Decoding Digital Learning: Analysing Antecedents of Behavioural Intention and E Learning Adoption

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the antecedents that enable or constrain the adoption and diffusion of eLearning in higher education (HE). The key focus of the study is on the examination of how the organisation's diffusion structures, systems or processes influence the individual adoption of eLearning. The findings from this literature review contribute to practice through providing a better understanding of the issues associated with institutional diffusion mechanisms that aid the adoption of learning technologies.Design/methodology/approach– An extensive search of the literature was conducted. The selected references were analysed into a number of categories; macro-level studies examining HE context of eLearning, micro-level studies focusing on individual and social factors and articles focusing on management issues of adoption and diffusion of technological innovations. Finally, over 300 articles were used to compile the findings of this paper.Findings– The paper argues that future research studies should not model the adoption and diffusion of eLearning based primarily on either an individualist (Micro) or structuralist (Macro) perspective, but by using a more interactive approach to examine the complexity and multiple levels and dimensions of social reality.Research limitations/implications– A significant exclusion and one which clearly calls for further research, is the aspect of institutional structures such as library systems, virtual learning environments, administrative support systems and other technical systems such as enrolment, registration, assessment and students, with respect to the adoption of eLearning. Future studies may want to explore the interplay between these structures and agency.Practical implications– The study findings contribute to practice through providing a better understanding of the issues associated with institutional diffusion mechanisms that aid the adoption of learning technologies. Considering the slow and often disappointing adoption of eLearning within higher education institutions (HEIs), the study reveals the nature of adoption that may inform the development of institutional eLearning diffusion structures.Social implications– The paper identifies that the importance of individual factors influencing the adoption of eLearning has been acknowledged by the above studies, and the underlying message has emerged that levels of eLearning adoption would be higher if strategic managers recognised the social dimensions of eLearning innovation and diffusion, such as: academic and professional goals, interests and needs; technology interests; patterns of work; sources of support; and social networks. The argument is that currently eLearning is geared towards technically “literate” and innovative staff, and this strategy reduces the likelihood of mainstream faculty actually adopting instructional technology for their own teaching.Originality/value– A review of the eLearning literature shows that there only a few substantive theoretical accounts which adequately integrate multiple levels of analysis and explain adoption and diffusion of eLearning in terms of the interplay between structural influences and individual action. The paper argues for future research to be integrated in a general analytical framework.

Are some daily job stressors good for employees? The challenge-hindrance stressor framework (CHSF) attempts to shed light on this question by categorizing stressors according to their ability to facilitate (challenge stressors) or inhibit (hindrance stressors) growth and achievement. According to the CHSF, challenge stressors should be associated with increased performance, but also with increased strain which subsequently hurts performance. Conversely, hindrance stressors should be associated with reduced performance both directly and indirectly via strain. Prior meta-analytic investigations have focused on more stable job stressors (using cross-sectional or longitudinal primary studies), and found contradicting resulted in support of the CHSF predictions. In the current meta-analysis, we tested the validity of the CHSF using a more dynamic view of stressors, by applying it to short-term, daily experiences of stressors, strains, and performance outcomes. Results from 78 unique samples indicated that at the within-person level, hindrance stressors have both a direct and an indirect (via strain) short-term effect on performance. Challenge stressors have a positive direct effect on performance but a negative indirect effect via strain. Furthermore, we examined two performance indicators separately: task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). The results revealed that challenge stressors have a stronger positive association with OCB than with task performance. Hindrance stressors exhibited the opposite pattern, a stronger negative association with task performance than with OCB. The results of this study suggest that all daily stressors result in strain, which negatively relates to performance, though challenge stressors also have some positive effects on daily performance.

Based on a Technology Acceptance Model, this study investigates and increases the understanding of how perceived technological attributes (perceived technological implicitness and compatibility) and internal beliefs (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) will influence the behavioral intention of accepting licensing in new technology. This study adopts the Structural Equation Modeling approach. Based on the 244 correspondents from Taiwan's four high technology industries, 63% of the variance of licensees' behavioral intention can be accounted for by perceived usefulness, perceived technological implicitness, and compatibility in one theoretical mediate model. However, the evidence from Taiwan's 95 biotechnology companies indicates that 64% of the variance of behavioral intention can be explained by an alternative theoretical mediate and moderate model that consists of perceived technological compatibility, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use.

