Higher Education Leaders’ Perspectives on the Performance Expectations, Effort Expectations, Social Influences and Facilitating Conditions of Online Learning: A Qualitative Case Study of the Caribbean

Technological advancements are seen to have advanced most fields significantly. Yet higher education institutions (HEIs) have not fully embraced the transformative power of online education, despite its wealth of advantages. This is particularly troubling in small island developing states (SIDS), where its impact may be more significant in overcoming budgetary constraints, limited physical spaces, limited access to education, and disruption to in person education due to the changing climate. Given the significance of this study, many scholars are specifically calling for investigations into the SIDS to better understand its underuse and develop context specific frameworks. Within the Caribbean, the SIDS have some of the lowest higher education enrolment rates
in the hemisphere, high levels of unemployment and an overall negative trend in economic growth. Given that online education may contribute to solving these problems, this qualitative case study was situated in a HEI within this region that has successfully implemented online education. The study used the well-established Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Technology Organisation Environment theories to investigate leaders and teachers’ perspectives as it relates to performance expectations, effort expectations, social influences and facilitating conditions. The frameworks were used to develop interview and focus group guides, that were used to investigate graduate studies’ teachers, program leaders and technology leaders.
Thematic analysis revealed several key findings related to the nuanced nature of the constructs and shed insight into the complexity of technology acceptance. Overall, performance expectations and social influences were considered of the highest importance, followed by facilitating conditions with effort seen as less important. Within constructs, there were varying degrees of importance among sub-constructs. The implications for practice are significant and several recommendations are presented for universities. The context-specific findings open the door for further research towards a framework for understanding the phenomena in this context. Finally, it greatly extends the existing literature by providing greater depth of understanding of the constructs.