| The computing industry has advanced at a rapid pace from desktops and laptops to mobile devices that can be held or worn including smart phones, tablets, and smart watches. These mobile technologies have become a part of every facet of life from banking and health care to new ways to communicate with family and peers. While business and industry are embracing new technology, the higher education environment, specifically faculty, have not been quick to incorporate mobile technology for academic purposes. The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to utilize the technology acceptance model to determine the factors that influence faculty acceptance of mobile devices for academic purposes in higher education. Previously validated technology acceptance model instruments were used to determine if the constructs: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, application quality, available technological support, and perceived self-efficacy could be used as predictors for faculty intent to use mobile device in the academic environment. Faculty from two regional universities in Louisiana were surveyed and results of the survey were analyzed using structured equation modeling techniques. IBM SPSS, IBM SPSS AMOS Graphics 25 and SmartPLS 3 software were used to conduct the analysis. The results determined if faculty feel a mobile application is useful they are more likely to use it in the higher education environment supporting perceived usefulness as a predictor. Results also determined the easier faculty feel the application is to use and the higher the quality the more likely they are to find it useful. Faculty who feel they are capable of using the mobile technology and had support when needed are more likely to find the mobile application easy to use. The results add to the body of knowledge related to technology acceptance model research and contribute to practice by giving developers some insight into why faculty choose to utilize a mobile technology. |
