implies that majority (56.5%) of the respondents perceived the study of bureaucracy to be moderately difficult. Also, on the study of ethics, 410 students representing 63.1% viewed it as not difficult, 207 representing 31.8% perceived it as moderately difficult while 33students representing 5.1% perceived it to be very difficult. This implies that majority (63.1%) of the respondents perceived the study of ethics as not difficult.

Table further indicates that 400 respondents representing 61.5% viewed the study of corruption not to be difficult, 179 respondents representing 27.5% perceived it to moderately difficult while 71 respondents representing 10.9% perceived it to be very difficult. This implies that majority (61.5%) of the respondents viewed the study of corruption as not difficult. Similarly, on the study of arms of government, out of the 650 respondents, 376 respondents representing 57.8% viewed the study of arms of government as not difficult, 233 respondents representing 35.8% perceived it as moderately difficult while 41 respondents representing 6.3% perceived it to be very difficult. This implies that majority (57.8%) of the respondents perceived the study of arms of government not to be difficult.

In addition, out of the 650 respondents, 307 respondents representing 47.2% viewed the study of governance not to be difficult, 281 respondents representing 43.2% perceived it as moderately difficult while 62 respondents representing 9.5% perceived it to be very difficult. This indicates that majority (47.2%) of the respondents perceived the study of governance not to be difficult. Besides, on the study of decentralization, 245 representing 37.7% perceived it as not difficult, 326 representing 50.2% perceived it as moderately difficult while 79 representing 12.2% perceived it as very difficult. This implies that majority (50.2%) of the respondents perceived the study of decentralization to be moderately difficult.

Similarly, out of the 650 respondents, 239 respondents representing 36.8% perceived the study of public policy not to be difficult, 322 respondents representing 49.5% perceived it as moderately difficult while 89 respondents representing 13.7% perceived it to be very difficult. This indicates that majority (49.5%) of the respondents perceived the study of public policy to be moderately difficult. Also, on the study of politics, 211 representing 32.5% viewed it not to be difficult, 336 representing 51.7% perceived it to moderately difficult while 103 representing 15.8% perceived it to be very difficult. This implies that majority (51.8%) of the respondents perceived the study of politics to be moderately difficult.

Table 1 additionally reveals that out of the 650 respondents, 332 respondents representing 51.1% viewed the study of public personnel administration not to be difficult, 260 respondents representing 40.0% perceived it to moderately difficult while 58 respondents representing 8.9% perceived it to be very difficult. This indicates that majority (51.1%) of the respondents perceived the study of public personnel administration not to be difficult. Finally, on the definition public administration, out of the 650 respondents, 440 representing 67.7% viewed it not to be difficult, 169 representing 26.0% perceived it to moderately difficult while 41 representing 6.3% perceived it to be very difficult. This indicates that majority (67.7%) of the respondents perceived the definition public administration not to be difficult.

Although none of the concepts observed were perceived as very difficult, majority of the respondents perceived the study of bureaucracy (56.5%), decentralization (50.2%), public policy (49.5%) and politics (51.8%) to be moderately difficult. The study however, reported the following concepts as not difficult; corruption (61.5%), ethics (63.1%), arms of government (57.8%), governance (47.2%), public personnel administration (51.1%) and definition public administration (67.7%).

The current study reveals that the concepts or topics bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics are difficult to study in African universities although the difficulty is moderate. However, the study of corruption, ethics, and arms of government, governance, public personnel administration and definition of public administration is not difficult to study in African universities.

Research question two (2) addresses the statistical significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities (see Table 2).

Table 2.

Pearson correlation on the relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities.

		Gender	Concept Difficulty
Gender	Pearson Correlation	1	−.095*
	Sig. (two-tailed)		.015
	N	650	650
Concept Difficulty	Pearson Correlation	−.095*	1
	Sig. (two-tailed)	.015
	N	650	650
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed).

Table 2 reveals a significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty at p-value = 0.015 given the significance level of P < 0.05. The correlation coefficient of −.095 shows that the strength of the relationship is weak. The correlation coefficient further indicates a negative relationship between gender and concept difficulty. This implies a change in student’s gender translates into a decrease in concept difficulty in the study of public administration.

The current findings implies that, the difficulties in the study of public administration in African universities has relations to the gender of students although the relation is low or weak. However, a concept that is perceived to be difficult by male students may not be difficult by female students and vice versa. For instance concepts such as politics and bureaucracy which may be considered moderately difficult by female students will not be considered difficult by male students in the study of public administration in African universities.

