Technology Savvy and E-textbook Experiences

Despite the promises of e-textbooks, the wide-spread adoption by college students has yet to materialize. The customization of e-textbook support will facilitate the process, but it requires a better understanding of the differences among individual users in their adoption of e-textbooks. The main focus of this study is to examine the role of technology savvy in terms of ITrelated experiences, skills and self-efficacy of students in their use of e-textbooks. It is hypothesized that technology savvy moderates the relationships among e-textbook helpfulness, student involvement and learning outcome. The results from a survey suggest that the e-textbook experiences of students vary significant across technology veterans and novices. In particular, the mediating relationship between e-textbook helpfulness and learning outcome through student involvement is stronger for users with higher technology savvy. Thus, it is important to get students with low level of technology savvy involved in learning activities through customized e-textbook support.