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The Effects of Gender and Age on Students’ Use of a Learning Management System in Saudi Arabia

Ahmed Alshehri 1, Malcolm J. Rutter 2, and Sally Smith 2
1. Information Technology Department, Albaha University, Albaha, Saudi Arabia
2. Edinburgh Napier University, School of Computing, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract—The success of an e-learning intervention relies, to a considerable extent, on the student’s acceptance of the system. Still, the challenge for educational institutions is to determine the factors that influence the user’s acceptance of a Learning Management System (LMS) particularly, the demographic variables of age and gender, which would allow for effective approaches to implementation. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the moderating effects of gender and age in the acceptance and use of an LMS. Furthermore, the study is located in a Saudi tertiary learning context where students have unique psychological and social characteristics and where LMS are being rolled out on a national level. To this end, the study utilised a UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) model as a base model, with an additional six usability variables, to investigate empirically the variables that influence the students’ use of an LMS in Saudi higher education. By using a quantitative research approach and a sample size of 605 students, data were collected from students in five Saudi universities. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in conjunction with multigroup analysis techniques were employed to assess the model. The findings revealed that both gender and age moderated a single association between the facilitating conditions and actual use where female and younger students exhibited higher perceptions of the association than did their counterparts. The research has several implications for decision-makers, administrators and designers of e-learning systems. In light of the study findings, the limitations and future research avenues were discussed.
 
Index Terms—demographics, technology acceptance, UTAUT, LMS, E-learning system, Saudi Arabia

Cite: Ahmed Alshehri, Malcolm J. Rutter, and Sally Smith, "The Effects of Gender and Age on Students' Use of a Learning Management System in Saudi Arabia," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 135-145, September 2020. doi: 10.18178/ijlt.6.3.135-145

Copyright © 2020 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.