International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Information Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijinfomgt

Review

Online learning: Adoption, continuance, and learning outcome—A review of T

literature
⁎
Ritanjali Panigrahi , Praveen Ranjan Srivastava, Dheeraj Sharma
Indian Institute of Management Rohtak, Management City, NH 10, Southern Bypass, Sunaria, Haryana 124001, India

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The use of Technology to facilitate better learning and training is gaining momentum worldwide, reducing the
Online learning temporal and spatial problems associated with traditional learning. Despite its several benefits, retaining stu-
Virtual community dents in online platforms is challenging. Through a literature review of the factors affecting adoption, the
Technology adoption continuation of technology use, and learning outcomes, this paper discusses an integration of online learning
Technology continuation
with virtual communities to foster student engagement for obtaining better learning outcomes. Future directions
Learning outcome
have been discussed, the feedback mechanism which is an antecedent of students’ continuation intention has a
lot of scopes to be studied in the virtual community context. The use of Apps in m-learning and the use of cloud
services can boost the ease and access of online learning to users and organizations.

1. Introduction Markets, 2018b).

Online learning and training are gaining popularity worldwide, re-
ducing the temporal and spatial problems associated with the tradi-
tional form of education. The primary factors behind using online
learning are not only to improve access to education and training, and
quality of learning, but also to reduce the cost and improve the cost-
effectiveness of education (Bates, 1997). Online learning is mainly
provided in two ways—in synchronous and asynchronous environments
(Jolliffe, Ritter, & Stevens, 2012). The time lag attributes of asynchro-
nous learning unlike synchronous learning in online platforms take the
advantage of accessing materials anytime and anywhere, ability to
reach a greater mass at the same time, and uniformity of content. On-
line learning along with face-to-face learning is successfully used in
industry as well as academia with positive outcomes (Chang, 2016).
The geographically distributed team in an organization can get their
skill training through online platforms at the same time, gaining a
greater level of competitiveness. Online learning is also beneficial for
students as they can learn at their own pace with the availability of
online materials. The e-learning market is becoming popular and
widely adopted by the education sector and industry. The growth of the
e-learning market can be demonstrated by the fact that the global e-
learning market is expected to reach 65.41 billion dollars by 2023
growing at a cumulative average growth rate of 7.07% (Research and
Markets, 2018a). In addition to this, the global learning management
system (LMS) is expected to increase from 5.05 billion USD in 2016 to
18.44 billion USD by 2025 growing at a rate of 15.52% (Research and
Despite several advantages of online learning such as improving
access to education and training, improving the quality of learning,
reducing the cost and improving the cost-effectiveness of education,
retaining students in such platforms is a key challenge with a high at-
trition rate (Perna et al., 2014). Several strategies such as briefing,
buddying, and providing feedback on the platform are proposed to
retain and engage students (Nazir, Davis, & Harris, 2015). It is also
noted that more self-discipline is required by students in online edu-
cation, unlike traditional classroom education (Allen & Seaman, 2007).
Keeping users enrolled and engaged is a challenging job as a personal
touch by the instructor is missing or limited. The learning engagement
which is an important antecedent for learning outcome is lower for
technology-mediated learning than face-to-face learning (Hu & Hui,
2012). As a higher amount of money is spent on infrastructure, staff
training, etc., organizations seek to take maximum benefit from online
learning which requires an understanding of the factors that drive the
adoption, continuation intention, and learning outcome of users on
online learning platforms. Therefore, the primary focus of research
remains on how to retain online learning users, and increase the effi-
ciency of the online learning.
Users may learn inside and outside the classroom; inside classroom
learning is through instructors either from face-to-face, pure online or
blended learning (combination of face-to-face and pure online learning)
whereas outside classroom learning is conducted by users anytime and
anywhere after the class. The exponential growth of the Internet has
enabled individuals to share information, participate, and collaborate

