Impact of Personal and Environmental Factors on the Effectiveness in Academic E-Learning Systems; A Case Study: E-Learning System of The University of Sistan and Baluchestan

Abstract

Introduction : After several decades, internet has greatly transformed the world around us. In recent years, although E-learning systems (which are based on cyberspace) are more frequently used as the basis for learning, but in spite of their numerous advantages over the classic methods; they still have a small share in the education ministry and users still prefer the classic methods or at least they do not participate as much as expected in E-learning systems. Methods : The research orientation of this study is an applied one, whilst the strategy is quantitative and the aim is descriptive-survey. A questionnaire including 5 demographic and 18 questions were used to collect data in order to examine the research hypotheses. The population of this study is the students of virtual learning branch of university of Sistan and Baluchestan, which are approximately 200 people and according to Morgan table, samples were calculated to be 127. The research methodology is partial least squares (PLS) therefore Smart PLS software is used for analysis of hypotheses. Results : Based on the findings, psychological safety communication climate, as well as responsiveness does not have a significant relation with Intention to continue participation. But there are significant relations between Self-efficacy and Satisfaction with Intention to continue participation. Also, psychological safety communication climate and responsiveness affect Intention to continue participation through the moderating effect of participators satisfaction. Conclusions : The results reveal that the personal factors influencing intention to continue participation and environmental factors affect intention to continue participation through the moderating effect of personal factors. As a result, more attention should be specifically given to personal factors (in this research they are included as satisfaction, and self-efficacy) by managers and professors of e-learning systems.