Abstract
The aim of this study was to verify if the UTAUT model, enriched with anxiety and factors relating to students characteristics and to the specificities of online courses, influences persistence in online courses. A theoretical model encompassing 13 variables was tested. Three moderating variables (gender, age and prior online course experience) were taken into account in the analyses. Data was collected among a sample of 759 students from Université Laval and Université de Sherbrooke using an online questionnaire. The results indicate that the main driver of persistence in online courses are: anxiety, satisfaction, effort expectancy, engagement, behavioral intention, employer encouragement, facilitating conditions and performance expectancy. The structural model was further examined according to gender, age and prior online course experience groups. Findings indicate that the model explains 21.4% to 37.1% of the variance in persistence in online courses. Moreover, as expected, the results indicated different patterns in the strength and significant relationships between groups and for the overall model, suggesting that gender, age and prior online course experience play a moderating role. The discussion links the results of this study to those of previous studies and suggests areas for improvement that could be implemented by academic administrators and instructors in order to enhance persistence in online courses.
Highlights
Over the past 20 years, the number of online courses in higher education has considerably increased in North America (Myers and Schiltz 2012)
The study’s objective was to identify and analyze the factors of persistence in online courses in higher education. These factors were drawn from Venkatesh et al.’s (2003) UTAUT model to which anxiety was added, and enriched by factors pertaining to student characteristics and online course characteristics (Kember 1989; Park 2007; Rovai 2003)
Age, and prior online course experience were assessed as moderating variables because they are considered by the UTAUT model to be moderating variables (Venkatesh et al 2003) and because some authors suggest using them as such since there is no consensus regarding the direct influence of gender and age on persistence in online courses (Park 2007; Park and Choi 2009)
Summary
Over the past 20 years, the number of online courses in higher education has considerably increased in North America (Myers and Schiltz 2012). The growth in the number of these courses is due to several reasons. They meet student demands for flexible schedules. They provide better access to higher education for students who, for example, cannot attend face-to-face classes because of family or professional responsibilities (Lee 2017).
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