A Model of Business School Students' Acceptance of a Web-Based Course Management System

As business schools increasingly seek to incorporate Web-based information and communication technologies into the instructional process, there is a need for rigorous research into the factors affecting the successful integration of these technologies into management education. A key factor identified in prior management education research as critical to the successful implementation of such instructional technologies is student acceptance. We use the literatures on management education, technology acceptance, and change implementation to develop and test a model predicting business school students' acceptance of a Web-based course management system. Arguing that such a system which transitions traditional course-management processes to the Web constitutes an instance of a process change, we examine the role played by various change-enabling factors as well as change-motivating factors in students' acceptance of the system. We find that perceived incentive to use the system, perceived faculty encouragement to use the system, and peer encouragement to use the system are positively related to perceived usefulness of the system, which in turn is positively related to student acceptance of the system. We also find that awareness of the capabilities of the system, perceived availability of technical support, and prior experience with computer and Web use are positively related to perceived ease of use of the system, which in turn is positively related to student acceptance of the system. Implications for management education research and practice are discussed.