Factors influencing the use of e-learning facilities by students in a private Higher Education Institution (HEI) in a developing economy

While research into the adoption of e-learning in Nigeria has mainly focused on its use in public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), there is still a lack of research on factors affecting students’ use of e-learning in private HEIs in Nigeria. This study, therefore, explores factors influencing the use of e-learning by students in private HEIs in Nigeria using the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework. We use a data collection method encompassing semi-structured interviews with 15 students from L-University drawn purposefully from the Landmark directory and a hybrid thematic analysis to analyse the data. Our findings reveal that technology-related factors (ease of use, speed, accessibility and service delivery), organisation-related factors (training support and diversity), environment-related factors (attitudes of the users) and impact-related factors (learning experience, skill development, academic performance, and degree of engagement) influence the students’ adoption of e-learning facilities. We develop an extended TOE framework that integrates the impact context which considers the students’ likely expectations if these facilities are fully adopted and implemented. The study also unveils techniques that may accelerate the development of e-learning structure in private HEIs and which could provide the opportunity of assisting communities of learners to adopt and use e-learning facilities regularly.

Sunday C. Eze, Vera C. A. Chinedu-Eze, Clinton K. Okike, Adenike O. Bello