Development of a SaaS Adoption Decision-Making Model Using a New Hybrid MCDM Approach

Abstract

This study is the first attempt that aims to develop a comprehensive decision-making model for Software as a Service (SaaS) adoption in the educational environment. Accordingly, a new hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach of Grey Relational Analysis (GRA), Classification and Regression Trees (CART), and Fuzzy Rule-Based (FRB) techniques is developed to reveal the importance level of significant factors, model adoption status in the form of “IF-THEN” rules, and predict the level of adoption based on the significant adoption factors and their relationships. This study is the first-hand experience that takes complementary advantages of GRA, CART, and FRB techniques for technology adoption decision-making. The findings can be used as a guide by the administrator of universities, ministry of education, and services providers to successfully proceed for SaaS-based applications adoption in the educational environments.