Abstract

 Digital competence is vital for every graduate to participate successfully and to stay relevant in
today’s fast-paced digital age, therefore, the development of digital competence is seen as a critical part of
university education where students are taught how to use digital skill for day-to-day applicationsand for active
participation in the society. There has been growing interest among researchers across the globe on how to
enhance the digital competence of graduates. This study thus investigated the effect of the social innovation
dimension on the digital competence of university graduates in Nigeria. The population comprised 36,494youth
corps members deployed to serve in six selected states which represented the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
Through a multistage sampling technique, 533 out of the study population were sampled for the study. Five
hundred and thirty-three copies of a validated questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient
ranging from 0.750 to 0.937were administered to the sample. Data were analyzed using multiple linear
regression. Findings revealed that social innovative dimensions had a positive and significant effect on the
digital competence of university graduates in Nigeria (Adj. R
 = 0.264, F(4, 510)= 47.181, p < 0> findings further showed that digital innovation (B = 0.411, t = 8.476, p = 0.001) had positive and significant
effect on the digital competence of university graduates, educational innovation (B = 0.085, t = 1.226, p =
0.221) and agricultural innovation (B = 0.024, t = 0.721, p = 0.471) had positive but insignificant effect on the
digital competence of university graduates, while entrepreneurship education (B = -0.090, t = -1.951, p =
0.052) had negative and insignificant effect on the digital competence of university graduates in Nigerian. The
study, therefore, recommended that higher institutions should provide appropriate digital tools and facilities
through social innovation that will give students access to manage, integrate, evaluate, analyze and synthesize
digital resources for personal and professional needs as well as enhance their employability skills and increases
job opportunities.