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fpm02.006@iimrohtak.ac.in (R. Panigrahi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.05.005
Received 26 July 2016; Received in revised form 5 May 2018; Accepted 19 May 2018
0268-4012/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. Panigrahi et al.
to learn from virtual communities (VC) anytime and anywhere (Rennie
& Morrison, 2013). In a virtual community, people do everything that
they do in real life but leaving their bodies behind (Rheingold, 2000).
Virtual communities keep its users engaged based on familiarity, per-
ceived similarity, and trust by creating a sense of belongingness (Zhao,
Lu, Wang, Chau, & Zhang, 2012). It is essential to assess the role of a
less constrained informal mode of learning (Davis & Fullerton, 2016)
like virtual communities in the formal learning to engage and retain
students.
The paper is organized as: Section 2 presents the research metho-
dology with a bibliographical database and the framework in which the
review is conducted. Section 3 provides details of the literature review
with categorizations –technology adoption, the continuation of tech-
nology use, and learning outcomes. In Section 4, a detailed discussion is
presented, followed by future directions in Section 5. Section 6 sums up
the paper with concluding remarks.
2. Research methodology
The methodology used for the review of literature is presented in
this section. The research methodology is divided into two phases
which are Article selection, and Classification and Categorization as
depicted in Fig. 1.
2.1. Article selection
2.1.1. Initial pooling
The initial pool of sources or articles is obtained from recent IS
(Information Systems) journals, education journals, books, and articles.
The most recent research papers are searched in the databases by using
advanced search options with keywords ‘Online learning’, ‘e-learning,’
‘Virtual communities,’ ‘Technology adoption,’ ‘Continuation intention,’
‘Technology use,’ ‘Virtual worlds,’ ‘Learning outcome,’ etc. Also, a
backward and forward snowballing method is applied to the initial pool
of journal articles. Snowballing method in literature review is a tech-
nique for identifying additional papers based on the reference list of the
current paper and the citations to the paper (Wohlin, 2014). Here, the
articles are searched from the reference list and the cited-by articles to
ensure that the risk of missing relevant studies is reduced. The back-
ward snowballing method is where the sources (reference section) of
Fig. 1. Research Methodology.
2
International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
the journal articles with any contribution in the area of online learning
are investigated. On the other hand, the forward snowballing method is
where the articles citing the journal article under study are examined to
discover the contribution in the area of online learning. Along with it,
the seminal works related to technology adoption and use in the area of
information systems are also selected for review.
2.1.2. Inclusion/exclusion criteria
The inclusion/exclusion criteria are applied to the initial pool of
research articles. All the research articles in the initial pool are ex-
amined. The abstracts and keywords are thoroughly studied and
checked for any theoretical contribution in the area of online learning;
virtual communities; mobile learning; seminal works on IS theories; the
extension of theories; etc. However; the research papers with detailed
technology architectures are excluded from the pool. For example; ar-
ticles with a complete implementation focus or tools development are
excluded.
2.1.3. Final pool
The final pool of articles contains all the research articles in the
initial pool minus the excluded articles based on the inclusion/exclu-
sion criteria applied. The major journals considered in the final pool are
provided in Table 1. The final pool of articles is now ready for classi-
fication and categorization.
2.2. Classification and categorization
2.2.1. Attribution identification
As organizations are moving towards providing education and
training with the help of technology with spending in the infrastructure
and training, it is essential to understand the factors that affect adop-
tion, continuation use of technology, and learning outcomes. Therefore,
the attributes identified to map the final pool of articles are factors
affecting adoption, continuation use, and learning outcomes in online
learning.
2.2.2. Attribution mapping
The final pool of research articles is mapped to the attributes
identified in the previous step, technology adoption, continuation of
technology use, and learning outcomes. These mapped articles are
R. Panigrahi et al.
Table 1
Bibliographical databases included.
Bibliographical Databases included
Australasian Journal of Information Systems
Behaviour & Information Technology.
British Journal of Educational Technology
Decision Support Systems
European Journal of Information Systems
Information & Management
Information and Organization
Information Systems Research
Information Technology & People
Information, Communication & Society
International Journal of Information Management
Internet Research
Journal of Knowledge Management
Journal of Management Information Systems
Journal of the Association for Information Systems
MIS Quarterly
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
The Information Society
further categorized in the next step.
2.2.3. Categorization
The socio-structural influences and psychological mechanisms to-
gether produce human behavioral effects (Bandura, 2001). To under-
stand the human behavioral aspects of adoption, continuation, and
learning outcomes, it is essential to understand the personal and en-
vironmental factors. This paper, categorizes the antecedents of adop-
tion, continued use of technology, and the outcome of virtual learning
platforms in the framework of Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986)
and then proposes future directions of research based on the literature
review.
3. Classification and categorization of literature
This section provides a detailed analysis of the factors affecting
technology adoption, continuation, and learning outcomes. Further, the
literature is categorized into personal and environmental factors.
Numerous effort and research have been carried out on adoption and
continuation of technology use. The main theories studied for tech-
nology adoption are Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers, 2010),
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), Theory of Planned
Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), and Unified
Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh,
Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). Theories which provides a base for
technology continuation are the Expectation-Confirmation model for IS
