Publication Date

2018

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Mayall, Hayley J.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment (ETRA)

Abstract

Professional development helps employees improve their skills and competencies for performing work-related tasks. It entails equipping workers with technical skills to enable them to use a new technology. However, institutions are still faced with challenges when integrating new technologies into their systems. It is important for the management of various institutions to inquire about employees’ readiness to adopt a change before implementing it to determine the level of possible resistance.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the behavioral intention of faculty members on the use of webinars as a tool to receive professional development content at the Institute of Public Administration in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, gender investigated to see whether this demographic characteristic relates to faculty members’ behavioral intentions to use webinars, and whether it moderates the predictive relationships between perceived usefulness / ease of use and behavioral intention.

The theoretical framework that guided the study was the technology acceptance model which comprises two main constructs, namely perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. A quantitative correlational design research methodology was also utilized in the study. Moreover, the survey method was used to collect the data. Also, data from 194 faculty members were used for both descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results showed perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were statistically significant predictors of behavioral intention to use webinars. In addition, the results indicated gender had no statistically significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and faculty members’ behavioral intention to use webinars. This research concluded that, by examining these attributes of employees, managers may predict possible resistance to adopting new technologies in educational facilities. The research findings are aimed at helping institutions understand the factors that determine the employees’ willingness to embrace a technology. Lastly, future prospects on examining the ways that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use can be promoted effectively within an institution are suggested.

Extent

113 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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