Research objective three (3) addresses the statistical significant relationship between career interest and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities (see Table 3).

Table 3.

Pearson correlation on the relationship between interested career and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities.

		Interested Career	Concept Difficulty
Interested Career	Pearson Correlation	1	.089*
	Sig. (two-tailed)		.024
	N	650	650
Concept Difficulty	Pearson Correlation	.089*	1
	Sig. (two-tailed)	.024
	N	650	650
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed).

Table 3 found a significant relationship between interested career and concept difficulty at p-value = 0.024 given the significance level of P < 0.05. The correlation coefficient of .089 shows that the strength of the relationship is slight or weak. The correlation coefficient further indicated a positive relationship between interested career and concept difficulty. This implies that a change in student’s interested career translates into an increase in concept difficulty in the study of public administration.

This finding indicates that, concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities have relations with the career interest of students. Hence the concept difficulty levels of African university students will slightly increase when their interested career in public administration changes.

Therefore, a student in any African university with intense focus on public administration future career will increase their understanding of concepts in public administration and vice versa. For instance, a student with a future career intention of working in the public office of a country will turn to understand the study of bureaucracy and public policy more than a student without the career interest in such a job.

Research question four (4) sought to establish the relationship between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities (see Table 4).

Table 4.

Pearson correlation on the relationship between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities.

		Country of study	Concept Difficulty
Country of study	Pearson Correlation	1	−.061
	Sig. (two-tailed)		.122
	N	650	650
Concept Difficulty	Pearson Correlation	−.061	1
	Sig. (two-tailed)	.122
	N	650	650

Table 4 reveals no significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty at p-value = .122 given the significance level of P < 0.05. The correlation coefficient of −.061 shows that the strength of the relationship is slight or weak. The correlation coefficient further indicated a negative relationship between country of study and concept difficulty. This implies that a change in student’s country of study translates into a decrease in concept difficulty in the study of public administration.

This current finding indicates that the location of an African university whether in Ghana or Nigeria has no relation on student’s difficulties in the study of public administration. Hence a student understanding of any concept in the study of public administration in any African university will not be influence by the location of the university.

Discussion of results

The current study investigated concepts in public administration that are perceived difficult by African university students. The study found that although none of the concepts observed were perceived as very difficult, majority of the respondents perceived the study of bureaucracy (56.5%), decentralization (50.2%), public policy (49.5%) and politics (51.8%) to be moderately difficult. The study however, reported the following concepts not to be difficult; corruption (61.5%), ethics (63.1%), arms of government (57.8%), governance (47.2%), public personnel administration (51.1%) and definition public administration (67.7%).

These moderate difficulties in the study of bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics may be as a result of lack of prior background, the natural fear of the course or the non-practical nature of teaching public administration concepts such as bureaucracy in African university settings.

Although scant previous literature on public administration exists to back these claims, there is ample evidence pointing to lack of practical knowledge undermining student understanding of bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics (see Awaah, 2020) while Buah and Akuffo (2017) identified the lack of practical teaching and the overload of the curriculum as factors that may impede student understanding of any subject. Other factors identified by, Ortese et al. (2010) are interest, motivation, attention, self-concept as well as thinking and creativity.

Ideally, students should have first-hand experiences of how bureaucratic environs work, by practicing these through internships and apprenticeships in public sector organizations. The limited opportunities for these slots may account for the difficulties in understanding the concepts. Students are expected to understand the features, theorists and theories, advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy in the PA curriculum. However, these are taught in abstract and may hinder student understanding.

We found a statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty at p-value = 0.015 given the significance level of P < 0.05. The correlation coefficient of −.095 shows that the strength of the relationship is weak. The correlation coefficient further indicated a negative relationship between gender and concept difficulty.

The findings implies that the difficulties in the study of public administration in African universities has relations to the gender of students although the relation is low or weak. However, a concept that is perceived to be difficult by male students may not be difficult by female students and vice versa. The works of Agogo and Onda (2014) simplified this notion by stating that what may be difficult to one may be easy to another.

The work of Bishu et al. (2019) is further instructive in this instance. They argue that, because organizations employ gendered structures and processes, it is incumbent on faculty to teach students not just about organizational architecture, but also how to identify the architectural elements that differentially influence women and men. Their observation gives further credence to agree that, gender is a critical factor in the way students conceive ideas, process such and reproduce or analyse when the need arises. Female difficulty in the understanding of concept in public administration such as decentralization may not just be a product of the student but also, the architecture elements (including teaching) that differentially influence females and males in their learning.

