Exploring the Role of Human Values in Online Learning Resource Adoption: A Value-Extended UTAUT Model in Higher Education

As online education becomes prevalent and mainstream, understanding the adoption of online resources becomes more crucial from a sociotechnical viewpoint. The purpose of this study is to explore a new approach to determining the factors that influence the adoption of online learning resources and to test the model on two distinct cultures: the US and India. The unique approach used here underscores that human values serve as guiding principles in people’s lives and can thus impact online learning resource adoption decisions. The study’s design and methodology integrate Schwartz’s Value Theory with the traditional Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Guided by the Schwartz framework of human values, we postulate that two of these human values, Openness to Change (OPEN) and Self-enhancement (SE), can influence the adoption of online learning resources. Using e-books as a representative of online learning resources, we employed the value-extended UTAUT model to investigate the influential factors. Results show that the impact of OPEN, along with all the UTAUT constructs, has a significant influence on the outcome in the two cultures. The integration of these two models to explain e-book adoption is a major contribution to digital transformation in online education decisions and research.