Vol. 1(2) SEP 2011 - SAVAP International

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Academic Research International ISSN: 2223-9553 Volume 1, Issue 2, September 2011 technologies, and have partially integrated e-learning applications both internally and across-worker. However, full integration of e-learning applications has not been implemented. Rogers (1995) stated, “after being adopted by only a few people in a system, the innovation may ultimately be rejected, so that its rate of adoption level off and, through discontinuance, nose-dives”. This made it worthwhile to analyze the rate of discontinuation of e-learning applications in this research study. The third group is the high adopters which presented about 11% of the study sample. This group has placed a strong emphasis on the nine out of ten or ten out of ten applications adopted by other lower adoption groups. The adult workers have mainly adopted e-learning adoption such as e-mail, registration, online library, grades, video, online chat, audio, online course, online assessment and online test. Third group of this study is that adult workers are more likely to adopt e-learning applications than lower and moderate adopters, due to Adult workers who are frequent and/or heavy users of the Internet are more likely to use e-learning systems, adult workers who are confident in their ability to master an e-learning system, without help, are more likely to become users, adult workers are reassured by the availability of back-up technical support and adult workers believe that an e-learning system will be more useful to them if it is easy to use. In terms of extent of usage, we could observe the extent to which adult workers migrate from traditional methods of conducting learning to adopt internet technologies. As proposed by Chin and Marcolin (2001), actual usage of the innovations provides a clearer understanding on innovation diffusion but has been neglected in previous innovation adoption studies. In this study, the adoption is described as triggering usage of applications on a limited basis leading to the final stage whereby an application would be substituted for an existing traditional business transaction method. Findings from present study showed that most of the e-learning applications provided by the Arab Open University in Jordan (AOUJ) to Adult workers are mainly used on most of the time. This trend suggests that the outcomes of adoption depend how adopters have accumulated knowledge and experience in using these applications. When adult workers have adopted e-learning applications on a most of the time, positive feedback would reinforce their usability, and would set the stage for subsequent usage of the application, and application from other levels. For the low adopters, they mainly adopt applications that indicate their web presence, mainly on a use most of the time and use sometime. Numerous adult workers from this group have substituted e- learning applications for traditional methods of conducting learning. Moderate adopters, however, they are using a majority of applications indicating their web presence on a use most of the time. A number of adult workers from this group have substituted e-learning applications for traditional methods of conducting learning. Compared to the moderate adopters, high adopters are using the e-learning applications adopted on a use most of the time, while very few adult workers from high adopters have substituted e-learning applications for traditional methods of conducting learning. The findings from the matrix also reveal a number of adult workers which have adopt e-learning applications ranging from e-mail to online audio, solely on use most of the time. FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH E-LEARNING ADOPTION The results indicate a set of significant factors that could differentiate between each group of adopter, namely low, moderate and high adopter. The study found that the relative advantage, compatibility, flexibility and complexity had a positive impact on the probability of e-learning adopting for (lowadopters vs. high-adopters) and (moderate-adopters vs. low-adopters) compare to (moderate-adopters vs. high-adopters). The relative advantage, compatibility, flexibility and complexity are significantly related to adult workers’ adoption to use e-learning. The result supported findings from prior studies of the significant of relative advantage, compatibility, flexibility and complexity on e-learning adoption among adult workers (Liao and Lu, 2008; Hung et al., 2009). In addition, the findings indicated that organizational structure, organizational culture and top management support were significantly impact on e-learning adoption among adult workers. This implied that organizational structure, organizational culture and top management support could Copyright © 2011 SAVAP International www.savap.org.pk www.journals.savap.org.pk 368
Academic Research International ISSN: 2223-9553 Volume 1, Issue 2, September 2011 promote the initial phase of e-learning adoption by the adult workers in Jordan. These findings support previous studies in the literature (Hung et al., 2009; Naveh et al. 2010). Consequently, four factors of personal were significantly impact on e-learning adoption among adult workers, namely social contact, professional advancement, social stimulation and external expectations. These findings support previous studies in the literature (Miller, 1992; Kim and Merriam, 2004). The figure (4.10) showed the summery of the significant of factors that assessed with e-learning adoption’s group. CONCLUSION Unlike previous studies that described adoption based mainly on one dimension, i.e. level of adoption, this study has given due consideration to both the level of adoption and the extent of usage for each application. More importantly, a framework was developed which also allowed current status of e- learning applications to be taken into account, thus providing a more comprehensive picture of the nature of e-learning adoption by the adult workers. The finding suggested that the types of application adopted, and the extent of usage, measured in terms of not using, use some time, using e-learning application most of the time, and using e-learning application all the time, could be used to characterize e-learning adoption. More important, both dimensions could form the basis for classifying adult workers in future studies, whereby causal models could be built to examine the relationships between variables such as factors associated with adoption and impact on adult workers. In this case, K-means clustering method analysis is used as the most popular method and the most suitable for the purpose of this study. Hence, this K-means provided a richer source of information that reflected the nature of e-learning adoption, where adoption behaviour was discussed on the basis of level of adoption and extent of usage. The profile generated for all adult workers based on the above dimensions could increase our knowledge about what applications has been adopted, and the extent they been used by Learning Management System. As far as the author can establish this are the fewest studies of e-learning adoption which has utilised the statistical technique of cluster analysis to classify, or group, learners which were the basis of the study. The finding suggested that the types of application adopted, and the extent of usage, measured in terms of not using, use some time, using e-learning application most of the time, and using e-learning application all the time, could be used to characterize e-learning adoption. More important, both dimensions could form the basis for classifying adult workers in future studies, whereby causal models could be built to examine the relationships between variables such as factors associated with adoption and impact on adult workers. This study also found factors such as relative advantage, flexibility, compatibility, complexity, top management support, culture, structure, social contact, professional advancement, social stimulation and external expectations were significantly linked to adult workers e-learning adoption initiative, suggesting researchers will need to give renewed thought to the roles played by each individual external party, including adult workers, when researching technology adoption. More importantly, the analysis of factors associated with e-learning adoption showed that causal models can be built and tested. The second implication for theory concerned the assumption made in past studies, which examined factors that drive adoption, mainly between binary groups, e.g. non-adopters versus adopters. This study identified three adoption groups, and has provided evidence that apart from some common factors that were associated with all adoption groups, some group had distinct factors to drive their adoption of e-learning. In other words, certain factors were perceived to be more important for a particular adoption group. The findings suggested that relative advantage characteristics needed to be given greater emphasis in researching e-learning adoption among adult workers. In particular, , the adopter tends to utilize e- Copyright © 2011 SAVAP International www.savap.org.pk www.journals.savap.org.pk 369
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