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The effects of locus of control on university students’ mobile learning adoption

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Abstract

Since mobile devices have become cheaper, easily accessible, powerful, and popular and the cost of wireless access has declined gradually, mobile learning (m-learning) has begun to spread rapidly. To further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of m-learning for university students, it is critical to understand whether they use m-learning. However, there has been little research on investigating the factors influencing university students’ adoption of m-learning. This study empirically investigates the factors that affect students’ acceptance of m-learning by integrating locus of control, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (from the technology acceptance model), and perceived behavioral control (from the theory of planned behavior) into the theoretical model. This study is one of the first to examine the effects of locus of control on m-learning adoption. Data were collected from 176 undergraduate students at a large, public, research-intensive university located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The partial least squares approach was used to evaluate the explanatory power and causal links of the model, and it was found that locus of control can influence students’ beliefs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived behavioral control) toward m-learning. The three beliefs all had a significant effect on behavioral intention to use m-learning. Future research and the practical implications of the findings are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Business, Chung Hua University, No. 707, Section 2, WuFu Road, Hsinchu, 30012, Taiwan, ROC

    Jung-Wen Hsia

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  1. Jung-Wen Hsia
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Correspondence to Jung-Wen Hsia.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

Appendix: Instrument of the research

Appendix: Instrument of the research

Locus of control (LOC)

  1. 1.

    People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make.

  2. 2.

    In the long run, people get the respect they deserve in this world.

  3. 3.

    Capable people who fail to become leaders have not taken advantage of their opportunities.

  4. 4.

    Becoming a success is a matter of hard work; luck has little or nothing to do with it.

  5. 5.

    What happens to me is my own doing.

  6. 6.

    When I make plans, I am almost certain that I can make them work.

  7. 7.

    In my case, getting what I want has little or nothing to do with luck.

  8. 8.

    Getting people to do the right thing depends upon ability; luck has little or nothing to do with it.

  9. 9.

    There is really no such thing as “luck”.

  10. 10.

    Most misfortunes are the result of lack of ability, ignorance, laziness, or all three.

  11. 11.

    It is impossible for me to believe that chance or luck plays an important role in my life.

Perceived usefulness (PU)

  1. 1.

    I believe that learning from m-learning would enhance my academic performance.

  2. 2.

    I believe that using m-learning would increase my academic productivity.

  3. 3.

    I believe that using m-learning would enhance my learning effectiveness.

  4. 4.

    I believe that using m-learning would enhance my learning efficiency.

  5. 5.

    I believe that m-learning would be useful for my studies.

Perceived ease of use (PEOU)

  1. 1.

    I think learning to use m-learning is very simple.

  2. 2.

    It would be easy for me to become skillful at using m-learning.

  3. 3.

    I think using m-learning is easy.

  4. 4.

    It is easy to use m-learning to accomplish my studying tasks.

  5. 5.

    My interaction with m-learning would be clear and understandable.

Perceived behavioral control (PBC)

  1. 1.

    I have a sufficient extent of knowledge to use m-learning.

  2. 2.

    I have a sufficient extent of control to make a decision to adopt m-learning.

  3. 3.

    I have a sufficient extent of self-confidence to make a decision to adopt m-learning.

  4. 4.

    I have a sufficient extent of ability to use m-learning.

  5. 5.

    I would be able to use m-learning well for learning process.

Behavioral intention to use (BI)

  1. 1.

    I will use mobile learning for my courses in the future.

  2. 2.

    I intend to use mobile learning as often as possible.

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Hsia, JW. The effects of locus of control on university students’ mobile learning adoption. J Comput High Educ 28, 1–17 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-015-9103-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-015-9103-8

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