continuation (Bhattacherjee, 2001), DeLone and McLean IS success
model (Delone & McLean, 2003), Flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 2000),
Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986), etc. This paper looks at the
factors of adoption, continuation use of the technology, learning out-
comes, and categorizes them through the lens of Social Cognitive
Theory.
3.1. Technology adoption
The base theories of adoption have been used and extended by many
researchers (Chen, Hsieh, Van de Vliert, & Huang, 2015; Cheng, 2012;
Ho, Ke, & Liu, 2015; Hong, Lui, Hahn, Moon, & Kim, 2013; Kaba & Osei-
Bryson, 2013; Kirs & Bagchi, 2012; Knight & Burn, 2011). The ante-
cedents of technology adoption from various theories and their exten-
sions are discussed in the following sub-sections in terms of personal
and environmental factors.
3.1.1. Personal factors
3.1.1.1. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use:. According to the
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International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), the Perceived
Usefulness (PU) and the Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU) are the
predominant antecedents of technology adoption and they determine
the intention to use through attitude (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1977), which in
turn leads to the use behavior (Knight & Burn, 2011; Ros et al., 2015;
Saadé & Bahli, 2005). However, a study by Kim, Kim, and Han (2013)
has found that PEoU has no significant effect on attitude in TAM in the
development of learning widgets for the e-learning environment
context. This indicates that ease of use of a widget alone does not
imply the attitude, but the usefulness of it does. There are several
factors explored by researchers which along with PU and PEoU affect
the acceptance of the technology. These are:
3.1.1.1.1. Perception of interaction (PoI):. The TAM framework is
extended with construct PoI to accommodate continuous system usage
rather than users’ early adoption of IT (Knight & Burn, 2011). The PoI is
the users’ perception of their ongoing interactions with their adopted
technologies. Furthermore, PoI along with PU determines the use
intentions of service-oriented e-learning management systems of
students (Ros et al., 2015).
3.1.1.1.2. Cognitive absorption:. The three dimensions of cognitive
absorption (the level of involvement), temporal dissociation,
heightened enjoyment, and focused immersion is different for
individuals, and affects both PU and PEoU to determine the
technology adoption (Saadé & Bahli, 2005).
3.1.1.1.3. Self-distraction:. The self-distraction as an escape
mechanism built on Escape theory (Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991)
affects the attitude towards the virtual world. With higher self-
distraction (or escaping the negative confines of real life), playfulness
would lead to greater attitude towards the virtual world, and social
presence would lead to lesser attitudes towards the virtual world
(Schwarz, Schwarz, Jung, Pérez, & Wiley-Patton, 2012).
3.1.1.1.4. Cognitive age:. PU, PEoU, and Perceived Enjoyment (PE)
play a significant role in the decision of IT acceptance for individuals
who are young at heart (cognitive age lesser than their actual age). On
the other hand, PEoU and subjective norm (perceived social pressure)
play a significant role for individuals who perceive themselves as old as
they are (Hong et al., 2013).
3.1.1.1.5. Social networks:. The eigenvector centrality (the extent to
which an individual is connected to influential others) and the closeness
centrality (how close or distant the network users are with other users
within the network) positively influence the technology use (Venkatesh
& Sykes, 2013).
3.1.1.1.6. National culture (Hofstede, 1984):. The relationship
between PU and attitude is more intense for masculinity,
individualistic, low power distance and low uncertainty avoidance
culture (Kaba & Osei-Bryson, 2013).
3.1.1.1.7. Surrounding conditions (thermal climate and national
wealth):. Thermal climate (temperature conditions) and national
wealth (national income) moderates the relationship from PEoU to
PU and PU to continuation intention. The difference in the strength of
the relationships is more for the poor (national wealth) − harsh
(climate) and poor-temperate countries than that of rich-harsh and
rich-temperate countries regarding knowledge seeking behavior (Chen
et al., 2015).
The acceptance of technology not only depends on the factors such
as PU and PEoU but also on various internal and external/environ-
mental factors. The personal factors such as perception of interaction,
cognitive absorption, escape mechanism, cognitive age, etc. play vital
roles in determining the use of technology. In addition to this, the en-
vironment of an individual such as culture, surrounding conditions, the
social network, etc. are pivotal in determining the use of technology.
Hence, organizations should carefully examine these factors along with
perceived use and perceived ease of use while implementing any
technology to understand their adoption.
3.1.1.2. Perceived behavior control:. Perceived Behavior Control (PBC)
R. Panigrahi et al.
is defined as the individuals’ perception of the ease/difficulty of
performing the behavior. PBC is introduced in the Theory of Planned
Behavior to deal with its limitation of behaviors over which individuals
have incomplete volition control (Ajzen, 1991). The perceived behavior
control positively affects the use intentions in a virtual world context
(Mäntymäki, Merikivi, Verhagen, Feldberg, & Rajala, 2014).
3.1.1.3. Performance and effort expectancies:. The performance and
effort expectancies from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of
Technology (UTAUT) affect the behavioral intention and behavior
(Venkatesh et al., 2003). The performance expectancy is the degree to
which an individual believes that using a system would help to attain
the gain in the performance, and it captures the concept of constructs
perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, job fit, relative advantage,
and outcome expectations. The effort expectancy can be defined as the
degree of ease associated with the system, and the construct captures
the concept of perceived ease of use, ease of use, and complexity. In
addition to the expectancies, the culture affects the technology
adoption by individuals. The impact of effort expectancy on
behavioral intention is stronger in an individualistic, and low power
distance culture and the impact of behavioral intention on actual
behavior are stronger in low uncertainty avoidance cultures (Im,
Hong, & Kang, 2011).
3.1.1.4. User resistance:. User resistance which is a primary concern in
IT implementation, negatively impacts the adoption. It has three
perspectives, system (technology related factors), people (individuals
