Faculty Use of Established and Emerging Technologies in Higher Education: A Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Perspective

Abstract

Our effectiveness as instructors lies ultimately in how well our students can understand and apply the concepts we teach. In response to the growing importance of accountability in the educational process and the abundance of social networking technology and communication tools available for possible classroom use, this paper will use The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to examine the adoption of established and emerging information technology in higher education classrooms. Hence, the goal of this paper is to test theoretical explanations from UTAUT in the context of higher education through the development of a set of hypotheses predicting the conditions under which classroom technology use is likely to emerge. Data collection occurred via an online survey. The instrument was sent to business faculty members teaching face-to-face classes at a southeastern university. Our findings suggest that in the context of instructors’ use of technology for classroom purposes, the most important antecedents are performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and habit with more complex effects when gender is added as an interaction term. Results from this study will provide useful information on the frequency of use of technology, along with significant factors affecting its adoption in the classroom. Departmental leaders interested in the variations in individual faculty’s level of inclination toward technological changes would find them particularly useful.