Factors impacting adoption of MOOCs as a learning tool for millennials in the Indian workplace

Abstract

The way organizations view the learning and development of their employees has changed over the years. Organizations only invested in developing firm-specific learning solutions as they believed it would be profitable for them, and some continue to do the same. Developing human capital is seen as necessary for the individual’s career growth and as a competitive advantage for the organization. Work environments today have made it difficult to achieve employee development through formal training means. Over the last decade, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have gained popularity because of their flexible structure and also because they are mostly free. Mainly designed for pursuing higher education, MOOCs are now emerging as a learning tool used by organizations for working professionals. This research aims to identify the factors affecting the adoption of MOOCs as a learning tool among the Indian millennial workforce. Using systematic literature review, the factors impacting MOOC adoption were identified and an instrument was designed to measure the same on a five-point Likert scale. Data was collected through snowball and convenience sampling. Using multiple regressions, the impact of factors was determined on MOOC adoption. These factors can be used as a tool for future research on MOOC adoption or any closely related area in the learning and development space. This can also be used to find relationships with other methods of organizational learning/training. Understanding the adoption of MOOCs in the Indian workforce is an aspect still unexplored in the area of Organizational learning/training.