Do knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing really affect e-learning adoption? An empirical study

Studying the factors that affect the e-learning adoption is not a new research topic. Nevertheless, exploring the effect of knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing on e-learning adoption is a relatively new research trend that has not been featured in the existing literature. Thus, this study was conducted to build a new model by extending the technology acceptance model (TAM) with knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing to examine the e-learning adoption. A total of 403 students enrolled at Al Buraimi University College (BUC) in Oman was surveyed. Using the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to evaluate the proposed model, the results suggested that knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use have significant direct effects on the students’ behavioral intention to adopt e-learning systems. The findings also suggested that knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing have a significant positive influence on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The evidence from these results provides holistic insights which could assist the policy-makers and educators to better understand the factors affecting the adoption of e-learning systems. The implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future work are also discussed.