Developing a General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning (GETAMEL) by analysing commonly used external factors

Abstract

To identify the most commonly used external factors of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the context of e-learning adoption, a quantitative meta-analysis of 107 papers covering the last ten years was performed. The results show that Self-Efficacy, Subjective Norm, Enjoyment, Computer Anxiety and Experience are the most commonly used external factors of TAM. The effects of these commonly used external factors on TAM's two main constructs, Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU), have been studied across a range of e-learning technology types and e-learning user types. The results show that the best predictor of student's PEOU of e-learning systems is Self-Efficacy (β = 0.352), followed by Enjoyment (β = 0.341), Experience (β = 0.221), Computer Anxiety (β = −0.199) and Subjective Norm (β = 0.195). The best predictor of student's PU of e-learning systems is Enjoyment (β = 0.452), followed by Subjective Norm (β = 0.301), Self-Efficacy (β = 0.174) and Experience (β = 0.169). Using these external factors and their effect sizes on PEOU and PU, this study proposes a General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning (GETAMEL).