Factors determining online learning usage and its impact on performance: an empirical study of students in Yemeni public universities / Adnan Hussien Hassan Aldholay

As information and communication technology (ICT) is making the leap to transform all aspects of life, online learning has become widely viewed as the future of education due to its ability to improve the quality of education with the least infrastructure and resources. As Yemen is lagging behind in the adoption of ICT, being faced with many challenges, limited resources, weak infrastructure, and a high student population, the aim of this study is to identify factors that affect online learning usage and its consequence among students of Yemeni public institutions of Higher Education and the role that online learning can play in countering the prescribed challenges. Education is one of the most vital sectors that have consequences for the future of mankind and is greatly transformed by technology. Many researchers have studied and proposed theories and models of technology adoption and usage. Based on Delone and Mclean Information system Success Model (DMISM), this study developed and validated a multi-dimensional model to better understand the factors that influence online learning usage among public universities students in Yemen and how it affects their performance. Questionnaire survey method was used to collect primary data from studentsin nine public universities in Yemen namely (Sana’s, Aden, Taiz, Al-Hodeidah, Ibb, Thamar, Hadramout, Amran, Al-Beda) who have used or using online. Four hundred and forty-eight valid responses were received. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) via AMOS software was utilized to determine the importance levels of associations and interactions between the factors tested. The research proposed model evidenced by the goodness of fit of the model to the data, explained 66% of the variance in performance impact of online learning. The findings of the multivariate analysis demonstrate four main results. First, overall quality, transformational leadership, self efficacy, compatibility have a strong effect on user satisfaction and actual usage. Second, the results show that user satisfaction and actual usage influence cognitive absorption. Third, the findings indicate that user satisfaction, actual usage and cognitive absorption are significant predictors of performance impact of online learning. Fourth, cognitive absorption significantly mediates the relationship between user satisfaction and actual usage in one side and performance impact of online learning on the other. The results of this current study will be able to provide insights into what are the factors that affect the adoption and use of online learning among students in public universities in Yemen. The finding of this study can also be used as a guideline for the Yemeni Centre for Information Technology in Higher Education (YCIT-HE) which was established to be an authority that enable services of information technology in Yemeni universities for students, academic and management staff, by highlighting the important factors and the positive effect of new technology in solving the many problems facing the higher education sector. It encourages and supports the execution of the higher education master plan at both organizational and national level (Al-Madhagy, 2013.