This finding on gender is consistent with the works of Tekkaya et al. (2001), Donnelly et al. (2012) and Petiprin and Johnson (1991). The Tekkaya et al. (2001) study was conducted to identify contents in biology considered difficult for Turkish students to absorb and whether sexual category differences influence students’ perceptions. A total of 368 high school students, 184 boys, and 184 girls participated in the study. The t-test result showed a significant difference in perception by gender.

Their study finds relevance to our study since similar findings are reported. The variation may be as a result of the sample size – 368 for their study and 650 for this study. A relevant factor that might have influenced the little variation may also be location, since their study is conducted in Europe and this research in Africa. It is worth reporting that, the minor variation may also be as a result of the differences in the subject areas – biology and public administration.

Similar results from a study by Donnelly et al. (2012) investigating the existence and degree of gender disparity in various types of formative and summative assessment in a first year undergraduate physics course at the University of Edinburgh finds that male students are significantly outperforming female students on conceptual understanding diagnostic tests taken at the point of entry to university and that this performance gender gap persists after a semester of teaching. They further assert that, female students outperform males on continually assessed work, while for end-of-course examinations the picture is less clear. No significant gender dependence on average learning gains were found during peer Instruction episodes in lectures, though individual question pairs can display marked gender differences.

Their findings on continual assessment skewing positively towards female is reflective of researcher observations in most Africa universities. Usually, females tend to be meticulous and are keen at adhering to regulations pertaining to class assignments and other related academic exercise that constitute the grading for interim assessments or mid semester examinations. It turns up not so for male students who usually are keen at placing their strengths at doing very well in the end of semester examinations.

Also, the Petiprin and Johnson (1991) study revealed significant gender and attributional style differences, with men and subjects with self-serving attributional styles scoring higher on the criterion than women or subjects with self-derogating attributional styles. A statistically significant three-way interaction indicated that the effects of item difficulty on subsequent performance were dependent on each subject’s attributional style and gender.

However, the works of Agboghoroma and Oyovwi (2015) and Agogo and Onda (2014) contradicts the current finding that there is a statistically significant relationship between gender and concepts difficulties. The Agboghoroma and Oyovwi (2015) study appraised the influence of students’ academic achievement on identified difficult concepts in Senior Secondary School biology in Delta State Nigeria. The findings of the study indicated no effects of gender and school location on difficult concepts in biology.

Similarly, Agogo and Onda (2014) examined students’ difficulty in senior secondary school chemistry in Benue State. The study found no significant difference between male and female chemistry students in their perceived difficulties. The differential significance levels by gender may be reflective of student prior exposure to the concepts found difficult. If students have had the previous encounter with concepts either by the study in a junior class, internship, engagements with the public or civil service, that is likely to influence their understanding of given concepts. However, if students have no previous encounter with concepts in class, internship or by engagement in the public or civil service, tendencies are that such students will find the concepts difficult to understand. This may account for the differential relationships between males and females in the study difficulty of different concepts in public administration.

We found a statistically significant relationship between interested career and concept difficulty at p-value = 0.024 given the significance level of P < 0.05. The correlation coefficient of .089 shows that the strength of the relationship is weak. The correlation coefficient further indicated a positive relationship between interested career and concept difficulty.

This finding indicates that a concept difficulty in the study of public administration in an African university has relations with the career interest of the student. Hence the concept difficulty levels of African university students will slightly increase when their interested career in public administration changes. However, the works of Renninger and Hidi (2002) suggested that there are different types of interest and achievement relations depending on the type of interest a student holds for subject content. Hence a students can be supported to develop interest and work with subject content for which they initially have a less-developed interest. In Ardies et al. (2015) study, they report that second grade, students show an increased interest in technology and larger career aspirations than their peers in the first grade and they become less anxious about technology. They develop a more positive perception of the consequences of technology. They note that all differences are significant.

Similarly, Marsh and Cooper (1981) found that students’ prior subject interest in a course showed similar correlations with student ratings of instructional effectiveness in two university settings. In addition, although these correlations were not high, prior subject interest predicted student ratings better than any of 15 other student/course/instructor characteristics considered (e.g., Expected Grade, Class Size, Workload/Difficulty, Teacher Rank). Kunter et al. (2007) found that students’ perceptions of rule clarity and teacher monitoring are positively related to their interest in mathematics.

In addition, Hazari et al. (2017) on the effect of peers’ interest in high school biology, chemistry, and physics classes on students’ STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) related career intentions and course achievement found that students who experience such an interest quorum are more likely to choose STEM careers. They further found smaller positive effects of interest quorums for course performance in some cases, with no detrimental effects observed across the study.

