E-learning continuance satisfaction in higher education: a unified perspective from instructors and students

This study aims to determine the key factors affecting students’ and instructors’ continuance satisfaction with e-learning in the higher education context. In order to identify the factors that impact e-learning continuation in higher education institutions, a systematic review of the literature was conducted, revealing that the majority of studies have reported the essential role of satisfaction in mediating the relationship between 11 factors and users’ decisions to continue using e-learning systems. This study then proposed that users, both students and instructors, must continually be satisfied with the e-learning systems offered by higher education institutions if they are to continue using them. We term this ‘e-learning continuance satisfaction.’ The formation of a unified perspective of instructors and students on the core factors that impact e-learning continuance was then investigated, in addition to the causal relationships between these factors and e-learning continuance satisfaction. The Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to analyze data collected from 9 instructors and 38 students via an interview survey and the results yielded five core factors – information quality, task–technology fit, system quality, utility value, and usefulness – that influence users’ e-learning continuance satisfaction. Several different causal relationships between the factors identified from both students’ and instructors’ perspectives were also identified and used to form a single viewpoint. Our findings provide new insights into how higher education institutions can promote continuance satisfaction in order to ensure continuation of e-learning.