ACCEPTANCE OF MOBILE LEARNING BY HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN SRI LANKA: AN UTAUT2 APPROACH

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that might influence the intention and use behaviour of M-learning systems by students in higher education in Sri Lanka. The theoretical model for this study was primarily drawn from Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2). Following variables included from UTAUT2 such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, habit, facilitating condition and hedonic motivation and age, gender and internet experience used as moderate variables for this study to find behavioural intention and use M-learning. Instrument was developed using validated items from past literature. Data for this quantitative study were collected from undergraduate and postgraduate students from 453 Sri Lankan state universities by self-administering and Web-form during third quarter of 2019. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to see the insights from the valid data using Microsoft excel 16, IBM’s SPSS 22 and AMOS 22. Proposed hypotheses were validated using SEM technique in this study. After analysing the data, it was found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, habit, facilitating condition and hedonic motivation had an influence on Sri Lankan students’ behaviour intention to use M-learning, and these relationships were moderated by the demographic characteristics such as gender and age. The adoption of an M-learning system in Sri Lankan higher education is fairly low. Hence, investigation of what determinants might be contributing for adoption is important to enhance the learning experience of students and help them improve their knowledge. This paper contributes by defining the factors that influence the acceptance and use of M-learning systems by students of higher education in Sri Lanka.