Technological factors of students' persistence in online courses in higher education: The moderating role of gender, age and prior online course experience

The aim of this study was to verify if technological factors have an influence on persistence in online courses. A theoretical model encompassing seven variables was tested, some of them borrowed from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, attitude, anxiety and persistence in online courses. Three moderating variables (gender, age and prior online course experience) were also considered in the analyses. Data were collected among a sample of 430 students using an online questionnaire. The obtained results strongly support 6 of the 9 research hypotheses for the proposed model. Correlations revealed significant associations between persistence in online courses on the one hand and performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, attitude, and anxiety on the other hand. A series of multiple linear regressions examined the predictability of persistence in online courses by the technological factors considered in the study for the whole sample, and for each gender, age and prior online course experience group. They showed that these factors explained 18.9% to 45.7% of the variability in persistence in online courses. The discussion focuses on how different technological factors explain persistence.