Title: Factors that influence students' programming skills: a case study from a Nigerian university

Authors: Efosa C. Idemudia; Salihu Ibrahim Dasuki; Peter Ogedebe

Addresses: College of Business, Arkansas Tech University, 72801 Russellville, Arkansas, USA ' School of Information Technology and Computing, American University of Nigeria, Yola, Nigeria ' Faculty of Computing and Applied Sciences, Baze University, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract: Most university students do not write programming codes, because writing programming codes involves hard work, dedication, interest, self-motivation, perseverance, and access to the appropriate resources (i.e. textbook, hardware, and software). To address this issue, we conducted research using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as the theoretical background for our research model. The results from our structural equation modelling show that students write and use programming codes if they have a positive perceived behavioural intention to write programming codes. Furthermore, our results show that behavioural intention to program is predicted by factors such as performance expectancy, self-efficacy, anxiety, and habit, which explains why most software companies are using these factors effectively and efficiently to develop software. Our study has a variety of practical and research implications relating to syllabi, course, and curricula developments in the computer science discipline.

Keywords: programming codes; actual programs; behavioural intention; performance expectancy; self-efficacy; anxiety; habit; TAM; technology acceptance model; UTAUT; Nigeria; programming skills; case study; higher education; structural equation modelling; SEM; programming code; computer science education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJQRE.2016.082394

International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education, 2016 Vol.3 No.4, pp.277 - 291

Received: 08 Oct 2015
Accepted: 02 Aug 2016
Published online: 22 Feb 2017 *

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