Fostering students’ attitude towards online learning: The mediation effect of satisfaction and perceived performance

• Main Authors: Ngah, Abdul Hafaz, Abdul Rashid, Rosyati, Ariffin, Nur Asma, Ibrahim, Fauzayani, Abu Osman, Noor Azuan, Kamalrulzaman, Nurul Izni, Mohamad, Mohamad Firdaus Halimi, Harun, Nor Omaima
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH 2022
• Subjects: LB Theory and practice of education
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/43205/; https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85113490929&doi=10.1007%2f978-3-030-82616-1_26&partnerID=40&md5=b07ed5467042795e6a78b9313f1fc77f
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has caused Malaysian education institutions to embrace online learning due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) and closure of universities. By adopting the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory, this study aims to identify the factors influencing students’ attitudes to continue online learning. Since attitude can influence behaviours, the lecturers must stimulate a positive attitude among students during the online learning sessions. The study also looked into the potential of student satisfaction and performance as a mediating variable. A purposive sampling method was employed in the study, and 1349 data were gathered using an online survey. The data were analysed using a structural equation modelling with Smart Partial Least Squares. The results indicate that perceived ease to use positively affected satisfaction and performance; satisfaction and performance were confirmed to positively related to attitude. Satisfaction and performance explain 69.8 of the variance of attitude. Data analysis also revealed that performance and satisfaction mediated the relationship between perceived ease to use and attitude. These findings suggest that the university’s top management must foster a positive attitude among students to continue to use online learning to prevent COVID-19 from spreading on campus. The present study limited the variables studied to ease of use, satisfaction, and performance of science students at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Additionally, the present study significantly contributes to the body of knowledge about student’s attitudes in online learning amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. From a practical perspective, it is crucial for the top management of higher institutions in Malaysia and around the globe to provide online learning systems and platforms which are easy to use. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.