Can openness to ICT and scientific research predict the ICT skills and ICT use of bachelor's students?

Abstract

In this article, we focus on the question of why some bachelor's students have more proficiency in ICT skills and use computers and the Internet more frequently than other students do. To answer this question, we rely on the core variables of the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), on the orientation of students toward scientific research, and on contextual factors. TAM has been applied successfully in research before, but in this article, the model is expanded with variables regarding the orientation of students toward scientific research, and is geared towards the relationship to basic ICT skills and the sustained use of these skills. In order to attain a more reliable instrument to measure proficiency in ICT skills and the frequency of ICT use, several new instruments are constructed. The results show that this model, a combination of four basic TAM variables, together with the identity commitment of students focused on the appreciation of scientific research and some context variables, can explain a substantial proportion of the variance in different ICT skills, but considerably less of the frequency of ICT use.