Analysis of the Expectation of Effort Expended when ICT is used in Academic Learning Activity: Influence of Effort Expectancy and Moderating Role of Experience

Abstract

This paper seeks to provide further understanding of issues surrounding university 
students’ cognitive belief about the effort an individual would expend when using 
information and communication technology (ICT) to perform a given task related to 
academic learning. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) 
perspective was adopted to determine the strength of effort expectancy (the belief that 
ICT is easy to use and effort-free) and the moderating influence of experience on ICT use 
in academic context. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 400 respondents 
that were selected using purposive sampling from students at University of Maiduguri 
and University of Ibadan in Nigeria. This study aims to achieve three objectives: to 
determine the respondents’ level of ICT use; to determine the effect of effort expectancy 
on ICT use; and to assess the moderating influence of prior ICT use experience on the 
relationship path between effort expectancy and ICT use. The Cronbach alpha of the 
measurement scale was (α = .85) very good. The results indicate that effort expectancy 
significantly predict ICT use and that low experience significantly moderates the 
relationship path between effort expectancy and ICT use, which led this paper to 
conclude that most Nigerian university students possess basic (rudimentary, or low) ICT 
use skills; and the majority of them believe that an individual student would need to 
expend lot of effort when using ICT to accomplish a given academic task. Hence, this 
paper recommends that practical e-learning courses should be included in public 
universities’ academic curriculums.