The role of involvement in learning management system success

Learning management systems (LMS) have been adopted by the majority of higher education institutions and research that explores the factors that influence the success of LMS is needed. Involvement, the extent to which a system is perceived to be relevant and important, is associated with the success of information systems in other contexts and might influence the success of LMS in higher education. This paper investigates the roles of student and instructor involvement in LMS success, using the DeLone and McLean (2003) model of information systems success as a framework. Data were gathered by online questionnaire from students enrolled in a medium-sized Australian university. Involvement was found to be important to LMS success. The higher students’ involvement with the LMS developed for a particular course offering, the more positive the outcomes they reported from using the system. While student involvement did not have an effect on nature or extent of LMS use, instructor involvement was found to guide appropriate use. Furthermore, instructor involvement was shown to contribute to student outcomes by affecting information quality which in turn affects the benefits students receive from use. More research should be directed to explaining how students and instructors obtain benefits from LMS use