Extending the unified theory of technology acceptance and use of technology to explain teachers’ intentions to sustain online teaching beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study establishes whether the acceptance and use of online teaching will continue in the post-COVID-19 landscape. The study proposes a model to explain the continuance intention to adopt online teaching systems from the standpoint of tertiary education teachers. The model combines constructs from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), which comprises performance expectancy; effort expectancy; social influences; facilitating conditions; and a new construct, satisfaction, from the expectation confirmation model. The data were obtained from 133 faculty members from three tertiary institutions in Botswana, Namibia, and Lesotho. The data were analysed using a multiple regression equation model, which explained 63.9% of the variation in intention with respect to R-square value. Performance expectancy, social influence, and satisfaction had a positive and significant impact on intention, while effort expectancy and facilitating conditions had an insignificant impact on intention to continue using e-teaching. Satisfaction was the most influential variable in explaining intention. Theoretically, this study extends and applies the UTAUT model to explicate tertiary education teachers’ intentions to continue teaching online post-COVID-19. It could be helpful for education policymakers to design proper strategies for online teaching after the pandemi