To what extent do technological factors contribute to poor adoption of eLearning Systems by Kenyan Universities Lectures? The case Study of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

A paper presented by Dr. Ngamau Macharia, During the First Annual Management Research Conference at USIU - Africa in 2014For over three decades now, researchers and academics alike have posted that technology rejection is a common phenomenon in organizations. This problem is disturbing bearing in mind the usually many millions and sometimes billions of dollars and effort that is invested to acquire and deploy some systems. Surprisingly this problem has not spared the higher education sector. Despite the craving in many of this institutions to deploy e-learning systems and platforms, many of them have not ripped the benefits leave alone advancing the learners environment due to the fact that may of the institutions dons fail to adopt the technology. This paper therefore sought to investigate what are the key system dimensions that have an influencing role in the adoption of e Learning by university dons in general and in particular the case of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya. A descriptive study design approach was adopted using a cross sectional survey questionnaire. A representative sample of 146 faculty at the University’s main campus was obtained using stratified sampling technique for the 7 schools of the university. Among technological factors, ICT infrastructure, perceived usefulness, output quality and job relevance showed the greatest a significant role in influencing the faculty to adopt e Learning system and were the only significant predictors of behavioral intention. Among the implication of this study is the fact that the university should invest more on ICT infrastructure such as in fast and reliable internet access and provide a dedicated mirrored server for e Learning. The university should also integrate e Learning into the university strategic plan and annual work plans and develop a clear policy and also fund e Learning initiatives. The theoretical implication is that the contemporary Technology Acceptance Models (TAM) that are designed and developed for the developed countries where ICT infrastructure is never an issue require adaptation or extension to apply to developing countries context