Aubke, Florian (2007) Acceptance of teaching technology in hospitality education: impact of personality. Research Master thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

Hospitality educators teach increasingly diverse student cohorts, operate within a challenging economic environment, but need to provide graduates with a wide range of academic and employability skills that reflect the complexity of their industry. An increase in the utilization of teaching technology in hospitality education can be seen as one response to a perceived need for the provision of more efficient and effective services to students. However, the suitability of technology-supported teaching approaches for this discipline is commented on in the literature, but not evidenced. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of the individual personality types of hospitality students and its effect on the acceptance of a specific teaching technology, namely WebCT. Data were collected using a survey method. Two instruments, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for personality and a researcher-constructed instrument based on Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) were used. In this model, the acceptance of a technology was defined in terms of the outcome of the participant’s attitude towards this technology, which itself was a combination between Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness. The final sample comprised 212 hospitality students in their first or second year of study at a university in the western region of Melbourne. This study hypothesised that individual personality characteristics of the students would have a significant influence on their acceptance of WebCT. The results supported the hypotheses across the personality constructs on the attitudinal score of the TAM. As such, personality differences could not be used to explain attitudinal differences towards WebCT within this cohort. However, the analysis of student personality types validated earlier studies on the dominance of STJ types and has implications for curriculum design and delivery. Moreover, individual characteristics influenced responses to single items of the acceptance questionnaire, indicating a need for using larger sample sizes. The usefulness of the TAM appears to have been validated by this study. Differences between the current results and those of previous studies may be explained by the mandated usage environment in which this study took place.

Search Google Scholar

Repository staff login