Factors Influencing Students’ Attitudes to Computer Utilization in Tertiary Institutions: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT Students today need to have computer knowledge and skills to enable them perform their task at school and their jobs. This presents a challenge to universities on how to provide computer education to their students. This challenge is even more critical for students in developing countries. Few studies have been done on attitude of students' use of computers in a university environment using a well-grounded technology acceptance mode. The purpose of this study is to find the factors that influence student attitude in the acceptance and use of computers in tertiary institutions in emerging economies using the Theory of Planned Behavior Model. Keywords: Factors, Computers, Students, Attitude, Challenge. INTRODUCTION A Country's economic and technological development can be accelerated by improvements in the training and use of computers. Computer technology now fuels the global market and is the driving force in the growth of developed economies. It is now generally accepted that computer skill is an important enabler of growth through increased productivity and the creation of opportunities. This is not the case with developing economies. Tertiary institutions provide broad computer training for the industry. This presents a challenge to universities on how to provide the necessary computer education to their students. This challenge is even more critical for students and institutions in emerging economies. Numerous studies have been conducted on student use of computers in developed countries, but few studies have been done on factors that influence students' use of computer in tertiary institutions in developing countries. None has researched the attitude of students' use of computers in a university environment using a well-grounded technology acceptance model. The purpose of this study is to find the factors that influence student attitude in the acceptance and use of computers in tertiary institutions in emerging economies such as Nigeria, using the Theory of Planned Behavior Model. This Model will be used in order to ascertain factors such as ability, knowledge, resources and time to learn. The result of this study will give us an insight to students' attitude in accepting computers in developing countries and compare it in future research studies to those of students in advanced countries. This paper is organized as follows: Introduction, then Literature Review which examines other studies on the subject. The section on Theoretical Frame describes some technology acceptance models, including the technology model and the hypotheses used in this study. The next section, Methodology, describes how data was collected. Result section, presents data analysis, while the next section discusses data interpretation and implication, and finally the conclusion. LITERATURE REVIEW Education prepares society for interaction within the social, economic and cultural domains of daily life, (Olaniran & Agnello, 2008). Demands of the modern global age require people and institutions to continuously acquire new knowledge and skills, (Haddad & Drexler, 2002). Oxfam Education Report, (2002), stated that computer skills provide teachers and students great opportunities in teaching and learning, thus improving the quality of teaching and learning in High Schools and Universities. It also brings flexibility in to Institutions and method of delivery of course materials. It is a known fact that students with a prior access to computers tend to enter universities with positive attitudes toward computers, (Ramayah et al., 2005). The workforce must be computer skilled in order to reap the benefits of this new tool. Globalization implies that the whole world is viewed as a single market place in the acquisition, utilization and development of computer skilled professionals, (Badamas, 2002). The new economic order makes it necessary for developing countries to develop a national policy and society that place a high value on computer education and training, since computer is now an integral part in the learning and teaching process, (Mitra, 2000). …