Investigating the individual difference antecedents of perceived enjoyment in students' use of blogging

With the proliferation of weblogs (blogs) used in educational contexts, gaining a better understanding of why students are willing to blog has become an important topic for practitioners and academics. The main purpose of this study is to explore the individual difference antecedents of perceived enjoyment and examine how they influence blogging intention through the mediation of perceived enjoyment. Based on previous literature, the Big Five personality traits (ie, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), as well as computer self-efficacy and personal innovation in information technology, are hypothesised as potential antecedents of perceived enjoyment in the acceptance of blogging. Data collected from a sample of 358 students at seven universities in Taiwan were tested against the research model using the structural equation modelling approach. The results indicate that extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and personal innovation in information technology have a significant influence on perceived enjoyment, which in turn significantly influences blogging intention. The findings of this study provide several theoretical and practical implications for educational uses of blogging. Introduction Recently, many studies have focused on the use of blogs in educational contexts (Kim, 2008; Lin et al., 2006). With the use of blogs, a community of student bloggers can create an interactive social learning environment where they can learn from the ideas of others, share knowledge resources and compare/compete with each others’ work (Du & Wagner, 2007). Thus, many educators have attempted to implement blogs in educational settings to enhance the communication environment among students and teachers (Kim, 2008). A blog (a contraction of the term ‘Web log’) typically describes a personal diary kept on the Web, which can be edited by an end-user—even one with few Web publication skills (IP & Wagner, 2008). According to Wikipedia (2008), a blog is a website usually maintained by a person that includes regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. The activity of updating a blog is known as ‘blogging’ and someone who keeps a blog is a ‘blogger.’ British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 43 No 1 2012 139–152 doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01151.x © 2010 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Technology © 2010 Becta. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Despite the early state of implementation, there are several studies that list advantages for using blogs in educational settings (eg, Coutinho, 2007; Du & Wagner, 2007; Kim, 2008; Lin et al., 2006; Maag, 2005; Richardson, 2005; Williams & Jacobs, 2004). For example, Maag (2005) suggests that students can share their learning experiences and express their thoughts to the teacher and peers through course blogs. Coutinho (2007) mentions that blogging inspired by Vygotsky’s (1978) social constructivist learning theories offers students the opportunity to discuss thoughts, ideas and opinions in a social plan, enabling the social construction of knowledge. Kim (2008) advocates that traditional computer-mediated communication applications should be replaced with blogs, and thus develops a model for the use of blogs in educational contexts by taking into account socio-technical systems theory. Kim (2008) also found that students with a shared blog were less interested in blogging as compared with students with a personal blog, necessitating the personalised-blogging circumstance that might enhance online communication activities. Based on the aforementioned literature, blogging can be seen as a behaviour of social knowledge construction, and the use of blogs in online educational settings has the potential to help enhance students’ knowledge sharing and learning effectiveness. However, some students may not blog in spite of the availability of blog platforms. To enhance students’ use of blogs in social knowledge construction, there is a need for educational technology research communities to explore why students are or are not willing to blog. Prior studies have suggested that perceived enjoyment (PE) is a salient predictor of behavioural intention to use blogs or hedonic systems (eg, van der Heijden, 2004; Hsu & Lin, 2008). However, few studies have empirically investigated the antecedents of PE and the mediating role that PE plays in students’ acceptance of blogging. In fact, previous studies suggest that individual differences are important antecedents of beliefs about using information technology (IT; eg, Agarwal & Prasad, 1999; Hong, Thong, Wong & Tam, 2002; Wang & Wang, 2008). Further, Hsu and Lin (2008) contend that some people may not participate in blogging due to the effort required to start and maintain an active blog, including entering periodic updates. This implies that the behaviour of blogging is different from that of reading a blog, and that individual difference and/or personality traits may have a significant influence on PE and blogging intention (BI). Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore the individual difference antecedents of PE and examine how they influence BI through the mediation of PE. Theoretical background Herrington and Oliver (2000) contended that educational use of the Web (eg, weblogs) can support and improve highly effective types of learner-to-learner interactions based upon social constructivist learning theory. Social constructivism was greatly influenced by the sociohistorical work of Lev Vygotsky (Fosnot, 1996; Gergen, 1999; Woo & Reeves, 2007). Vygotsky focused on the effects of social interaction, language and culture on learning (Fosnot & Perry, 2005; Jonassen, Davidson, Collins, Campbell & Haag, 1995; Vrasidas, 2000; Woo & Reeves, 2007). In his perspective, learning is derived from rich conversation with other persons who have similar or different perspectives based on their own life experiences (Jonassen, 1999; Jonassen et al., 1995; Woo & Reeves, 2007). Thus, blogging inspired by Vigotskian theories enables the social construction of knowledge (Coutinho, 2007). In order to enhance students’ use of blogs in social knowledge construction, this study attempts to explore how individual differences affect students’ blogging intention through the mediation of enjoyment belief based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). According to the TRA, external stimuli indirectly influence a person’s attitude towards a certain behaviour by influencing his or her salient beliefs about the consequences of performing the behaviour. Thus, it is believed that external stimuli might influence a person’s BI through the mediation of PE. Individual differences are important external stimuli for beliefs 140 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 43 No 1 2012 © 2010 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Technology © 2010 Becta. about using IT (eg, Agarwal & Prasad, 1999; Hong et al., 2002; Wang & Wang, 2008). Individual differences include user factors such as personality and demographic variables, as well as situational variables that account for circumstance-based differences such as experience and training (Agarwal & Prasad, 1999). Prior research also supports that individual differences can significantly influence behavioural intention to use IT via beliefs about using IT (Hong et al., 2002; Wang & Wang, 2008). Thus, individual differences are expected to have an indirect effect on BI through their direct effect on PE. Considering that Big Five personality traits (ie, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), computer self-efficacy (CSE) and personal innovation in information technology (PIIT) appear to be the most researched individual difference variables in the field of information and educational technology acceptance (eg, Agarwal & Prasad, 1998; Amichai-Hamburger, 2002; Guadagno, Okdie & Eno, 2008; Hong et al., 2002), this study proposes two categories of individual difference antecedents of PE in the acceptance of blogging: (1) the Big Five personality traits and (2) individual differences related to computer skills. The following sections elaborate on the theoretical foundations and derive hypotheses. Research model and hypotheses The theoretical model underpinning this study is shown in Figure 1. The model suggests that the Big Five personality traits (ie, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), as well as CSE and PIIT serve as antecedents of PE, which in turn is a determinant of BI. The following sections elaborate on the constructs that make up the model and the proposed relationships among them.