Students’ Acceptance of Learning Management Systems at the Peak of Covid-19 Pandemic by Employing a Modified Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the motivating variables that affect students’ attitudes toward using Learning Management Systems (LMS) during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to include perceived enjoyment and perceived trustworthiness. Methods: Data were collected from 599 tertiary students from across five public universities in Ghana using online questionnaires to measure Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEU), Attitude Towards Use (ATU), and Behavioural Intention (BI). The collected data were analyzed using PLS-SMART. Findings: The study’s findings suggest that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use affect students’ attitudes toward LMS use (That is, PEU — > ATU [O = 0.227, t = 4.747, p = 0.000] and PU — > ATU [O = 0.430, t = 8.993, p = 0.000]), which affects students’ behavioural intention to use IT (That is, ATU — > BI [O = 0.314, t = 6.828, p = 0.000]). In addition, the most vital relationship was “perceived ease of use” as a predictor of “perceived usefulness” (That is, PEU — > PU [O = 0.440, t = 10.025, p = 0.000]). Furthermore, contrary to expectations, perceived enjoyment and perceived trustworthiness, also considered critical predictors, did not affect students’ attitudes toward LMS use (That is, PE — > ATU [O = 0.085, t = 1.776, p = 0.076] and PT — > ATU [O = 0.033, t = 0.744, p = 0.457]). Novelty: These findings provide valuable insights which can enhance education quality and students’ acceptance of LMS during mandated environments such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework of the study is an extension of the original TAM model, including new constructs, perceived enjoyment, and perceived trustworthiness. Keywords: Covid19; TAM; User acceptance; Tertiary institutions; LMS; Perceived enjoyment; Perceived trustworthiness