Development and validation of Mobile Learning Acceptance Measure

ABSTRACT

The growth of Smartphone usage, increased acceptance of electronic learning (E-learning), the availability of high reliability mobile networks and need for flexibility in learning have resulted in the growth of mobile learning (M-learning). This has led to a tremendous interest in the acceptance behaviors related to M-learning users among the information systems researchers. Despite a large amount of significant research in the field of M-learning, the measurement of user acceptance of M-learning has not received attention. This research study intends to develop and validate a survey that measures users’ acceptance of M-learning. A total sample of 806 university and higher college students from different institutes in Oman participated in this study. This research study was conducted in two stages. The first stage using a sample size of 388 students initiated a generic questionnaire, and examined factorial validity and reliability. The second stage that was conducted using different sample of 418 students employed confirmatory factor analysis to establish factorial validity and measurement invariance. A correlated six-factor model (Flexibility, Suitability, Enjoyment, Efficiency, Economic and Social) was fit using maximum likelihood estimation. The internal consistency and item reliability of Mobile Learning Acceptance Measure was found to be at acceptable level for both samples.

KEYWORDS:

• M-learning
• confirmatory factor analysis
• higher education
• UTAUT
• TAM
• Oman

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr. Asharul Islam Khan, PhD student at the Department of Computer Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman and Mr. Himanshu Sharma, faculty at Higher College of Technology Nizwa, Oman for their assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sujeet Kumar Sharma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Operations Management and Business Statistics in Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Dr Sharma earned his Ph.D. in Statistics. His teaching and research interests include the areas of Structural Equation Modelling, Multivariate Data Analysis, Data Mining, Technology Acceptance Model and e-Government. His research has been published in journals including the Computers in Human Behaviour, INFO, Measurement, Management Research Review, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Journal of Modelling in Management, Journal of Indian Business Research, Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, European Journal of Sports Sciences, Education, Business and Society, etc. He has authored a book on Computer based numerical and statistical techniques.

Mohamed Sarrab is a Research Associate at Communication and Information Research Center, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. He has completed his Ph.D. from De Montfort University, UK. He is an active researcher and has published several papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He is the project investigator of ‘‘M-Learning in Oman: Development, Adoption, and Dissemination’’. His research interest is in software engineering, M-Learning, and educational technology.

Hafedh Al-Shihi is an Assistant Professor at the College of Commerce and Economics in Sultan Qaboos University. He is a member of the Association of Information Systems (AIS), Special Interest Group on Electronic Government (SIGeGov), Grant Committee of the Research Council-Information and Communication Technology Sector, and also Research Associate in the Center for International Corporate Governance Research at Victoria University, Australia. He has several publications in international journals and conference proceedings. His field of interest is Information Systems.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The Research Council, Oman [grant number ORG/SQU/ICT/13/006].