Examining the effect of information quality and gender on secondary school teachers’ technology acceptance - a case study of Botswana

Abstract

Technology provides means of widening educational opportunities. However, it is also noted that teachers hardly incorporate it in their daily teaching activities. The problem remains more persistent in developing and underdeveloped countries. To date, there is limited or no research in Botswana that examined the factors that can facilitate or hinder usage of technology by secondary school teachers. To further explore this problem, the TAM has been adapted and extended by information quality (IQ) and technology self-efficacy (TSE) to assess teachers’ adoption of technology in secondary schools in Botswana. For the investigation, a quantitative methodology was used. A total of 280 secondary school teachers of different ages and gender from various regions in Botswana participated in the survey. The survey comprised of 40 items which were responded to using Likert’s five scale basis. For data processing and analysis, the smart PLS3 statistics software program was used, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized as the main data analysis technique.The study’s findings indicated that TSE, IQ, perceived ease of use plus usability (PEUU), and perceived usefulness (PU) have an influence on teachers’ attitude towards using technology with PU contributing the strongest effect (β= 0.590). However, contrary to the existing literature, TSE did not have any direct influence on the teachers’ PU and PEUU. In addition, the findings on gender moderation showed that teachers of both genders do not differ statistically on technology adoption behaviour. However, a significant difference was observed in PU → ATU gender groups relationship, with female teachers scoring a stronger effect. Finally, an assessment on total direct and indirect effects of the model variables indicated that, altogether, the model determinants accounted for 52.2% of the variance in teachers’ attitude towards technology use. Overall, the thesis findings show a demonstration of the effectiveness of TAM in predicting teachers’ adoption of technology.