# Continuance Use of Cloud Computing in Higher Education Institutions: A Conceptual Model
## 6 Preliminary Results
### Validity and Reliability of the Survey Instrument  
Face validation, content validation, and a pilot study were undertaken to ensure the validity and reliability of the survey instrument. Face validity refers to the procedure of assessing an instrument based on feasibility, consistency of style and formatting, readability, and linguistic clarity [185; 186]. In this study, face validity was evaluated in interviews with academic researchers (\(n=2\)) with experience in questionnaire design. Regarding content validity, this refers to the extent to which a survey instrument measures what it intended to measure [177; 178; 227], and an expert panel was assembled to test it in this study. Although only three experts are the minimum for a content validity panel [228; 229], five were recruited for the present study (three academics involved in IS and CC, as well as two industry practitioners). Online and offline distribution channels were used for the questionnaire in order to assess the constructs, and the measurement of items also took place with 4-point scale suggested by [PERSON] [230]. A textbox was provided for every question, thereby ensuring that the participants had enough free space in which to provide comments. The participants identified areas for potential changes (e.g., \"re-word this sentence\"), and to quantify the relevance of every item, the average congruency percentage (ACP) [231] was computed. Noteworthily, the threshold value of ACP recommended by [PERSON], [PERSON] [186] was achieved (i.e., 90%). In this regard, it is worth drawing attention to the fact that the questionnaire's items were adapted from the prior literature of the adopted theoretical models (i.e., the IS continuance model [101], IS success model [105; 120], IS discontinuance model [16], and TOE framework [102]. Reliability testing involved measuring each construct's attribute based on the Cronbach Alpha reliability test statistic, and this decision was made owing to the statistical test's widely accepted status in the literature in terms of internal reliability (i.e., the ability of an object of measurement to yield the same results on independent occasions). Several studies have inspected the minimum threshold for Cronbach Alpha as being above or equal to 0.7, while values less than 0.6 have been inspected to have a lack of reliability [232]. Cronbach Alpha values are given for every construct, as well as inter-itemcorrelation values, in Table 5. According to Briggs and Cheek [233], inter-item correlations in a reflective measurement scale offer data pertaining to the scale's dimensionality. Furthermore, mean inter-item correlation is distinct when compared to a reliability estimate because it is not impacted by scale length. Resultantly, it provides a less ambiguous sense of item homogeneity. When the mean inter-item correlation does not exceed 0.3, this suggests that the item is not correlated with others in the same construct in a strong way [234]. At the same time, inter-item correlations that exceed 0.9 are indicative of multicollinearity issues [235]. For Cronbach Alpha values that exceed 0.7, this suggests favorable internal consistency in terms of the items on the scale [236]. Specifically, Cronbach Alpha values that exceed 0.9 are considered \"excellent\", while values exceeding 0.8 and 0.7 are considered \"good\" and \"acceptable\", respectively [237]. For values exceeding 0.6, these are considered \"questionable\", while values lower than 0.5 are considered \"unacceptable\" [237]. In this study, relatively only one of the inter-item correlations fell below the recommended value of 0.3, meaning that the implications associated with their elimination from the survey instrument were considered. Given their weak correlations with other items in the measurement of confirmation construct, one item was removed. Additionally, because the resulting Cronbach Alpha values would not have increased after the deletion of the item, the item was retained (see Table 5).