Understanding Student Adoption of Gamified Learning Tools in Jordanian Higher Education: Integrating the Big Five Personality Traits and the Technology Acceptance Model

This study examined the relationships involving the Big Five personality traits, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, behavioral intention, and continued usage intention in gamified learning technologies in Jordanian higher education. This study integrated the Big Five personality framework with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate how individual personality characteristics are associated with students’ perceptions toward adopting gamified learning technologies. Data were collected from 600 university students using a structured questionnaire and analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings revealed that both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use significantly influenced students’ behavioral intention, while behavioral intention significantly predicted continued usage intention. Contrary to the original TAM, perceived ease of use did not significantly influence perceived usefulness. Results further indicated that the effects of personality traits were mixed. Specifically, agreeableness demonstrated significant positive relationships with both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, whereas openness to experience and extraversion significantly influenced perceived usefulness only. In contrast, conscientiousness did not significantly influence either perceived usefulness or perceived ease of use, while neuroticism significantly influenced perceived ease of use but not perceived usefulness. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of considering both personality characteristics and technology acceptance factors when examining students’ perceptions toward adopting gamified learning technologies in higher education. As this study employed a cross-sectional research design, the reported relationships should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than evidence of causality.