The acceptance of computer technology by teachers in early childhood education

ABSTRACT

This study investigated kindergarten teachers’ decision-making process regarding the acceptance of computer technology. We incorporated the Technology Acceptance Model framework, in addition to computer self-efficacy, subjective norm, and personal innovativeness in education technology as external variables. The data were obtained from 160 kindergarten teachers, from public kindergartens in Daejeon, South Korea. According to the results, subjective norm had the strongest effect on computer acceptance. In addition, perceived usefulness and computer self-efficacy had a direct effect on computer technology acceptance. On the other hand, perceived ease of use and personal innovativeness in education technology had an indirect effect on computer technology acceptance. The measures accounted for approximately 32% of the variance of intentions to use computers in kindergartens.

KEYWORDS:

• Computer-mediated communication
• early childhood education
• teachers’ individual differences
• technology acceptance model
• structural equation modeling

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Daejeon Education and Science Research Institute for providing the e-mail list of kindergarten teachers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Hye In Jeong is an Assistant Professor at Woosong University, Department of Early Childhood Education, College of Health and Welfare. She has a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education program from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include teachers' beliefs about science and technology in early childhood education. She has published in International Journal of Early Years Education.

Yeolib Kim is an Assistant Professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, School of Business Administration. He has a Ph.D. in Information Studies from The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests are in adoption of information and communication technology, e-commerce, and research methods. He has published in Journal of Applied Psychology, Computers in Human Behavior, Internet Research, Asian Journal of Communication, and Health Informatics Journal.