Fun first, useful later: Mobile learning acceptance among secondary school students in Indonesia

Abstract

As mobile devices become more ubiquitous, the benefits of mobile learning (m-learning) can be a great opportunity for educating a vast populace, especially in developing countries. Acceptance of m-learning by individuals is critical for these nations while aiming for a successful implementation of m-learning. A total of 1156 middle and high school students in Indonesia participated in this study to investigate factors determining m-learning acceptance among adolescents and to discover the effects of sex, age group, and location differences with the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a theoretical framework. The results indicate that all seven factors in the model are significant determinants of m-learning acceptance with some moderation effects by sex, age, and location differences at play. While the literature showed the importance of perceived usefulness in technology acceptance, including in the m-learning case, this study found that its effect is far less influential than perceived enjoyment and social influence, inferring the irrationality of adolescents in their intention of using m-learning. Perceived mobility value and perceived usefulness, while showing much smaller effects than shown in the literature, are still influential in m-learning acceptance, especially for female and high school students and not necessarily for male and middle school students. Meanwhile, facilitating conditions are crucial in helping female, middle school students, and students in rural areas adopt m-learning. This study helps understand unique characteristics of adolescents as a younger generation that separate them from adults when it comes to their acceptance of m-learning.