or group factors), and interaction oriented (interactions between
characteristics related to people and system). The main sources of
resistance are distorted perception, low motivation for change, political
and cultural deadlock, lack of creative response, and others (Ali, Zhou,
Miller, & Ieromonachou, 2016).
3.1.2. Environmental factors
3.1.2.1. Perceived characteristics of innovation:. Innovation is defined as
“an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or
another unit of adoption” (Rogers, 2010). According to Diffusion of
Innovation Theory, the perceived characteristics of innovation (relative
advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability) in
the persuasion stage of diffusion plays a significant role in adoption
(Rogers, 2010). The online learning has certain relative advantages
such as flexibility in schedule and lower cost than the offline learning.
The compatibility of the e-learning system is positively related to its
adoption. Furthermore, the adoption rate depends on the simplicity
(less complexity) of the technology to implement and use. The more the
online learning is tried by users, the more the rate of adoption. The
observability characteristic requires track records and statistics to make
the result visible.
Internet diffusion is vital for technological progress in a country,
and the factors affecting diffusion in developing countries differ from
those of developed countries. Users’ cognition and government policies
can accelerate the diffusion process only after a certain threshold level
of human rights has been attained in a developing country (McCoy,
Cha, & Durcikova, 2012). The technology adoption is positively related
to nations’ generalized trust (trust in members of the society), and the
rate of change of adoption is associated with a rate of change of trust
(Kirs & Bagchi, 2012).
3.1.2.2. Subjective norm:. Subjective norm is the perception of an
individual about whether the others who are important to them
believe that he/she should perform a particular behavior (Fishbein &
Ajzen, 1975). It determines the intention to use, which further leads to
use behavior. Although subjective norm positively impacts
participation intention in several studies (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975;
Hong et al., 2013), Zhou (2011) has posited that subjective norm does
not affect the participation intention in the online community. Social
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International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
influence from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology
capture the concepts of constructs –subjective norm, social factors, and
image (Venkatesh et al., 2003). The social influence is positively
affected by the interpersonal and external influence (Mäntymäki
et al., 2014), and it positively impacts the use behavior through the
use intentions (Venkatesh et al., 2003; Im et al., 2011).
3.1.2.3. Facilitating conditions:. The facilitating conditions are the
degree to which an individual believes that the organizational and
technical infrastructure exists to support the use of the system
(Venkatesh et al., 2003). The facilitating conditions directly impact
the actual use of the system rather than the intention to use (Venkatesh
et al., 2003; Im et al., 2011). It is also found that the impact of the
facilitating conditions on the actual use has no difference in the
individualistic and collectivist cultures (Im et al., 2011).
3.1.2.4. Technology inhibitors:. Technology inhibitors work along with
technology enablers; inhibitors are not just antipoles of technology
enablers but have a separate existence by themselves (Cenfetelli &
Schwarz, 2011). The study identified intrusiveness, effort redundancy,
and process uncertainty as system inhibitors, and information overload,
irrelevant requests for information, and deceptiveness as information
inhibitors. These inhibitors negatively impact the usage intentions.
3.1.3. Technology adoption in organizations
The organizational support and prior experience affect both PE and
PEoU whereas computer self-efficacy predicts PEoU, and task equivo-
cality (level of ambiguity occurs during the task) predicts PU for
technology adoption by employees (Lee, Hsieh, & Chen, 2013). With
simultaneous use of e-learning systems where an old system is not
phased out, the management who makes the decision for adoption in an
institution with a higher construal level likely to pay attention to PEoU
whereas the management with a lower construal level pays attention to
PU of the new system (Ho et al., 2015). High construal level is seeing
the bigger picture, not the details and vice versa (Trope & Liberman,
2010). Organizational infrastructure and culture, staff attitude and
skills, student expectations and experience along with the introduction
of departmental e-learning champions are key factors determining the
adoption of online learning in higher education (King & Boyatt, 2015).
3.1.4. Summary
It is essential for the organizations to understand the factors that
affect adoption both at the individual level as well as at the environ-
ment level before implementing online learning because once the fac-
tors are identified and understood, it becomes easier for the stake-
holders to successfully implement it. At a broader level, the perceived
characteristics of innovation (of online learning) such as relative ad-
vantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability play a
significant role in adoption. Literature suggests that the primary factors
of adoption are perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. But,
there are several other factors which work along with these two factors
to explain technology adoption. They are the perception of interaction,
cognitive absorption, self-distraction, cognitive age, social network
characteristics, national culture, surrounding conditions, etc. In addi-
tion to this, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology
states that the performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social in-
fluence, and facilitating conditions affect the acceptance and use of
technology. Apart from the technology enablers which positively affect
the technology adoption, there are also certain technology inhibitors
which have separate existence and negatively impact the technology
adoption; they are intrusiveness, effort redundancy, process un-
certainty, information overload, irrelevant requests for information,
and deceptiveness which negatively impacts the usage intentions via
system and information quality. User resistance is a major concern
while implementing any technology in an organization which should be
handled with different strategies to overcome it. Antecedents of the
R. Panigrahi et al. International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14