The significance of occupational stressors as a risk factor in accidents has long been recognized; however, the behavioral mechanisms underlying this relationship are currently not well-understood. Meta-analysis was utilized to test the relationships between occupational stressors (challenge and hindrance), safety behaviors (compliance and participation), and safety outcomes (occupational injuries and near-misses). It was hypothesized that hindrance stressors would have negative effects on both safety compliance and safety participation, and subsequently, safety outcomes, whereas challenge stressors would have positive effects. The hypotheses relating to hindrance stressors were supported, suggesting that hindrance stressors lead to a significant reduction in both compliance with safety rules and participation in safety-related activities. Hindrance stressors were also associated with higher levels of occupational injuries and near-misses. The relationship between hindrance stressors and occupational injuries was fully mediated by safety behaviors. However, the hypotheses related to challenge stressors were not supported. Challenge stressors had a nonsignificant, near-zero association with compliance and occupational injuries, a small negative association with participation, and a small positive association with near-misses. The theoretical and practical implications of the meta-analytic findings are discussed, as well as avenues for further research.

Occupational stressors have long been recognized as an important risk factor for injury accidents. The mechanisms underlying the relationships among challenge stressors, hindrance stressors, safety outcomes (occupational injuries), emotional experiences (attentiveness), and job performance (task performance) were investigated from the perspectives of the challenge–hindrance stress model and the conservation of resources theory. This study collected multi-source data over two timepoints for 105 safety supervisors and 379 construction workers in China. Results revealed that both challenge and hindrance stressors were positively related to occupational injuries, but only challenge stressors were positively associated with attentiveness. In addition, occupational injuries mediated the relationship between both challenge and hindrance stressors and task performance, while attentiveness mediated only the relationship between challenge stressors and task performance. These findings contribute to our knowledge of stress management in the construction project context and provide recommendations for stress management for front-line workers at construction sites.

The mediation role of work–family conflict (WFC) in job demands – job burnout link is well documented, also in group of nurses. It is still unclear, however, which job demands are particularly conducive to WFC and job burnout. Moreover the mediational effect of WFC was tested mainly in cross-sectional studies that were conducted in countries of North America and Western Europe. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources and the Effort-Recovery models, this one-year cross-lagged study investigates the effects of five types of job demands related to challenge and hindrance stressors on job burnout (measured with exhaustion and disengagement from work) as well as the mediational role of WFC in Polish nurses. Job demands included emotional, cognitive demands, and demands for hiding emotions (as challenge stressors) as well as quantitative demands and work pace (as hindrance stressors). Data were collected among 516 nurses. Structural equation modelling (SEM) showed that hindrance stressors (T1) are predictor of higher job burnout (T2). The positive role of challenge stressors (T1) were not supported. Only emotional demands were associated with exhaustion but the direction of the relation was opposite than expected. WFC (T1) mediated the harmful effect of the two hindrance stressors and emotional demands on disengagement from work (but not on exhaustion). Cognitive demands and demands for hiding emotions were not related to negative outcomes. The obtained results shed light on the role of the challenge-hindrance stressors and WFI in development of job burnout. The implications for theory and research on the mental health of nurses are discussed.

Purpose—This study aims to develop an integrated model of mobile banking adoption by integrating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Task Technology Fit (TTF), and the Initial Trust Model (ITM). It examines the relationship between acceptance factors, technology task alignment, and trust in affecting behavioural intention and adoption, and evaluates the moderating effect of financial literacy. Study Design/methodology/approach—A Structured questionnaire was distributed amongst 282 consumers in Islamabad, Pakistan. Data was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLSSEM) to assess construct reliability, validity, and hypothesized relationships. Findings— The variance in behavioural intention and adoption was 53.1% and 32.6% respectively, explained by the integrated model. Social influence and facilitating conditions were found to have significant effects on intention, but there were no significant effects of performance and effort expectancy. Technology and task characteristics had a positive influence on TTF, but TTF was found to have no direct effect on adoption. A particular quality of the system proved to be a powerful predictor of intention, while information quality was less influential. Actual adoption was predicted by behavioural intention very well. Financial literacy enhanced behavioural intention and amplified the impact of social influence, particularly among highly literate users. Practical Implications— Reinforcement of trust cues, guarantee of high system quality, maintenance of facilitating conditions, and leverage of social influence among financially literate customers are required from the Banks and fintech providers. Originality/value—The study integrates UTAUT, TTF, and ITM with Financial Literacy as a moderator, which is a novel contribution in the Pakistani mobile banking context.

