Senior Citizens’ Self-Efficacy for ICT Use: The Influence of Gender, Social Influence and Social Support

As the world becomes more digitally connected and most countries have longer life expectancy and an ageing population, it is critical to understand the factors affecting ICT adoption among the senior citizens. Previous researchers examined how various factors influence ICT adoption among senior citizens, including age, degree of functional impairment, financial resources, education level etc. In addition to the demographic factors, psychological factors such as computer self-efficacy (CSE) is also crucial in understanding ICT adoption among seniors. Building upon the classic psychological theory of self-efficacy, we proposed that CSE is an important mediating factor between social influence, social support and usage. We further posit that gender moderates the effect on social support and CSE among senior citizens. Specifically, the effects on women are augmented. To test the developed hypotheses, we conducted a person-administered survey comprising 503 Singaporeans aged between 55 and 75 years of age. Collected data were analysed using partial least squares. The results confirmed the proposed hypotheses and demonstrated that gender, social influence, social support and CSE are crucial in understanding ICT usage amongst seniors. Specific insights on the use of ICT among senior citizens are revealed

Technology-Enhanced Teaching: A Technology Acceptance Model to Study Teachers’ Intentions to Use Digital Games in the Classroom

This research to practice paper uses a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explore the factors that affect teachers’ intentions to use digital educational games in the classroom. Research shows that using computers and other digital technologies like digital games is one way to influence young people’s career aspirations and improve their digital literacy. This is particularly important as the world of work is changing and emerging jobs becoming more intensive in their use of digital technologies. In the developing world and in particular Nigeria, there have been calls to improve the digital literacy skills of young people to help them make informed career choices, and fully participate effectively and equally in the digital world. However, many of the computing and digital technology education initiatives have not produced the positive results intended. The lack of awareness, readiness and buy-in of the relevant stakeholders are some of the factors that has been identified as a barrier here. For example, for computing and digital technology-based projects in schools, the success largely depends on the support and attitude of teachers. As one of the major stakeholders in the classroom, teachers need to be consulted in decisions that affect the way they deliver their lessons; especially when novel ideas and approaches that challenge tradition are introduced. It is therefore important to consider their acceptance or otherwise of digital games in the classroom. A Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was modified to include constructs previously identified by teachers that potentially influence their intention to use digital games in the classroom. The extended TAM was developed into a questionnaire and tested with 220 teachers in Nigeria. Analyses of the results show that syllabus connectedness, perceived usefulness and self-efficacy are significant predictors of the intention of teachers to adoptdigital game-based learning in the classroom. Furthermore, the teachers' demographics including experience of teaching, age and gender all mediated the intention of the teachers to use digital game-based learning. The results and findings present recommendations for school leaders and developers of digital educational games. The practical insights from this are also important here and helpful for guiding the deployment of such games particularly in areas where such technological interventions have not been used before

Students’ Continuous Intention to Use Online Learning for Art Education in Chongqing, China

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the factors influencing students’ continuous intention to use online learning for art education in Chongqing, China. The conceptual framework incorporates self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and continuous intention. Research design, data, and methodology: This study used a quantitative method to collect information from students with experience in using online software for arts education in two private institutions in Chongqing. Data collection was performed by judgmental sampling, quota and convenience sampling. The data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model (SEM). Results: The findings confirm the theory and relationship of attitude and continuous intention to use online art education software. Perceived ease of use had the most significant effect on attitudes but had no significant effect on perceived usefulness. In addition, the effect of self-efficacy on perceived ease of use was significant. Conclusion: The advantage of the perceived usefulness of online art education software is the most important factor that should be emphasized when trying to enhance students’ continuous intention to use online learning software. Therefore, this study suggests that educators should create a more suitable learning platform that can optimize the learning efficiency of students

Enhancing Online Learning with E-Guests: A Case Study of Postgraduate Design Students’ Behavioral Intention in Chongqing, China

Purpose: This research examines the factors influencing postgraduate design students’ behavioral intention to invite e-guests for online instruction in Chongqing, China. The conceptual framework proposes causal relationships between self-efficacy, the perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness, attitudes, social influence, and behavioral intention. Research design, data, and methodology: The researchers used quantitative methods and administered questionnaires to 485 target respondents. A sampling technique was implemented to collect data using judgmental, stratified random and convenience sampling. Prior to the data collection, content validity was reserved by index of item objective congruence (IOC) at a score of 0.6 or over. Pilot test of 30 samples was approved by Cronbach’s Alpha reliability test at a score of 0.7 and above. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to evaluate the model’s goodness of fit for the hypothesis testing. Results: The results show that all variables have significant effects in their pairing. Furthermore, social Influence has the strongest effect on behavioral intention. Therefore, all hypotheses are supported in this study. Conclusion: The administration of the education department at public universities is advised to enhance the use of e-guests for better efficiency in online learning and improve students’ critical thinking and participation

