Title: Solving the mystery of mobile learning adoption in higher education

Authors: Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan; Amer Al-Adwan; Hilary Berger

Addresses: Faculty of Business, Department of Information Systems, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, P.O. Box 19328, Amman, Jordan ' Division of Audiovisual Translation (MAAT), College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar ' Cardiff School of Management, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Llandaff Campus, Cardiff CF5 2YB, UK

Abstract: The rapid expansion in users of mobile devices, particularly among university students, makes mobile learning (m-learning) the modern style of learning for the new millennium. Thus, it is important to identify and explore the factors that may influence students' intention to use m-learning. In Jordan, research on mobile learning adoption is still very narrow. For the purpose of this study, we propose a framework that is based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, to explore the potential factors that may impact students' intention to acceptance and use of m-learning in developing countries such as Jordan. The proposed framework is empirically tested using a total of 444 paper-based questionnaires, collected from students at four Jordanian universities. The results reveal that effort expectancy, performance expectancy, trust expectancy, self-management of learning, system functionality and social influence are significant determinants of m-learning adoption, and explain 64.8% of the variance in the students' intentions to adopt m-learning. Gender and uncertainty avoidance are found to have moderating effects on some of the relationships of the research model. These findings offer multiple useful implications for m-learning adoption, in terms of both research and practice.

Keywords: higher education; Jordan; mobile learning; multi-group analysis; self-management of learning; structural equation modelling; technology acceptance; trust expectancy; uncertainty avoidance; UTAUT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2018.088271

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2018 Vol.16 No.1, pp.24 - 49

Received: 26 Dec 2015
Accepted: 02 Sep 2016
Published online: 01 Dec 2017 *

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