Use and Acceptance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by University Students; Developing a Model for the Sri Lankan Context

Abstract

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an umbrella term that covers all technologies in retrieving and communicating information and it has turned the world into a global village enabling the compression of time and space. This circumstance has led to a paradigm shift in higher education of Sri Lanka in an effort to capture ICTs to a large extent, as it is the foremost important method to create a technology-equipped generation as effective users of ICTs to cope with the present job market demands. However, literature reveals a lack of sufficient interest in individual use and acceptance of ICTs among Sri Lankan university students. Many researchers in other countries have studied and proposed theories and models on individual use and acceptance of technologies to facilitate predicting individual user behavior with technology over a rapid change in both technologies and their environments. Each theory or model consists of different sets of determinants and moderators exclusive to their own countries. It is therefore questioned whether these theories and models can be used in outside contexts, especially in countries like Sri Lanka. Many researchers have also found that individual cultural values have a strong contextual influence on individual use and acceptance of ICTs. Therefore, the current research aims at proposing a parsimonious and a robust model, which best describes the individual use and acceptance of ICTs among university students in Sri Lanka with the intention of promoting usage and future acceptance. The research study involved a combination of positivist and phenomenological inquiries that led to the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The design of the study consisted of two main phases: the exploratory study and the main study. The exploratory study was carried out to check the feasibility of the research and the main study, tested the conceptual model using structured questionnaires from 1681 of university students. Statistical analysis methods and Structural Equation Modeling were employed with SPSS version 21 with AMOS to analyze data. The model developed, ICT Use and Acceptance Model (ICTUAM), was finalized with an excellent model fit. Performance expectancy and facilitating conditions are the determinants which describe the current ICT usage behavior and the performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and current usage behavior play important roles in determining the behavior intention to future use of ICTs. Masculinity/femininity moderated the relationship between performance expectancy and current usage behavior. Power distance moderated the relationship between performance expectancy and the behavior intention to future use of ICTs. The relationship between the social influence and behavior intention to future use of ICTs was moderated by the main subject stream, masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism and uncertainty avoidance. Individualism/collectivism moderated the relationship between effort expectancy and behavior

intention to future use of ICTs. The model is a useful tool to suggest strategies to improve the use and acceptance of ICTs to gain skills and thereby contribute to accrue higher dividends for the individuals as well as the society as a whole.