Teachers’ knowledge and technology acceptance : a study on the adoption of clickers

Abstract

Teacher acceptance is the key for the successful implementation of a new technology in education settings. While the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) offers a well-validated solution in explaining the behavioral intention of adopting an emerging technology, there are research gaps in understanding the determinants of the components in the model. Extending the previous model and applying it in the context of adoption of student response system (a.k.a. clickers), the current study explored the underlying factors that influence the core components of UTAUT—effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. In particular, the study examined the impact of teachers’ knowledge on the evaluation of those components. Incorporating the concepts of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), the study attempted to investigate the association of teachers’ knowledge and the major components in UTAUT. Fifty two teachers from 7 faculties at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University participated in our teacher survey between May and July 2015. Pearson’s correlation analysis reveals that technological knowledge was positively correlated with effort expectancy (p<.01), performance expectancy (p<.01), and behavioral intention (p<.01). Further, there were positive associations between TPACK and performance expectancy (p<.01), effort expectancy (p<.01), facilitating conditions (p<.01), as well as behavioral intention (p<.01). Findings supported the hypothesis that teachers’ knowledge is relevant to the perception on performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions. In terms of theoretical implication, the current study extends the UTAUT by integrating the key concepts of TPACK in explaining the adoption of an emerging technology. As for practical implication, the study sheds light on strategies for successful implementation of clickers in university settings.