We found no statistically significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty at p-value = .122 given the significance level of P < 0.05.

This findings implies that the location of a student in any African university whether in Ghana or Nigeria has no bearing on his or her difficulties in the study of public administration. Hence a student’s understanding of any concept in the study of public administration in any African university will not be influence by the location of the university.

This depicts that other factors may account for the moderate difficulties in the study of some concepts in public administration in African universities. Factors worth identifying is culture, class size, teaching methods and systems of government as it reflect environment as espoused in Piagets theory; the holistic approach to learning – a child constructs understanding through exploring and experiencing his or her environment.

The works of Tosto et al. (2016) and Mehmood (2018) contradicts the currents findings that no statistically significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty.

Tosto et al. (2016) found that Classroom environment do no correlate with mathematics achievement once intrapersonal factors and alternative test performance were included in the model, but was associated with subject interest and academic self-concept. They further argued that perceptions of classroom environment may exercise an indirect influence on achievement by boosting interest and self-concept. Mehmood (2018) on identifying the cause for poor performance of adult English as foreign language (EFL) learners in Saudi Arabia. Using the major causes behind learners’ failure to be affective filters, the study found that EFL learners in Saudi Arabia raise affective filters, and that a change in classroom environment helps learners lower their affective filters.

Summary, conclusion, and recommendations

This quantitative survey investigated the topics in public administration that students find difficult to learn and the relationships between gender, future career choices and country of study in students’ perceived difficulty in the study of public administration using 650 university students in Ghana and Nigeria. Analysis of quantitative data from the difficulty in public administration questionnaire showed that bureaucracy (56.5%), decentralization (50.2%), public policy (49.5%) and politics (51.8%) are perceived as moderately difficult, Furthermore a statistically significant relationship was found between (a) gender, (b) interested career and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities at a significant level of p < 0.05. No statistically significant relationship was found between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities at a significant level of p < 0.05.

Based on the data from the study, we offer the following recommendations as a way of bolstering the understanding of students in the study of concepts in public administration.

Based on the finding that some concepts are moderately difficult (bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics) it is recommended that African universities as matters of policies ensure practical teaching of public administration to include site visits, attachments, visiting practitioners as lecturers, internships for students at the public and civil service to enable student have better grasp of bureaucracy, decentralization, public policies and politics.

Further, we recommend a gender sensitive teaching model that takes into account both male and female sensitivity to public administration concepts such as bureaucracy, politics, public policies and decentralization to minimize the effects of the significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty.

Students should be encouraged to pick up earlier career interest in public administration. This will foster their understanding of concepts since a significant relationship between interested career and concept difficulty was found in this study.

Originality value

Investigating into concepts difficulties seem overly researched in the area of the traditional sciences, especially in lower levels such as basic and secondary education. This study departs from researching the traditional sciences and lower levels of education by venturing into studying concept difficulties from a social science perspective – public administration at the university level. The unique departure from the traditional sciences makes this work original.

Practical implications of this study

The following implications are associated with this research;

Different factors hinder student understanding of different concepts in public administration, thus there is a need for teachers of public administration to figure out such factors to enhance teaching and learning. Students’ environments are key indicators for their understanding of concepts.

Depending on the country in question, teachers of public administration should ensure teaching methods are in sync with student environs to foster understanding of concepts in public administration. Gender plays a crucial role in student understanding of concepts in public administration.

University teachers must be cognizant of this and tailor teaching in a manner that does not disadvantage a particular gender.

Students need reorientations on public administration so that they do not see it as a male-dominated area. This will need the collective efforts of university authorities and students.

Suggestions for further research

Related areas for further study include:

Establishing relationships between teacher experience and qualification with student difficulty in the study of public administration. This would offer broader insight into the relationships between the variables and Subject difficulties.

There is a need to establish the relationships between university library quality and student understanding of public administration. It will help stakeholders understand if university libraries have relationships with difficulties in the study of public administration.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The researchers would want to appreciate the special assistance of the Professor Okebukola Elite Research Team. We are further grateful to Mr Solomon Yeboah, Ms Dorcas Adomaa Addo and Mr Tetteh Andrew for their insightful contributions.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article was supported by the Okebukola Science Foundation and the Lagos State University chapter of the World Bank Africa Centres of Excellence.

ORCID iDs

Fred Awaah

Peter A Okebukola

Michael Adelani Adewusi

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