Perceived Attributes of Innovation: Perceived Security as an Additional Attribute to Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Abstract

The study attempts to contribute to the recent call on security issues in eLearning. Security issues in eLearning have been advanced at organizational level. These concerns had not been put in the light of effects on the diffusion of eLearning practice. ELearning involves the use of the web, digital media to deliver knowledge and skills. There is lack of the perspective of security issues at the individual level as a facilitator to the diffusion of innovations. This study proposes perceived security and how it affects the diffusion of eLearning practices in HEI as an additional perceived eLearning (innovation) attribute. The study seeks to find out the extent to which perceived security affect eLearning diffusion in the Universities. The research adopts a quantitative approach by the use of surveys. A survey has the capability of getting a wider and global perspective. Thus, these generalized views facilitate inform decision making in Universities’ eLearning practice. The dependent variable for the quantitative approach is the diffusion of eLearning practice in the Universities. The independent variables are the perceived characteristics of eLearning system by students and the factors that characterize students’ adoption of eLearning systems in Universities. The study found out that perceived security had the highest effect on eLearning diffusion among the students in the three Universities.