Acceptance and use of online learning environments in higher education: Scale development and UTAUT model testing

This study examined the acceptance and use of online learning environments among higher education students through the lens of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Drawing on a sample of 959 university students, the study validated an Online Learning Environments Acceptance and Use Scale developed in the present study and tested the hypothesized UTAUT structural model. Confirmatory factor analysis with robust maximum likelihood estimation supported a five-factor acceptance structure comprising performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and behavioral intention, with actual use modeled as a separate behavioral criterion. The five acceptance factors showed strong convergent validity (AVE = .61–.78; CR = .86–.94) and adequate model fit (CFI = .931; TLI = .917; RMSEA = .090, 90% CI [.085, .096]; SRMR = .065). The structural model indicated that performance expectancy (β = .61, p < .001), social influence (β = .21, p < .001), and effort expectancy (β = .11, p = .004) significantly predicted behavioral intention, explaining 67.5% of its variance. Facilitating conditions significantly predicted actual use (β = .15, p < .001), whereas the path from behavioral intention to use was non-significant (β = .07, p= .103). Findings are interpreted in light of the mandatory nature of the online-only courses examined, in which students had no face-to-face alternative, and contribute a validated, context-sensitive instrument to the technology acceptance literature.