Understanding e-Learning Acceptance Among Teachers: A Grounded-in-Theory Approach

Abstract

The ramification of understanding why technology is accepted and used for e-Learning in school education has significant implications for administrators, practitioners and researchers. A key consideration regarding technology acceptance for e-learning is the extent to which usage decisions are informed by affective and cognitive factors. This conceptual paper sets out the process we used to develop a theoretical model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). The ‘attitude’ construct of TAM was explored to understand ‘why’ practicing teachers chose to use technology for e-Learning. The paper presents a conceptual review of selected technology acceptance and social cognitive theories/models. The development of the theoretical model employed a cross-sectional ‘grounded-in-theory’ methodological approach using TAM as the anchor theory. The adapted TAM (figure 3) offers that the attitude construct is well suited to be moderated by self-efficacy, motivation, benefits and value propositions. The adapted TAM is not arbitrarily suggesting replacing existing and successful approaches to research that use single or multiple theories/models. It seeks to augment researcher’s perspectives on research foci of theory testing, confirmation, generation and modification and as such is suitable for studies located in focused contexts.