Factors Affecting Students’ Acceptance of e-Learning Environments in Developing Countries:A Structural Equation Modeling Approach (original) (raw)
Related papers
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013
Due to the rapid growth of Internet technology, universities and higher educational institutions around the world are investing heavily in web-based learning systems to support their traditional teaching and to improve their students' learning experience and performance. However, the success of an elearning system depends on the understanding of certain antecedent factors that influence the students' acceptance and usage of such e-learning systems. Previous research indicates that technology acceptance models and theories may not be applicable to all cultures as most of them have been developed in the context of developed countries and particularly in the U.S. So far little research has investigated the important role that social, cultural, organizational and individual factors may play in the use and adoption of the e-learning systems in the context of developing countries and more specifically there is almost absence of this type of research in Lebanon.
This paper examines the social, organisational and individual factors that may affect students' acceptance of e-learning systems in higher education in a cross-cultural context. A questionnaire was developed based on an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). A total sample of 1173 university students from two private universities in Lebanon and one university in England participated in this study. After performing the satisfactory reliability and validity checks, the hypothesised model was estimated using structural equation modeling. The findings of this study revealed that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), social norms (SNs), perceived quality of work life (QWL), computer self-efficacy (SE) and facilitating conditions (FC) are significant determinants of behavioural intentions (BIs) and usage of e-learning system for the Lebanese and British students. QWL, the newly added variable, was found the most important construct in explaining the causal process in the model for both samples. Differences were found between Lebanese and British students with regard to PEOU, SN, QWL, FC, SE and actual usage; however, no differences were detected in terms of PU and BI. Overall, the proposed model achieves acceptable fit and explains for 69% of the British sample and 57% of the Lebanese sample of its variance which is higher than that of the original TAM. Our findings suggest that individual, social and organisational factors are important to consider in explaining students' BI and usage of e-learning environments.
British Journal of Educational Technology, 2014
This paper examines the social, organisational and individual factors that may affect students' acceptance of e-learning systems in higher education in a cross-cultural context. A questionnaire was developed based on an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). A total sample of 1173 university students from two private universities in Lebanon and one university in England participated in this study. After performing the satisfactory reliability and validity checks, the hypothesised model was estimated using structural equation modeling. The findings of this study revealed that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), social norms (SNs), perceived quality of work life (QWL), computer self-efficacy (SE) and facilitating conditions (FC) are significant determinants of behavioural intentions (BIs) and usage of e-learning system for the Lebanese and British students. QWL, the newly added variable, was found the most important construct in explaining the causal process in the model for both samples. Differences were found between Lebanese and British students with regard to PEOU, SN, QWL, FC, SE and actual usage; however, no differences were detected in terms of PU and BI. Overall, the proposed model achieves acceptable fit and explains for 69% of the British sample and 57% of the Lebanese sample of its variance which is higher than that of the original TAM. Our findings suggest that individual, social and organisational factors are important to consider in explaining students' BI and usage of e-learning environments.
2016
Due to the rapid growth of internet technology, universities and higher educational institutions around the world are investing heavily in web-based learning systems to support their traditional teaching and to improve their students' learning experience and performance. However, the success of an elearning system depends on the understanding of certain antecedent factors that influence the students' acceptance and usage of such e-learning systems. Previous research indicates that technology acceptance models and theories may not be applicable to all cultures as most of them have been developed in the context of developed countries and particularly in the U.S. So far little research has investigated the important role that social, cultural, organizational and individual factors may play in the use and adoption of the e-learning systems in the context of developing countries and more specifically there is almost absence of this type of research in Lebanon.
Educational Technology Research and Development, 2017
This study examines the major factors that may hinder or enable the adoption of e-learning systems by university students in developing (Qatar) as well as developed (USA) countries. To this end, we used extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) with Trust as an external variable. By means of an online survey, data were collected from 833 university students from a university in Qatar and another from USA. Structural equation modelling was employed as the main method of analysis in this study. The results show that performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit and trust are significant predictors of behavioural intention (BI) in both samples. However, contrary to our expectation, the relationship between price value and BI is insignificant. Our results also show that effort expectancy and social influence lead to an increase in students' adoption of e-learning systems in developing countries but not in developed countries. Moreover, facilitating conditions increase e-learning adoption in developed countries which is not the case in developing countries. Overall, the proposed model achieves an acceptable fit and explains its variance for 68% of the Qatari sample and 63% of the USA sample. These results and their implications to both theory and practice are described.
