Factors influencing higher education students’ performance and satisfaction with virtual classes during the Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Peru

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic had a very strong impact on various sectors. The higher education sector is one of those which experimented various changes and challenges. In Peru, where the educational system is limited, there is a large population who do not have the chance to attend higher education institutions. In addition, from those who were studying and were part of the transition to virtual classes, not all could adapt to this new context from the beginning, or some of them did not manage to adapt to it completely. In consequence, around 174,000 higher education students dropped their studies in 2020 because of the lack of resources or low performance during the pandemic. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to identify the main factors that affected Peruvian higher education students’ performance when dealing with virtual platforms during the pandemic. An integral research model based on the features of all stakeholders—students, teaching staff, systems—was developed, and a total of 175 observations were collected online. The findings suggest that technostress, instructor quality, web design quality of the system, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness influence higher education students’ performance. Finally, theoretical, and practical implications are discussed, along with recommendations for universities in terms of adaptability to virtuality.