Table 2a
Summary of Antecedents of Adoption- Personal factors.
Constructs Authors Observations

Perceived Usefulness (PU)
Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU)
Attitude
Perception of Interaction
Self-distraction (as escape
mechanism)
Cognitive absorption
Playfulness
Cognitive age
Perceived enjoyment (PE)
Perceived behavior control
Effort Expectancy
Performance Expectancy
Davis (1989), Saadé and Bahli (2005), Knight and Burn Positive impact
(2011), Kaba and Osei-Bryson (2013), Ros et al. (2015)
Davis (1989), Saadé and Bahli (2005), Knight and Burn Positive impact
(2011), Kaba and Osei-Bryson (2013)
Ajzen (1991), Fishbein and Ajzen, (1977), Mäntymäki Positive impact, no impact (in online community)
et al. (2014)
Knight and Burn (2011), Ros et al. (2015) Positive impact
Schwarz et al. (2012) Positively moderates the relationship between playfulness and attitude and
negatively moderates the relationship between social presence and attitude
Saadé and Bahli (2005) Positive impact on PU and PEoU
Schwarz et al. (2012) Positive impact
Hong et al. (2013) PU, PEoU, PE plays significant role in IT adoption for individuals with lower cognitive
age, whereas PEoU and subjective norms play important role for individuals with
same cognitive age
Mäntymäki et al. (2014) Positive impact
Ajzen (1991), Mäntymäki et al. (2014) Positive impact
Venkatesh et al. (2003), Im et al. (2011) Positive impact
Venkatesh et al. (2003), Im et al. (2011) Positive impact