Educational Technology Research and Development, 2017
After publication of this article (El-Masri and Tarhini 2017), the editor asked us to provide additional details about this paper including why some of the hypotheses are similar to those of three previously published manuscripts (two papers and one thesis). This report will answer all questions raised related to the theoretical framework and obtained results. The three previous studies (Tarhini et al. 2014; Tarhini et al. 2016a, b; Tarhini et al. 2017) share some of the hypotheses that have been used in this study. However, the model and the context are different. In our previous studies, we employed the technology acceptance model (Davis 1989) with a set of individual differences (age, gender, educational level) as moderators. The proposed model was then tested in the context of developing countries as exemplified by Lebanon. The main objectives of the first study, Tarhini et al. (2014), were to empirically investigate the factors that affect the acceptance and use of e-learning in Lebanon and to investigate the role of a set of individual differences as moderators (age, gender, experience, educational level) in an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The main constructs were perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), subjective norms (SN), and quality of work life (QWL) as well as a set of moderators (age, gender, The online version of the original article can be found under
Modeling Factors Affecting Student's Usage Behaviour of E-Learning Systems in Lebanon
This study seeks to explore the factors that influence students' usage behaviour of e-learning systems. Based on the strong theoretical foundation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and using structural equation modeling (SEM) via AMOS 21.0, this research paper examines the impact of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit, social influence, and trust on student's behavioural intention, which is later examined along with facilitating conditions on student's usage behaviour of e-learning systems. Data was collected from students at two universities in Beirut (capital of Lebanon) using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey between January and March 2015. The results revealed direct positive effect of performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, habit, and trust on student's behavioural intention to use e-learning explaining around 71% of overall behavioural intention. Meanwhile, behavioural intention and facilitating conditions accounted for 40% with strong positive effects on student's usage behviour of e-learning systems. However, both effort expectancy and social influence did not impact student's behavioural intention.
Students' intention to use computer technology: a structural equation modelling analysis
The purpose of this study was to examine college students' intention to use computer technology in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study measured perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), attitude towards computer use (ATCU), and intention to use (ITU). Data collected from 327 college students, attending two institutions of higher learning in the UAE, were utilised to validate the technology acceptance model (TAM) questionnaire and to investigate the hypothesised relationships. Results from the structural equation modelling analyses suggested that PEU was a strong predictor of PU and ATCU and ATCU and PU were moderate predictors of ITU. The results of the study found a good model fit and empirical support for four of five hypotheses. PU was not found significantly associated with ATCU. The multi-group analysis indicated that the relations of attitudes toward computer use to ITU computer was statistically significant for males only; however, the association between PU and ITU computer was statistically significant for only females. The results of the study provide empirical support that gender is a significant variable in the TAM.
IEEE Access
E-learning has reshaped traditional education into more flexible and efficient learning in developed nations. However, e-learning remains underutilized and in the rudimentary stages of development in developing countries. Therefore, understanding the critical factors behind the adoption and acceptance of technology is a prime concern in developing countries like Pakistan. This paper provides and examines the adoption and acceptance baseline for e-learning systems by incorporating critical external factors in the technology acceptance model. A conceptual model-the Pakistan E-Learning Adoption Modelis proposed in the context of higher education. Data were collected from 354 learners at the Virtual University of Pakistan and structural equation modeling was employed to test the research hypotheses. The empirical investigation indicates that computer self-efficacy, Internet experience, enjoyment, and system characteristics are significant predictors of perceived ease of use, while system characteristics are a strong predictor of perceived usefulness. Moreover, the subjective norm is not found to be significant for perceived usefulness. The findings provide practical implications for policy makers, practitioners, and developers in successful e-learning systems implementation.
Factors Influencing the Adoption of E-Learning in Jordan: an Extended TAM Model
This study examines the factors contributing to attitudes towards E-Learning in higher education among students in Jordan. The research developed a TAM-EL (Technology Acceptance Model for E-learning) for predicting the intention to adopt E-Learning using the constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM-EL proposes that Perception of usefulness of technology, Perception of ease of use of the technology, Patronised (degree of support for the technology), and Practised (previous experience with the technology) influence attitude towards the adoption of E-Learning. Data was collected from 380 undergraduate students to test the model. Factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to validate the instrument, however; the partial least square method was used to test the model for the study, moreover; stepwise regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses of the study. The findings indicate that students have an important role as stakeholders in the adoption of E-Learning in Jordan. While the variable of Attitude contributes to approximately 57% of the variance in the Prediction of E-Learning, the variable of Patronised contributes only approximately 28% of the variance in the Prediction of E-Learning. Moreover, the findings show an obvious recommendation is the need to engage users in a more determined manner.