Background: The development of network communication science and technology has accorded a special benefit to learning. Online courses have also become the most popular and important learning resource among students.
Objectives: Overall, this research aims to explore what are the important factors making students use online courses.
Design: The research combines the technology acceptance model and the innovation diffusion theory, and adds four research variables, computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, perceived financial cost and perceived information quality to propose a new hybrid technology acceptance model to study students' behavioral intention to use online courses.
Settings: Based on 228 questionnaires collected from nursing students in Taiwan.
Methods: The structural equation modeling technique was used to evaluate the causal model and confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model.
Participants: The survey began with e-mail and telephone interviews in January 2006. The interviewees were 348 students of Taiwan's universities. Because some of the replying subjects have never taken those courses and some did not complete the questionnaires, there were 228 valid questionnaires from students of Taiwan's universities who have taken online courses. The responding rate was 65.52%.
Results: This research found that computer anxiety had a negative effect on the behavioral intention to use online courses (gamma=-0.21, P<0.01). Computer self-efficacy had a positive effect on the behavioral intention to use online courses (gamma=0.37, P<0.01). Compatibility had a positive effect on both the behavioral intention to use online courses (gamma=0.18, P<0.01) and perceived usefulness (gamma=0.3, P<0.01). Perceived usefulness had a positive effect on the behavioral intention to use online courses (beta=0.14, P<0.05). Perceived ease of use had a positive effect on perceived usefulness (gamma=0.23, P<0.01), the behavioral intention to use online courses (gamma=0.24, P<0.01). Perceived financial cost had a negative effect on the behavioral intention to use online courses (gamma=-0.16, P<0.01). Perceived information quality had a positive effect on the behavioral intention to use online courses (gamma=0.11, P<0.05). The findings of this research help to develop more user friendly online courses for students.
Conclusions: (1) Computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, compatibility, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived financial cost, and perceived information quality were the critical factors that impacted on students' behavioral intention to use online courses. (2) Computer anxiety and perceived financial cost had a negative effect on the behavioral intention to use online courses. (3) The present study added four new research constructs (computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, perceived financial cost, and perceived information quality) to the research model so that it would be more complete; this improved the fit of the whole model. (4) Computer self-efficacy, compatibility, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived information quality had a positive effect on the behavioral intention to use online courses. By explaining students' behavioral intention from a user's perspective, the findings of this research help to provide insight into the best way to promote new e-learning tools for students.