Effect of Communication Strategies for Implementation of IT-based Educational Innovation During COVID-19 Pandemic on Students’ Motivation, Attitude, and Intent

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic made the world come to a halt, but the number and pace of innovation responses became faster than ever. However, there is a paucity of studies concentrating on the management/implementation of innovation in educational institutes. Moreover, no in-depth study has been conducted on the effect of communication strategies adopted for educational innovation implementation on the students’ motivation, attitude, and intent to use, particularly in India, to the best of the writer’s information. Accordingly, the present study aims to address the research gaps by measuring the effect of select communication strategies used for implementing IT-based educational innovations. Grounded on prior research, the study scrutinizes the effect of rational persuasive strategy (utilizing legitimate contentions), assertive strategy (utilizing intimidation), and consulting strategy (engaging in the act of giving expert advice), and inspirational (evoking feelings of appreciation) strategy. To address the hypotheses framed, the data for the cross-sectional quantitative study was collected from engineering students using an e-questionnaire from Rajasthan, India. The sample comprised 305 (84.3% male and 15.7% female) students, with a mean age of 18.16 years. The findings of PLS-SEM using SmartPLS 3.2.9 confirmed that all strategies except assertive strategy had a positive and significant effect on motivation, attitude, and intent, thereby confirming the role of communication strategies. The study adds to the extant studies on communication strategies, innovation implementation, and adoption of Information Technology for education. The managerial implications include assisting institutes, faculty, and administration in providing insight into appropriate tactics to encourage the implementation of educational innovations among students. The study will also be useful for the administrators/policymakers, for better comprehension of issues and finding solutions for innovation implementation.