This study proposes to identify the determinants of accepting e-learning by the employees of the Tunisian Post Office using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). An empirical study was conducted over a sample of 200 Tunisian employees. Our results indicated that for the Tunisian employees perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, mastery of new information and communication technologies (NICT) as individual factors as well as the proposed technique as an organisational factor represented the main determinants of e-learning acceptance.
The emergence and evolution of the Internet have led to the development of useful and powerful tools for distance learning. As a result, e-learning is becoming increasingly important and is making the learning process more effective in many contexts [
Education and industry have sought the contribution of e-learning in order to improve their competitivity [
It would be then interesting to determine the factors that influence the implementation of e-learning among the training practices of Tunisian firms. Understanding determinants of e-learning adoption assumes the analysis of the manner with which trainees perceive, express and use this training technique.
Then, our study aims at determining the factors behind accepting e-learning by trainees. To this effect, we use a very well defined model, which is the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), to conduct an empirical study over 200 employees of the Tunisian Post Office across the different regions of Sfax, Sousse, Tunis, Monastir and Jendouba to test our hypotheses.
In the first section, we present the review of the literature. In the second section, we present our research hypotheses. The third section discusses our methodology. Finally, the results of our research are presented and discussed in the last section.
E-learning generally refers to methods of learning which use electronic instructional content delivered via the internet and is a term which is synonymous with Webbased or online learning [
Many empirical studies support the idea that effective e-learning benefits organization success [
E-learning can be classified as asynchronous e-learning or synchronous e-learning [11,12]. First asynchronous e-learning is a form of self-study [
According to Favier et al. [
• Ease of learning with better retention: E-learning offers to learners the opportunity of an easy access to relevant and useful knowledge [21-24]). Collins et al. [
• Flexibility of time and place: e-learning gives students the opportunity to attend training at anytime, anywhere [
• Customizing e-learning: “e-learning” allow learners to learn according to their individual pace and according to their personal agendas [11,26,27].
• Improving Productivity: E-learning offers opportunities to improve and increase learners’ effectiveness [21,23].
• Interactivity and institution-community collaboration: e-learning binds each learner with other learners and experts together to form a collaborative learning community [11,21,26].
However, these assumptions are not shared by all researchers [28,29] and are dependent on the acceptance of e-learning technologies for learners, which is linked to a number of contextual factors.
The technology acceptance model was introduced by Davis [
TAM explains the acceptance of information technology in performing tasks and identifies perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) as two key determinants that enhance the use of technology [
• Perceived usefulness is “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his job performance” [
• Ease of use refers to “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort” [
“According to the TAM, both PU and PEOU influence the attitude of individuals towards the use of a particular technology, while attitude and PU predict the individual’s behavioural intention (BI) to use the technology” [
Davis model is presented as the
TAM has been the subject of several applications and has been shown to be a significant predictor in a variety of studies. Venkatesh and Davis [
Mathieson [
Moreover, the fact that TAM in its first version has evaded subjective norms has been criticized. Thompson [
In this paper an extended model is proposed, based on an extension of the TAM approach. The extended model includes constructs and relationships which may prove to be important in the context of e-learning. These constructs are: Social factors; System factors; Individual factors organizational factors and Voluntariness of use factors.
Our research design was inspired by the model of technology acceptance and various extensions and modifications made to this model [15,32,33]. Four types of factors influence usefulness and perceived ease of use of elearning: Social factors (Interpersonal influences and intrapersonal influences), System factors (content quality), organizational factors (technics assistance) and individual factors (NICT self-efficacy).
Perceived usefulness jointly reacts with perceived ease of use on attitude toward the use of e-learning. The intended use of e-learning is influenced at the same time by attitude towards this behaviour, by interpersonal influences, and perceived usefulness of e-learning.
Finally, voluntariness will have a moderating effect on the relationship between social factors (INI/ EXI) and the intention to use e-learning [