Examining Higher Education Students’ Intention of Adopting MOOCs: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have now become mainstream for learning in unprecedented situations, where traditional classroom learning is difficult to conduct. The aim of this study is to understand the factors that lead to the higher education students’ adoption of MOOCs and the barriers that prevent their use. This study proposes a theoretical model for measuring the higher education students’ intention to adopt MOOCs. The PLS-SEM approach was used to test the theoretical model developed for this study with a sample of 312 higher education students. The theoretical model explained 63.1% of the variance in the dependent variable of behavioral intention to use MOOCs. The findings identified that facilitating conditions, perceived usefulness, course flexibility, and job relevance are the factors—in order of their influence—that predict the higher education students’ perceived intention to use MOOCs. The findings of this study contribute to this existing body of knowledge of MOOC adoption.