Impact of Interactivity on Guanxi Network Building in the Wechat Moments: A Social Capital Perspective

Mobile social platform such as Wechat Moments has gained great popularity in China in the past few years. However, there are still a lack of studies that focus on Guanxi network building in the virtual social community. Drawing upon interactivity and social capital theory, this study develops a research model to examine the influence of perceived interactivity on users\u27 social capital and Guanxi network in the Wechat Moments. An empirical survey was conducted in China and 287 valid data were collected from Wechat users. Structural equation modelling analysis was used to test the research model. The empirical results suggest that interactivity has a strong influence on social interaction and shared understanding, which in turn promote users\u27 Guanxi network in the Wechat Moments. A post-hoc analysis further suggests that the influence of interactivity on Guanxi network is contingent upon network size. Theoretical and practical implications are illustrated in the final section

Assessing the role of factors affecting the adoption of VAT-compliant accounting systems

This study explores technology adoption through the lens of Technology Acceptance Model and Technology-Organization-Environment model in the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the United Arab Emirates. A survey designed research was carried out at UAE SMEs, leading to a sample of 370 establishments that were included in the final analysis. Data was analyzed using partial least squares structure equation modelling technique. The main findings propose that the Computer Self-Efficacy (CSE), Compatibility (COM), significantly affect the adoption of VAT-compliant accounting systems. Further, the possible mediator relationships are partially supported. Implication and limitation of study are also discussed

Continuance intention of Learning Management System (LMS) among lecturers in northern polytechnic, Malaysia

This study aims to determine the factors influencing continuance intention of LMS among lecturers in northern polytechnic, Malaysia. This study use four elements of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT): Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence and Facilitating Condition to determine the impact of continuance intention of LMS. One element, Self-Efficacy was also added to identify the continuance intention of LMS among lecturers in northern polytechnic, Malaysia. Furthermore, this study is intended to examine the relationship and effect between continuance intention of LMS and factors influencing the usage of LMS. A total of 248 polytechnic lecturers from three Northern Polytechnic have participated in this study. Self-administrated survey questionnaire has been used to collect all variables data. The result of Multiple Regression analysis indicated that social influence, facilitating condition, and self-efficacy significantly affect the continuance intention to use LMS among lecturers in northern polytechnic. However, performance expectancy and effort expectancy showed insignificant influence towards the continuance intention. Among all predictors, facilitating condition has the strongest influence on the continuance intention to use LMS among lecturers in northern polytechnic. This study concludes with a discussion of the research findings, theoretical and practical contribution, limitation of the study and suggestion for future research

Influencing Factors of Employee Readiness to Adopt Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) on Apparel Shop Floor in Sri Lanka

Compared with other manufacturing industries, apparel manufacturing can be classified as the most labor-intensive industry, which needs a man behind every machine. The use of advanced manufacturing technologies in the apparel shop floor is far behind compared to other industries. The researcher believes that one reason could be the lack of readiness of employees to adopt new technologies. This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the influencing factors on employee readiness to adopt advanced manufacturing technology on the apparel shop floor, aiming for the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Following a critical review of literature, five factors, perceived usefulness, attitude, perceived ease of use, perceived management support, and techno-optimism, were tested with the data collected through a quantitative survey conducted among 118 employees using a questionnaire. The results revealed that all five factors correlate with employee readiness in various degrees. Findings suggest that apparel organisations may need to improve employee readiness before adopting advanced technologies on the shop floor to bring more success in technology adoption. The literature addressing technology adoption in apparel shop floor is scarce, and this study contributes to that gap. Further research is recommended to contribute to knowledge and find solutions to enhance technological capabilities to bring a competitive advantage to the apparel industry.                      KEYWORDS:     Advanced manufacturing technology, change readiness, factors affecting employee readiness, technology readiness, apparel shop floor technology, apparel smart factory &nbsp

Determinants of Students’ Intention To Learn Cloud Computing

The explosive growth of data and frequent application updates along with the increasing need to access data and/or applications from multiple locations has resulted in a need to improve the way data and applications are stored and served. Such a need has forced both companies and academic institutions to pay attention to cloud computing technology. Since education is a driving force for the continuous improvement of cloud computing, this study aims at identifying the factors that influence college students’ intention to learn about cloud computing technology. Specifically, the research question focuses on determining which factors drive students’ intention to learn the cloud computing concept. Four hundred and thirty-five (435) college students participated in this study. The results revealed several factors which influence students’ intention to learn cloud computing and thus were recommended as the factors academic institutes should consider before adding cloud computing into their curriculum