Table 2b
Summary of Antecedents of Adoption- Environmental factors.
Constructs Authors Observations

Relative advantage Rogers (2010) Positive impact on adoption

Compatibility Rogers (2010) Positive impact
Complexity Rogers (2010) Negative impact
Trialability Rogers (2010) Positive impact
Observability Rogers (2010) Positive impact
Nations' generalized trust Kirs and Bagchi (2012) Positive impact
Eigenvector centrality and Closeness Venkatesh and Sykes (2013) Positive impact
centrality
National Culture Kaba and Osei-Bryson (2013), Im et al. (2011) The relationship between PU and attitude is more intense for muscular
cultures
Thermal climate and National wealth Chen et al. (2015) Climatic conditions have greater impact for poorer countries than richer
countries regarding knowledge seeking
Social presence Schwarz et al. (2012) Positive impact
Subjective Norm Hong et al. (2013), Ajzen (1991), Fishbein and Ajzen Positive impact
(1975), Mäntymäki et al. (2014)
Social Influence Venkatesh et al. (2003), Im et al. (2011) Positive impact
Facilitating conditions Venkatesh et al. (2003), Im et al. (2011) Positive impact
System inhibitors Cenfetelli and Schwarz (2011) Negative impact
Information inhibitors Cenfetelli and Schwarz (2011) Negative impact

technology adoption are discussed in Tables 2a and 2b. Table 2a pre-
sents the personal factors, and Table 2b presents the environmental
factors. Column 1 shows the factors affecting technology adoption,
Column 2 cites the authors who have used the constructs in their re-
search, and Column 3 discusses the observations.
3.2. Continuation of technology use
People tend to overlook their own beliefs and imitate others while
making an adoption decision showing herd behavior, and those deci-
sions are weak which can be reversed in the post-adoption stage. The
observation of prior information leads to imitating others whereas the
uncertainty of adoption leads to discounting own information (Sun,
2013). The antecedents of continuation of technology are reviewed
from literature to obtain a better understanding of how to engage users
in online environments and are categorized into personal and en-
vironmental factors in the following sub-sections.
3.2.1. Personal factors
3.2.1.1. Satisfaction:. Satisfaction is one of the predominant
antecedents of continuance intention of technology or continuation
intention in an online learning platform (Alraimi, Zo, & Ciganek, 2015;
Bhattacherjee, 2001; Limayem & Cheung, 2008, Shiau & Luo, 2013).
When individuals satisfied with the platform or technology, they tend
to continue using them.
3.2.1.2. Habit:. IS habit from the Expectation-confirmation model
plays a significant role in the IS continuance (Bhattacherjee, 2001).
However, high levels of habit weaken the relationship from IS
continuation intention to IS continued use (Limayem & Cheung,
2008). Habit is found to be causing psychological dependence, also
leads to social media dependence which starts from usage experience,
and then to maladaptive cognition which further leads to distorted
affects and then psychological dependence (Wang, Lee, & Hua, 2015).
However, the habit has not shown any strong significant relationship
with satisfaction and intention to continue for blog users (Shiau & Luo,
2013).
3.2.1.3. Flow:. Flow in an activity refers to optimal experience felt by
people as a result of total involvement in the task, and people
experiencing flow are most likely to be motivated to continue further
activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The three flow dimensions, clear
goals, immediate feedback, and balance between challenge and skill are
widely accepted and are the prerequisite for flow to occur out of
Csikszentmihalyi’s nine flow dimensions (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014).
Telepresence and the perceived hedonic value also plays significant
role in predicting students’ intention to continuation (Guo, Xiao, Van
Toorn, Lai, & Seo, 2015). The information quality, support service

