Faculty adoption of Internet technology in Saudi Arabian universities

                         Allehaibi, Mohammed Mubarak; PhD

                         THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, 2001

                         INFORMATION SCIENCE (0723); EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY (0710)
 

                         The purpose of this study was to describe the adoption and use of Internet technologies by faculty
                         members in Saudi Arabian universities. The study attempted to: (1) determine the pattern of
                         Internet use by faculty members in Saudi Arabian universities, (2) answer specific questions about
                         attributes that are associated with the Internet diffusion in Saudi Arabian universities and
                         (3) identify faculty members, concerns about the Internet technology. This study derived its
                         theoretical frameworks mainly from the Rogers's model of diffusion of innovation (Rogers, 1995).
                         Additionally this study is guided by the theoretical framework of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model
                         (CBAM) (Hall & Hord, 1987). Two central research questions guided the study: (1) What are
                         the diffusion of innovation attributes that have exerted a role in the adoption and use of Internet
                         technology by faculty members in Saudi Arabian universities? and (2) At what stages are Saudi
                         Arabian faculty members in their concerns about using Internet technology (as measured by the Stages
                         of Concern questionnaire)? To obtain the necessary information to answer these questions, this study
                         utilized a survey questionnaire. After the questionnaire was designed, revised, and pre-tested, it was
                         distributed to 500 faculty members randomly selected in two Saudi universities. The researcher was able
                         to collect 299 usable questionnaires, representing a 60% response rate. The collected data were coded
                         and analyzed using SPSS package. Descriptive statistics (frequency distributions, percentages, and
                         means) were calculated. The statistical t-test was employed to test the research hypotheses. The study
                         findings demonstrated that the five innovation attributes are significant factors in explaining the rate of
                         Internet adoption by Saudi Arabian faculty. In conclusion this study provides a research-based
                         assessment of faculty members adoption and use of Internet technology in Saudi Arabian universities.
                         The overall findings indicate that the diffusion of Internet technology among faculty members in Saudi
                         universities is at the early proliferation stages. The findings also indicate that the majority of respondents
                         (74.6%) are using Internet technology. Later adopters, who reported using the Internet within two years
                         or less from the data collection date (April, 2000), represent (68.6%) compared to (31.4%) of
                         respondents reported using the Internet for more than two years. The research also reveals that a
                         significant number of surveyed faculty members (25.4%) are reluctant to use Internet technology.
 


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