An empirical study on users' adoption of MOOCs from the perspective of the institutional theory. (2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gao, Shang; Yang, Yuhao
• Is Part Of: International journal of networking and virtual organisations. Volume 16:Number 4(2016)
• Page Start: 377
• Page End: 388
• Publication Date: 2016
• Subjects: massive open online courses -- MOOCs -- user adoption -- technology acceptance model -- TAM -- institutional theory -- behavioural intention -- user behaviour -- intention to use -- perceived usefulness -- perceived ease of use -- mimetic pressure -- e-learning -- online learning -- electronic learning; Computer networks -- Periodicals; Information networks -- Periodicals; Virtual corporations -- Periodicals; Electronic commerce -- Periodicals; Management information systems -- Periodicals; Management -- Data processing -- Periodicals; 004.65
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1470-9503

Abstract

MOOC, which stands for massive open online course, has attracted millions of users around the world and it has a promise to be a very important element of future education. However, there is a little research on users' adoption of MOOCs. This paper aims to improve the understanding of users' behaviour intention to use MOOCs. The proposed research model is an extension of technology acceptance model with three factors from the institutional theory. And an empirical study with 279 subjects was conducted to test this model in China. The results indicate that both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use directly affect users' behaviour intention to use MOOCs significantly. Another interesting finding is that mimetic pressures also have a significant positive influence on users' behaviour intention to use MOOCs.