Modeling Chinese Teachers' Attitudes Toward Using Technology for Teaching with a SEM Approach

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine factors that influence Chinese teachers’ attitudes toward using technology. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the framework, the study considered the social and cultural in China, and included a new external variable—policy—along with perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, facilitation conditions, and subjective norms, into the original TAM framework. Structural equation modeling was implemented on questionnaire data collected from 1,423 teachers in China. The expanded model revealed a goodness-of-fit (TLI = 0.931, CFI = 0.942, RMSEA = 0.048, and SRMR = 0.039) and it explained 52.7% of the variance in teachers’ attitudes toward using technology. Chinese teachers' perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and national policy were determined to be the factors with positive direct influence on teachers' attitudes toward using technology. Subjective norms were found to have an indirect influence. This study contributes to the growing body of non-Western multicultural studies on the TAM and also serves as a starting point in understanding teachers’ attitudes toward technology use in China.