Investigating university students’ attitude and intention to use a learning management system from a self-determination perspective

ABSTRACT

The goal of this study was to investigate the determinants affecting university students’ attitude and intention towards using a learning management system from the perspective of self-determination theory, and to examine the moderating effect of gender and usage experience and the relationships between these determinants. Two hundred forty-one Chinese university students’ responses addressing their perceptions of using Blackboard for autonomous learning were gathered through a convenient sampling technique and were analysed by PLS-SEM. We found that autonomy, relatedness, competence, and satisfaction had a positive and significant impact on students’ intention towards using Blackboard; furthermore, the construct of autonomy was the strongest determinant for the use of Blackboard. However, students who used Blackboard were not found to be moderated by gender and usage experience. This study provides important implications for educators and institutions and contributes to our understanding of university students’ adoption of learning management systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-determination theory
• learning management system
• intention of use
• gender
• usage experience

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mr. Shu-Han Yang’s data analyzing assistance. Our gratitude also goes to Michael Burton, Asia University, for proofreading this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project of Zhejiang Province, China, under Grant No. 18NDJC026Z.

Notes on contributors

Chien-Yuan Su

Chien-Yuan Su is an associate professor at Zhejiang University, China. He earned his Ph.D. from National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. His research interests include e-learning and educational technology.

Cheng-Huan Chen

Cheng-Huan Chen is an assistant professor at Asia University, Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. and master's degrees from National Taiwan Normal University. His research interests include technology-enhanced learning, computer-supported collaborative learning, and educational technology.