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Technological change and innovation behaviour in high level education: An international comparison between Italian and Portuguese samples
Author(s) -
Capece Guendalina,
Campisi Domenico
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
knowledge and process management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.341
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-1441
pISSN - 1092-4604
DOI - 10.1002/kpm.362
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , humanism , information and communications technology , context (archaeology) , knowledge management , portuguese , computer science , sociology , psychology , political science , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , world wide web , law , biology , programming language
Abstract The purpose of the research reported in this paper was to study the acceptability of e‐learning instruments either as substitutes for or a complement to traditional face‐to‐face education for people with a humanistic background. We conducted an international comparison between students (attending humanistic studies) in two different European countries: Italy and Portugal. The comparison allowed us to focus on similarities and differences in on‐line educational programs and in two different settings and allowed for appropriate statistical analysis. Starting from data and observations, we propose an acceptance model of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and a measurement framework. In particular, the study includes both reliability and construct validity measures. To date there has been little research effort investigating the implications of switching from the traditional educational frameworks towards innovative on‐line ones in an international comparative context. Our results show that students with a humanistic background may not be prepared to fully use technical tools as instruments of education. Therefore ICT instruments must be introduced in humanistic faculties via a stepwise approach which allows a gradual but definitive assimilation of the innovative technological learning instruments. The outcomes of our study have been directly applied on a real case: the Master Program in Human Resource Management (HRM) in the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ where an e‐learning platform has been implemented as a complementary to the traditional approaches to education. Furthermore our model is currently under investigation in large industrial companies with the aim of measuring and improving the e‐learning education in the field of production and distribution of energy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.