5
R. Panigrahi et al.
quality, system quality, and instructor quality affects perceived
usefulness, confirmation, and flow which in turn affects satisfaction
and continuation intention of blended systems by nurses (Cheng, 2014).
The study also found that instructor quality is the most dominant
predictors of the flow in a blended learning platform.
3.2.1.4. Self-efficacy:. Self-efficacy is defined as “People's judgments of
their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to
attain designated types of performances” (Bandura, 1986). It is the most
widely adopted and used personal dimension construct of the Social
Cognitive Theory. The self-efficacy of an individual determines the
continuation intention in an online learning platform (Cigdem & Topcu,
2015; Zhang, Fang, Wei, & Wang 2012).
3.2.2. Environmental factors
3.2.2.1. Confirmation:. Users assess the perceived performance of a
system with their original expectations to determine the degree to
which the users’ expectation is confirmed post adoption of IS
(Bhattacherjee, 2001). Confirmation positively affects the
continuation intention in an online system through perceived
usefulness and satisfaction (Alraimi et al., 2015; Bhattacherjee, 2001).
3.2.2.2. IS quality parameters:. The IS quality parameters –information,
system, and service qualities impact the net benefits and which further
affect the user satisfaction and intention to use (DeLone & McLean,
2003). A study by Cheng (2012) has found that information, system,
service, and instructor quality are the antecedents of PU, PEoU, and
Perceived Enjoyment (PE) which in turn affects the intention to use.
Moreover, system use, information quality, and system quality have a
diminishing impact on satisfaction when the system is used under the
voluntary use context (Sun, Fang, & Hsieh, 2014). Perceived
information quality has slightly more weight than perceived system
quality on perceived individual benefits and user satisfaction, and the
latter two determines the continuation intention in a VC (Zheng, Zhao,
& Stylianou, 2013).
3.2.2.3. Psychological safety communication climate:. The
communication climate is vital for individuals in an online learning
environment. Individuals often fear the negative consequences on the
self-image, status, career, etc. in an online environment and do not
participate. Therefore, the psychological safety in the communication
climate is essential for the individuals to express one’s self without fear.
The psychological safety communication climate is found to be
positively impacting the intention to continue participation (Zhang
et al., 2012).
3.2.2.4. Perceived responsiveness:. Perceived responsiveness is defined
as the response an individual receives in an online learning
environment. It captures the communication frequency state of the
online learning environment. The more responsiveness an individual
receives in an online environment, the more he/she is motivated in the
environment to participate. The perceived responsiveness is found to be
positively related to intention to continue participation (Zhang et al.,
2012).
3.2.3. Knowledge contribution behavior and continuance in virtual
communities
The disruption of learning facilitated by Web 2.01 has altered the
traditional model of higher education from the classroom to the asyn-
chronous mode with several tools such as blogs, wikis, podcast, e-
1
Web 2.0 is the “writable” phrase of the World Wide Web (WWW). It allows users to
create and consume information, and encourages to share information, participate, and
collaborate through various virtual communities such as blogs, wikis, social networking
sites, etc. in contrast to the read-only Web 1.0 which provides only static content with no
or little interaction capabilities.
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International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
portfolios, social networking, e-books, online forums, etc. with educa-
tion applications (Rennie & Morrison, 2013). A Virtual Community
(VC) is a network of individuals interacting through social media to
pursue mutual interests or goals. Individuals participate in social net-
work sites, forums, blogs, discussion boards, etc. and discuss, share,
post, comment, gives advice and collaborate with online communities
on a common topic. Various factors contribute to the VC members’
knowledge contribution behavior and continuance which is discussed in
this section. These are:
3.2.3.1. Satisfaction:. Satisfaction, which is a determinant for
continuation in a virtual world, is determined by perceived utilitarian
(functional), hedonic (emotional), and social benefits. Females exhibit a
greater effect of utilitarian and social benefits on satisfaction, whereas
males exhibit a greater effect of hedonic benefits on satisfaction (Zhou,
Jin, & Fang, 2014).
3.2.3.2. Trust:. The identification trust (perception of an individual
that members of the community are willing to take care of others),
affective commitment (emotional bond), and trust in members
influence the continuation of knowledge sharing in a VC (Hashim &
Tan, 2015; Hsu, Chang, & Yen, 2011). When the satisfaction is lower in
a social network, the moderating effect of trust and self-image
congruity on satisfaction to continuation intention is significant
(Kourouthanassis, Lekakos, & Gerakis, 2015).
3.2.3.3. We-intentions and sense of belongingness:. The emotional, social,
and cognitive factors determine we-intentions in a VC, which lead to
the contribution behavior (Tsai & Bagozzi, 2014). In social influences,
the group norms and social identity have a stronger influence on the
desire for we-intentions, and these factors are stronger for collectivist
cultures than in individualistic cultures (Tsai & Bagozzi, 2014; Zhou,
2011). Familiarity, perceived similarity, and trust positively affect the
sense of belongingness, which positively impacts intentions to get and
share knowledge (Zhao et al., 2012). The personal belongingness to a
group (perceived identification bonds) leads to relationship bonding
(perceived internalization bonds) with shared values, beliefs, etc. which
in turn leads to higher quality of discussions (Shih & Huang, 2014).
3.2.3.4. Community commitment (CC):. The issue involvement relating
to a subject discussed by a member is the most important factor for
member commitment in a VC (Shih-Tse Wang, Shui-Lien Chen, & Tsai,
2012). The continuance CC (costs related to leaving the community)
positively affects reading, normative CC (the bond between member
and community) positively affects moderating discussions, and the
affective CC (emotional attachment) positively affects posting replies
and moderating discussions in the community (Bateman, Gray, &
Butler, 2011).
3.2.3.5. Immersion:. Immersion (psychological experience of engaging
with certain activities) along with presence (experiencing others as
being psychologically present) in a 3D virtual learning environment
positively affects confirmation which, along with PU and PEoU leads to
satisfaction and continuation intention (Shin, Biocca, & Choo, 2013).
3.2.3.6. Participation needs:. The participation needs (autonomy,
relatedness, and competence) have a positive impact on newcomers’
cognitive social identity, and it determines participation intention and
participation behavior (Tsai & Pai, 2014).
3.2.3.7. Attitude:. The attitude towards the peer-to-peer problem-
solving in a VC affects the membership, influence, and immersion
dimensions of sense of VC, which positively affects the knowledge
contribution intention (Chen, Yang, & Tang, 2013).
3.2.3.8. Motivations:. Transactional Virtual Communities (TVCs) are
R. Panigrahi et al.
virtual communities where knowledge sharing is considered as
transactions, and extracts economic value from the transactions,
unlike relational virtual communities where the knowledge sharing
behavior is based on social relationships. Extrinsic (e.g., rewards) and
intrinsic (e.g., interest, enjoyment) motivations are positively related to
the continuation intentions and knowledge sharing behavior in a TVC
(Sun, Fang, and Lim, 2014; Wang & Hou, 2015). The perceived
cognitive effort required to learn the information system has a
negative effect on satisfaction (Sun, Fang, & Hsieh, 2014).
3.2.3.9. Knowledge characteristics:. The informational determinants
(knowledge quality and source credibility) and the normative
determinants (knowledge consensus and knowledge rating) have a
positive impact on knowledge adoption and knowledge sharing
