Abstract
Numerous review studies were conducted in the past to understand the applicability of the technology acceptance model (TAM) in m-learning context by examining several issues. Although each of those studies provided a valuable synthesis of TAM, further issues are still uncovered and call for further research. Therefore, this research aims to systematically review the existing TAM-based m-learning studies through the analysis of various issues, including the factors affecting the m-learning adoption, research methods, TAM progress over publication years, online databases, active countries, and sample size. Out of 458 articles collected, a total of 64 studies published between 2017 and 2020 were critically analyzed. The main results indicated that self-efficacy is the most frequent factor affecting the m-learning adoption, followed by subjective norm, enjoyment, mobile anxiety, facilitating conditions, social influence, innovativeness, and satisfaction, respectively. Additionally, most of the analyzed studies have relied on questionnaire surveys in collecting their empirical data. Although it was developed in 1989, the results showed that the number of TAM-based m-learning studies is increasing year by year, which in turn, increases the credibility of the model in explaining the users’ intentions towards technology adoption. We have also discussed the contributions of this systematic review and the implications that it could yield for future attempts.
Highlights
The increasing use of mobile devices through Internet networks has brought several opportunities for education [1], [2]
In order to understand the factors affecting the adoption of m-learning, a number of theoretical models were used, including the “theory of reasoned action (TRA)” [11], “technology acceptance model (TAM)” [12], “unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)” [13], and “theory of planned behavior (TPB)” [14], among many others
Unlike the previous systematic review which considered the core factors of the theoretical models in the analysis process [16], the current systematic review only considered the external factors to the original constructs of TAM (i.e., “perceived usefulness”, “perceived ease of use”, “attitude towards use”, “behavioral intention”, and “actual use”)
Summary
The increasing use of mobile devices through Internet networks has brought several opportunities for education [1], [2]. Mobile learning (m-learning) has become an appealing research trend for many scholars [4], [5] This stems from the fact in which m-learning affords learners with the capability to learn at “anytime anywhere” settings by allowing the availability of learning content over mobile networks and accessing such content through different devices, such as smartphones and tablets [6], [7]. In order to understand the factors affecting the adoption of m-learning, a number of theoretical models were used, including the “theory of reasoned action (TRA)” [11], “technology acceptance model (TAM)” [12], “unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)” [13], and “theory of planned behavior (TPB)” [14], among many others. The strong empirical support of TAM to its core variables, namely “perceived ease of use” and “perceived usefulness” in examining the individuals’ adoption of several technologies, increased the applicability of the model across different disciplines [18]–[20]
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