Factors Influencing Student Participation In College Study Abroad Programs

This paper proposes a theoretical framework to investigate the factors that influence student participation in college study abroad programs. The authors posit that students’ general perceptions regarding the study abroad experience and their expectations of intercultural awareness from study abroad programs will impact their perceptions of personal growth, professional development, and intellectual growth to be derived from such programs. The expectations regarding personal growth, professional development, and intellectual growth will, in turn, directly impact students’ intention to participate in such programs. Program duration, cost, and student demographics, such as race and gender are other influencing factors. Following the presentation of the framework, strategies to effectively market study abroad programs are discussed.

What Matters Most in Online SAP-Enabled Course Learning? A System View of Determinants

The purpose of this research is to understand the factors that impact students’ perceived learning outcomes, satisfaction, and the intention to continue using the online learning platform in ERP-enabled online courses. The factors considered are online learning platform quality, ERP system quality, information quality, instructor support, and student motivation. We selected SAP as the ERP system that students learn online via any online learning platform, such as Blackboard, for our study. We surveyed business students from four mid-sized state universities in the Unites States. The findings indicate that all factors, except instructor support, are significant determinants of learning outcomes. All factors, except information quality, are significant determinants of student satisfaction. Online learning platform quality and SAP quality are significant determinants of students’ intention to continue to take online SAP-enabled courses using the current learning platform

Learning Complex Technology Online: Effect of Challenge and Hindrance Techno-stressors on Student Satisfaction and Retention

Despite increasing attention to online learning worldwide, learning complex technologies online has always been challenging and even a hindrance to students who are subjected to elevated levels of technostress. In contrast to most previous studies that focused on the negative side of technostress, this study investigated both the negative and positive sides of technostress. Based on the Challenge Hindrance Framework (CHF), the Holistic Stress Model (HSM), and the Person-Environment Fit (P-E Fit) model, we examined how challenge and hindrance techno-stressors caused distress and eustress in online students and lead to associated outcomes. We empirically validated the research model by analyzing survey data collected from 565 online graduate business students enrolled at a university in the United States. The results revealed that some hindrance and challenge techno-stressors were associated with techno-distress and techno-eustress, which further impacted student satisfaction and student retention. We discussed the contributions and implications and provided future research directions

User Acceptance of Group Support Systems

A Group Support System (GSS) is a type of Information Systems that helps decision making in an organization in a group setting. Apart from groupware technologies such as email and conferencing systems, not many GSS applications have been widely accepted in organizations. Prior research has studied the factors such as task technology fit, use of appropriation mediators, and appropriation support, etc., that contribute to the successful use of GSS. Not much, however, has been written about the factors that may influence the users’ intentions to experiment and eventually accept a GSS. This study utilizes the literature on technology acceptance, adaptive structuration theory, and task technology fit to prepare a framework to investigate the factors that influence the user acceptance of GSSs in organizations

Evaluating Complex Online Technology-enabled Course Delivery: A Contextualized View of a Decomposed IS Success Model

In this paper, we focus on understanding the factors that influence whether online courses that involve complex technologies succeed. In particular, we conducted a study on SAP software as the complex technology that students learned online via several course-management platforms (e.g., Blackboard). We hypothesized the antecedent variables system quality, information quality, and service quality to influence students’ perceived learning outcomes, satisfaction, and intention to continue using online learning. Grounded on the information systems (IS) success model, we decomposed core constructs into contextual factors. We surveyed business students from four mid-sized state universities in the United States that had membership in the SAP university alliances program, and the students had taken at least one online SAP-enabled course. We used structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) to analyze data. The findings indicate that system quality, information quality, and service (instructor) quality were all significant antecedents of student satisfaction, system quality and information quality were significant antecedents of perceived learning outcomes, and only system quality was a significant antecedent of students’ intention to continue using online learning

The Effect of Culture on User Acceptance of Information Technology

The UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology), a unified model of the acceptance of technology by workers in the United States, explains individual acceptance and usage decisions of a technology in organizations (R2 up to 70 percent); its usefulness, however, has not been tested in settings outside the U.S. Other models of technology use, such as the Technology Acceptance Model, have been predictive within the U.S., but have been found to be less predictive when tested in countries outside the U.S., such as Switzerland, Japan, Arabic countries, and Hong Kong, suggesting that culture may play a significant role in Information Technology (IT) usage and adoption. No clear relationships, however, have been established between cultural variables and IT adoption factors. The UTAUT model includes social influence as a factor that explains some of the variance in users\u27 acceptance of technology. One dimension of the social influence factor is culture. This study examines the effect of culture through the social influence variable of the UTAUT model on user acceptance of Prepayment Metering Systems - an Information Technology-based innovation in India. The findings indicate that social influence, along with performance expectancy and effort expectancy (R2 = 72 percent), is a significant factor influencing consumers\u27 intention to use the Prepayment Metering Systems. Social influence represents societal pressure on users to engage in a certain behavior. This social pressure for an individual to perform a behavior varies by culture. Our study confirms our proposition that the social influence based in culture will provide additional explanatory power concerning consumers\u27 intention to use a technology

An Empirical Comparison of Consumer Innovation Adoption Models: Implications for Subsistence Marketplaces

So called “pro-poor” innovations may improve consumer wellbeing in subsistence marketplaces. However, there is little research that integrates the area with the vast literature on innovation adoption. Using a questionnaire where respondents were asked to provide their evaluations about a mobile banking innovation, this research fills this gap by providing empirical evidence of the applicability of existing innovation adoption models in subsistence marketplaces. The study was conducted in Bangladesh among a geographically dispersed sample. The data collected allowed an empirical comparison of models in a subsistence context. The research reveals the most useful models in this context to be the Value Based Adoption Model and the Consumer Acceptance of Technology model. In light of these findings and further examination of the model comparison results the research also shows that consumers in subsistence marketplaces are not just motivated by functionality and economic needs. If organizations cannot enhance the hedonic attributes of a pro-poor innovation, and reduce the internal/external constraints related to adoption of that pro-poor innovation, then adoption intention by consumers will be lower

16 • IT Management in the 21st Century Disaster Recovery Planning by Health Maintenance Organizations: The Role of Business Impact Analysis and Testing

With increasing dependence on information technology, Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) need Disaster Recovery Planning to protect their information systems environment. This paper investigates the impact of Business Impact Analysis and testing on successful implementation of Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs) by HMOs. A survey reveals that HMOs that conduct Business Impact Analysis are more likely to test DRPs and HMOs that actually test DRPs are more likely to implement them