SummaryAlthough conscientiousness was commonly viewed as a type of personal resource to help individuals reduce strain or mitigate the impacts of stressors, empirical research demonstrated mixed results. Based on the personal resource allocation perspective, we posited that rather than functioning as personal resource per se, conscientiousness may act as a key factor influencing how individuals allocate their personal resources. The current study examined the moderating roles of conscientiousness in the relationships that work stressors (i.e., challenge stressors and hindrance stressors) have with employee psychological strain and job performance by using multi‐source, time‐lagged data collected from 250 employees working at two companies. The results showed that both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors were positively related to psychological strain. Conscientiousness moderated the relationships between both stressors and psychological strain, such that the positive relationships were stronger for individuals with high conscientiousness. Conscientiousness also moderated the relationship between challenge stressors and performance, such that the relationship was positive for individuals with high conscientiousness but negative for those with low conscientiousness. Altogether, the findings suggest that conscientiousness acts as a double‐edged sword that both promotes performance and exacerbates the stress reaction of employees when they are confronted with stressful situations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Participatory forest management constitutes an important pathway toward sustainable and inclusive forest governance, mediated by local social, cultural, and institutional dynamics. This study presented pioneering research that applied the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate the intentions of non-state forest owners in the Czech Republic to involve the public in forest management planning. Data were obtained from 92 valid responses and analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). The results showed that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control had a positive influence on behavioral intention. However, only subjective norms had a statistically significant effect ( β = 0.61, p = 0.021), while the effects of attitudes ( β = 0.10, p = 0.515) and perceived behavioral control (β = 0.26, p = 0.277) were not significant. The model explained 86.31% of the variance in behavioral intention, demonstrating strong explanatory power despite the modest sample size. These findings provide preliminary evidence that social expectations from professional peers, local communities, and family networks play a dominant role in shaping forest owners’ willingness to adopt participatory planning approaches. Theoretically, this study extends the TPB framework by showing that normative influence predominates when attitudes and perceived control are already favorable, underscoring the importance of social legitimacy in structured institutional contexts. From a policy perspective, the results highlight the need to strengthen collective norms and institutional support through forest owner associations, peer learning, and transparent governance mechanisms. Such strategies can enhance social legitimacy and foster broader, more sustainable public participation in forest management planning.

There are different theoretical models regarding the determinants of consumers’ intention to use technology and their use behavior. The Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology-2 (UTAUT-2) model explains the variance in behavioral intention and technology use variables in pursuit of a consumer-centric model. This research study aims to figure out the determinants and impacts of individuals’ intention to use mobile banking and their use behaviors within the context of Turkey. The data of the study was obtained from 684 participants aged 18 years or older in April-June 2018 via an online survey method. Findings of the research study reveal that the behavioral intention of using mobile banking is influenced by trust, social influence, price value, facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, and habit; whereas habit and trust affect both use behavior and behavioral intention. Furthermore, moderator impacts of trust and age as well as hedonic motivation and age on behavioral intention, whereas moderator impacts of habits and age on use behavior are determined. No significant relationship is found between the behavioral intention of using mobile banking and the use behavior.

Expatriates employed to work on international construction projects face high levels of stressors in the workplace, and adjustments often need to be made to improve their job performance. We investigated whether and how expatriate resilience mediates the effect of job stressors on expatriate adjustment. We put forth a series of consistent and contradictory hypotheses by combing the challenge–hindrance stressor framework with the job demands–resources theory. Data collected from 2123 expatriates of international construction projects were used to evaluate the theoretical model, and the data were separated into two groups (low-level hostile environment group and high-level hostile environment group) based on the hostility level of their assigned locations. These results confirm that the impact of the two categories of stressors varies in different hostile environments. In all contexts, hindrance stressors are “bad” stressors as they impair expatriate resilience and adjustment, whereas challenge stressors exert different effects on expatriate resilience and adjustment depending on the level of hostility of their environments. In the high-level group, challenge stressors had a negative effect on expatriate adjustment and resilience. In contrast, challenge stressors were “good” in the low-level group. Moreover, both challenge and hindrance stressors significantly mediate expatriate adjustment via expatriate resilience, highlighting the value of considering expatriate resilience. These results add to the growing body of knowledge on the relationship between expatriate adjustment and occupational stressors. Our research furthers our understanding of the challenge–hindrance stressor framework by finding results contradictory to those of the original framework.

