Investigating the structural relationship for the determinants of cloud computing adoption in education

This research is one of the first few to investigate the adoption and usage of cloud computing in higher education in the context of developing countries, in this case Thailand. It proposes extending the technology acceptance model to integrate subjective norm, perceived convenience, trust, computer self-efficacy, and software functionality in order to better understand the degree of influence that each has on the adoption of cloud in an educational setting. The instrument development was modified from past studies on technology adoption. Data was collected from two leading universities in Thailand, Mahidol University International College, and Thammasat University. Structural equation modeling was applied to the research, the results of which illustrated that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, intention to use, perceived convenience, trust, and software functionality have a statistically positive relationship towards the adoption of cloud computing. However, it is interesting to note that, contrary to most studies, computer self-efficacy and subjective norm did not posit a positive relationship. The research also presents the conclusions, which include a discussion of the findings, the academic and practical implications, and limitations. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.