Cross-national differences in mobile learning adoption during COVID-19

Abstract

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in social isolation; nevertheless, universities will proceed throughout this trying period with the assistance of technology. As such, this paper seeks to develop a conceptual framework to investigate the continued intentions of students to use mobile learning during COVID-19 under different cultural contexts expanding upon the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Expectation-Confirmation Model (ECM) under different cultural contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe suggested model is empirically tested with 1,206 students from different universities in three societies (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UK) using SEM/PLS.FindingsPerformance expectancy, satisfaction, social influence, facilitating conditions and instructors' competencies positively influence students' continued intentions to use mobile learning. In addition, the findings of the current research indicate that student's isolation negatively impact the continuous usage behavior. Furthermore, the findings indicated that a “one-size-fits-all” approach is insufficient in capturing the heterogeneity of students' intentions to use mobile learning across countries.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that has been conducted to understand the main determinants of students' continued intentions to use mobile learning under different cultural contexts.