Education Management Systems (EMS) in China have evolved from old administrative frameworks into intricate, multifaceted ecosystems in the age of globalization and rapid digitalization. In order to assess the effect of EMS on teaching quality and moral education, this study uses a systematic literature review and synthesis of recent institutional case studies, policy papers, and empirical research (2021–2025). The results show a sophisticated digital oversight that can improve the effectiveness of education but also endanger teacher wellbeing and pedagogical autonomy. Additionally, the data show that management's capacity to reduce "hindrance stressors" like bureaucratic red tape while promoting "challenge stressors" that advance professional expertise strongly mediates teaching quality. In the same vein, moral education has evolved from an ancillary subject to a controlled goal, included within the structural changes of the "Chinese Model." According to the study's findings, management systems that successfully combine high-tech uniformity with a human-centered emphasis on teacher self-efficacy and student psychological flourishing are the most robust.

E-Learning adoption and use by university students have become prevalent worldwide, but developing nations still need to catch up. This study aims to establish critical paths amongst determinants of “behavioural Intention” and “use behaviour” in eLearning use and adoption in Higher Education in Zimbabwe using the modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. The PLS-SEM method was used to evaluate the modified unified theory of acceptance and use of technology path model. A sample of 520 university students was used to collect data using an online survey created on Google Forms. The findings show that “Habit” had the most influence (0.804) on “Behavioural Intention,” followed by “Performance Expectancy” (0.319) and “Effort Expectancy” (0.270). Behavioural Intention had a significant influence (0.831) on “Use Behaviour.” The path model explains 88.8% of “Behavioural Intention" and 76.1% of “Use Behaviour” variances. Though limited, this study is significant to students in higher Education, policymakers and researchers, given the importance of technology in the education sector.

Improving teacher well-being at work is a great challenge worldwide. Understanding the stressors of Chinese university teachers in teaching activities is critical for shedding light on well-being in the midst of the rapid expansion of the higher education system and the quest to rise in world rankings. This study integrates the well-being perspective and the transactional model of stress and coping to investigate the mechanisms underlying the effect of challenge—hindrance stressors on teacher engagement. Data were collected through the online platform SoJump in mainland China (N = 7743), and structural equation modeling was used to test the relationship between challenge—hindrance stressors and teaching engagement. The statistical results revealed the following: (1) challenge stressors had a significant positive effect on teaching engagement, while hindrance stressors were negatively related to teaching engagement; (2) challenge and hindrance stressors were significant negative predictors of teacher job satisfaction; (3) teacher job satisfaction suppressed the impact of challenge stressors on teaching engagement and partially mediated the process by which hindrance stressors impact teaching engagement. The findings suggest that the theoretically opposing effects of the two stressors are not absolute and that special consideration should be given to teachers’ job satisfaction in relation to stress management for university teachers.

SummaryJob stressors remain a common organizational phenomenon, and research shows the ability to recover during nonwork time is critical for well‐being and job performance. Recent labor data suggest a rise in dual‐career couples, indicating employees may be affected by their own as well as their spouses' job stressors. Yet, investigations into dual‐career couples' mutual experiences of job stressors and nonwork outcomes are scarce. Informed by the work–home resources model and crossover theory, we use a dyadic modeling approach to examine how heterosexual, dual‐career couples' daily challenge, and hindrance stressors relate to social support/undermining received by the spouse and subsequent evening relaxation—a critical recovery experience. We find a gendered pattern where husbands' daily challenge stressors affect social support toward their wives and wives' nightly relaxation. Husbands' challenge stressors also related to social undermining toward their spouses, although this effect was moderated by the husbands' exhaustion at the end of the workday. Neither wives' challenge stressors nor both partners' hindrance stressors impacted spousal social behaviors. The results of this study highlight that job stressors can be differentially linked to dual‐career couples' evening relaxation experiences and point to the importance of investigating stressors on the day level within a realistic social context.