What Drives College Teachers’ Behavioral Intention to Teach Online? A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Abstract

Using technology acceptance model (TAM) as a theoretical framework, the study explored the potential factors that influence college teachers’ behavioral intention to teach online based on the results of a national survey (N=1090) administered during the Covid-19 pandemic. A structural equation modelling (SEM) was proposed by introducing new constructs such as subjective norm, facilitating conditions, affective and cognitive attitude into the TAM model. Meanwhile, the individual differences of college teachers were examined as moderating variables. The results suggested that cognitive attitude had much large impact on teachers’ behavioral intention to teach online, and perceived use- fulness of online learning platforms had greater influence on teachers’ online teaching attitude than perceived ease of use, particularly on cognitive attitude. Additionally, the moderating effect of teachers’ individual differences were also found to be insignificant. The study results supported the revised TAM as a theoretical model to understand college teachers’ online teaching behavioral intention, and can inform the policies to sustain teachers’ motivation for continual online teaching practice during the post-pandemic world.