Assessing the Perception of Nigeria Undergraduates on Services Marketing Model as Tool for Prevention and Control of Crime among Undergraduates

Abstract

This study is necessitated by   the increasing rate of involvement of undergraduates in crime despite measures by tertiary institutions and government   to curb the menace. It is principally aimed at identifying the reasons why undergraduates get involved in crimes, and how services marketing tools can be used to curb the crime menace. Secondary and primary data were utilized, with the latter obtained by administering copies of questionnaire and interview on undergraduates, graduate students and the Chief Security Officers of the selected Universities. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, while all the hypotheses postulated were tested using the multiple linear regression (MLR) model. The major findings include: the main reasons why undergraduates in Nigeria commit crime are; pear  influence, poverty, lack of knowledge of the consequences of crime, high cost of acquiring higher  education services, lack of security within the campuses, fear of unemployment after graduation, and weak parental upbringing; quality of education services offered by the universities contributes to prevention and control of  crime among undergraduates;  messages posted through social media networks can be used  to prevent and control crime among undergraduates;  attitude of staff of the universities contributes to prevention and control of  crime among undergraduates; advertising messages against crime can  prevent and control  crime among undergraduates if done through newspapers, magazines, and radio; public relations and publicity activities by the institutions contribute to prevention and control of  crime among undergraduates. Based on these findings, the study recommends among others that for tertiary institutions to prevent and control crime among undergraduates, they should: render quality services at reduced cost; post the consequences of crime to the social media; encourage staff to act as change agent to undergraduates; promote the consequences of crime through the appropriate advertising media; and implement the recommended public relations and publicity activities. These recommendations are represented in a model as: UCB = F (QES, ASP, SMN, ADM, PRA, and PBA).