Toward a model for acceptance of MOOCs in higher education: the modified UTAUT model for Saudi Arabia

Massive open online courses MOOCs) are a mode of online learning available to students at any place in the world to improve their skills. Their acceptance for academic purposes remains low, and it is desirable to promote their usage among students. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was enhanced by the inclusion of attitude and computer self-efficacy, factors verified in the literature. The objective of this study was to use a UTAUT model to identify the major factors determining learners’ acceptance of MOOCs in higher education in Saudi Arabia. An online survey was administered to 169 students of Taif University in Saudi Arabia and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results show that the proposed model can explain 63.3% of behavioral intention and 66.1% of user behavior of MOOC. The study unexpectedly found that behavioral intention was affected only by attitude. The actual use was affected by behavioral intention, attitude, and facilitating conditions. Attitude was affected by performance expectancy, social influence, and computer self-efficacy. In addition, computer self-efficacy as an external factor has an important effect on performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and attitude. The main finding is that although most studies of technology acceptance exclude attitude, this study found it to have a critical role in verifying the UTAUT model. This study highlights the main factors that affect MOOC intention and its usage for students in higher education.