Adoption intention towards Open Educational Resources: Role of experience, digital divide and voluntariness

Xinjun Li, Jirawan Deeprasert and Songyu Jiang

African Educational Research Journal
Published: November 21 2024
Volume 12, Issue 4
Pages 282-299
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30918/AERJ.124.24.060

Abstract

The digitalization of higher education has brought more opportunities and challenges to private higher education institutions (HEIs). Based on the Chinese private HEIs, this study aims to 1) examine how performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions influence the adoption intentions of lecturers, and 2) to analyze the moderating roles of experience and the digital divide, 3) to validate the mediating effect of voluntariness. This research was collected from 750 lecturers in private HEIs across major regions in China within a random sampling method. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to analyze the data, revealing that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions significantly predict OER adoption intentions. Experience positively moderates these relationships by enhancing adoption intentions, whereas the digital divide negatively moderates them, limiting lecturers’ adoption intentions. Voluntariness was identified as a significant mediator, particularly strengthening the relationship between social influence, facilitating conditions, and adoption intentions. These findings suggest that addressing digital competency gaps and enhancing support for voluntary OER use could facilitate wider adoption in private HEIs, providing valuable insights for policymakers to develop tailored strategies that promote digital resource integration and educational innovation.

Keywords: Adoption intention, digital divide, digital education, educational technology management, education management, open educational resources, private higher education institutions.

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