Cyberbullying in institutions of higher learning in developing countries: Evidence from Kenya

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to examine the problem of cyberbullying in institutions of higher learning with particular attention to developing countries by looking at its prevalence in one of the universities within Nairobi in Kenya. In this study, we conduct an exploratory study on 396 students to understand the prevalence of cyberbullying. The study findings revealed that the highest form of victimization was through the act of deception in which 75.8% indicated someone had lied to them electronically. On the other hand, the highest form of perpetration of cyberbullying was through malice in which 49.7% indicated that they had sent a rude message to someone electronically. The level of prevalence reported in this study appears slightly high in comparison to majority of the finding from developed countries. Consequently, we submit that it is imperative that educational systems in Africa and other developing countries put frameworks in place to deal with the emerging reality of cyberbullying within institutions of higher learning.