Digital Communication Literacy, Indigenous Music Documentation, and Cyber Security: Drivers of Cultural Heritage Preservation in Anambra and Imo States, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the influence of digital communication literacy, indigenous music documentation, and cyber security competency on cultural heritage preservation in Anambra and Imo States, Nigeria. The study was anchored on a digital heritage preservation perspective derived from UNESCO’s digital heritage principles and the digital-heritage literature, and in Knowledge Management Theory, particularly the tacit-to-explicit knowledge conversion logic of the SECI model. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. The study involved 418 respondents comprising music educators, archivists/librarians, cultural practitioners, language/Igbo scholars, and undergraduate music students selected from relevant institutions in Anambra and Imo States through a multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected with a structured Digital Preservation, Indigenous Music, and Cybersecurity Questionnaire. The reported internal-consistency coefficients ranged from 0.84 to 0.92. Descriptive statistics were generated with IBM SPSS Statistics Version 29, while binary logistic regression was used to examine the predictive relationships because the reported preservation outcome was dichotomized into effective and ineffective preservation. The reported model was statistically significant, χ²(3)=142.86, p<.001, with Nagelkerke R²=.404 and 81.6% overall classification accuracy. Digital communication literacy significantly predicted effective preservation (OR=2.84, 95% CI [1.96, 4.11], p<.001), as did indigenous music documentation (OR=2.37, 95% CI [1.71, 3.29], p<.001) and cyber security competency (OR=3.18, 95% CI [2.21, 4.56], p<.001). Cyber security competency was the strongest predictor. The study concludes that sustainable digital preservation requires an integrated capability combining human digital skills, systematic documentation, secure information stewardship, and community-sensitive cultural governance.