intention in a VC (Chou, Wang, & Tang, 2015; Hsu et al., 2011). The
study also revealed that higher level of perceived time pressure leads to
a weaker influence on informational determinants and stronger
influence on normative determinants.
3.2.3.10. Interactions:. The fundamental interactions (communication,
discussion, collaboration) positively impact knowledge acquisition
whereas the supplemental interactions (building relationships)
negatively impacts knowledge acquisition and positively impacts
knowledge contribution in a VC (Zhou, Zuo, Yu, & Chai, 2014).
3.2.3.11. Social network integration:. The social network integration
with VCs instils relationship management, which encourages the
dyads in the network to continue sharing knowledge (Pan et al., 2015).
3.2.3.12. Structural dynamics:. The increase in clique size (small
subgroups) in a VC negatively moderates the relationship between
emotional ties and intention to stay whereas the increase in
membership size positively moderates the relationship between
information resource sharing and intention to stay through
collaborative tools (Bock, Ahuja, Suh, & Yap, 2015).
Various personal and environmental factors determine the knowl-
edge contribution (KC) behavior and continuance in a VC. The we-in-
tension, sense of belongingness, and community commitment of
members are vital for the KC behavior. The immersion, participation
needs, satisfaction, issue involvement, etc. determines the continuance
of an individual in a VC. Trust in the members, as well as the system,
predicts the KC behavior and it is very crucial for the continuance when
the satisfaction level is low for the members. There are certain en-
vironmental features of a VC such as knowledge characteristics, inter-
actions, structure, and social network integration which predicts the
knowledge contribution and continuance behavior. In the context of
transactional VCs, the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations determine the
KC and continuance behavior. Institutions or organizations should
provide a conducive environment to encourage the members to build
positive personal factors for the KC and continuation behavior. Also, the
environmental features should be carefully designed to encourage the
members to stay and contribute in a VC.
3.2.4. Technology continuance in organizations
Organizational learning can be enhanced when the users are sa-
tisfied with the e-learning system (Capece & Campisi, 2013). Use of
online materials along with on-site attendance, students who are sa-
tisfied/happy, and students with closer average age in their cohort are
less likely to attrite (Freitas et al., 2015). The dropout rates for an on-
line course are more than traditional courses. It is also observed that the
persistent students’ academic locus of control (the degree to which a
person believes that the outcomes depend on his/her decisions and
efforts), and metacognitive self-regulation (student skills) significantly
differs from dropout students (Lee, Choi, & Kim, 2013). Therefore, the
students’ academic locus of control and metacognitive self-regulation
can be assessed before joining any online course.
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International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
3.2.5. Summary
Continuation in an online platform is important for the organiza-
tions to understand as, only adopting the technology and not continuing
leads to higher dropout rates. Satisfaction is one of the predominant
factors in determining the continuation intention. The confirmation to
users’ expectations has a positive impact on satisfaction which further
leads to the continuation of information systems (IS). IS habit is found
to be positively, negatively, and not significantly related to continua-
tion intention in various studies. The qualities of information systems
− information, system, service, and instructor qualities are positively
related to the continuation intention through perceived ease of use,
perceived usefulness, and perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, in-
dividuals who experience flow or total involvement in an online task
tend to be motivated to continue the activities. Self-efficacy as a per-
sonal factor, and psychological safety communication climate and
perceived responsiveness as environmental factors positively affect the
continuation intention in a virtual learning environment. Several fac-
tors have been found to impact the knowledge contribution behavior
and continuation intention in a virtual community. Individuals build
trust, we-intentions and sense of belongingness, and community com-
mitment in a VC which is critical for the continuation intention and
knowledge contribution behavior. In a transactional VC, the extrinsic
and intrinsic motivations drive the individuals to continue participation
and share knowledge. In addition to this, the immersion, participation
needs, interactions, and attitude towards peer-to-peer problem solving
of an individual impacts the participation and knowledge contribution
behavior. When the individuals are satisfied with the community, they
tend to stay on the platform. Apart from the personal characteristics,
the characteristic of the knowledge and the types of interaction in the
VC affects the knowledge adoption and sharing behavior. When the VC
is integrated with a social media, it instills relationship management
and encourages individuals to share knowledge. The antecedents of
continuation of technology are shown in Tables 3a and 3b. Table 3a
shows the personal factors and Table 3b shows the environmental
factors. Column 1 presents the factors affecting technology con-
tinuance, Column 2 cites the authors who have used the constructs in
their research, and Column 3 discusses the observations.
3.3. Learning outcomes
The learning outcome is the measure of the effectiveness of a
learning platform. The success of the online learning depends on
whether it has achieved the desired outcomes. The factors affecting
learning outcome are crucial for the organizations implementing online
learning because once the factors are determined, they can be used to
achieve optimized outcomes. Learning outcomes in different contexts
are important to understand as different learning interventions might
affect the outcomes differently. The factors of learning outcomes are
categorized on the basis of general personal and environmental factors,
and the contextual differences.
3.3.1. Personal and environmental factors
3.3.1.1. Engagement:. Student engagement primarily focuses on the
time and effort put by the students on the educational activities to
achieve the desired learning outcomes and is considered as a proxy for
learning outcomes (Pye, Holt, Salzman, Bellucci, & Lombardi, 2015).
Therefore, students’ learning effectiveness and satisfaction should be
improved by designing systems and instilling strategies that facilitate,
encourage, and reward their engagement (Hu & Hui, 2012). Various
personal and environmental factors contribute to the learning
engagement. They are:
3.3.1.1.1. Motivations:. The engagement motivations –utilitarian,
hedonic, and social motivations influence mobile users’ engagement
intention, perceived value, and satisfaction (Kim, Kim, & Wachter,
2013). Interest and self-regulation (motivational and learning
variables) positively impact emotional engagement, and interest is the
R. Panigrahi et al. International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14

Table 3a
Summary of Antecedents of Continuance- Personal factors.
Constructs Authors Observations

Satisfaction Bhattacherjee (2001), Limayem and Cheung (2008), Shiau and Luo (2013), Positive impact
Zhou, Jin et al. (2014)
Habit Limayem and Cheung (2008), Shiau and Luo (2013) Positive, negative, and no impact
Clear Goals Guo et al. (2015), Csikszentmihalyi (2000) Positive impact
Balance between challenges and skill Guo et al. (2015), Csikszentmihalyi (2000) Positive impact
Perceived Usefulness Bhattacherjee (2001), Limayem and Cheung (2008), Shiau and Luo (2013) Positive impact
Perceived Ease of Use Shin et al. (2013), Cheng (2012) Positive impact
Perceived Enjoyment (PE) Cheng (2012) Positive impact
Self-efficacy Zhang et al. (2012), Sun et al. (2012) Positive impact
Perceived utilitarian benefit Zhou, Jin et al. (2014) The effect on satisfaction is more for females
Perceived social benefit Zhou, Jin et al. (2014) The effect on satisfaction is more for females
Perceived hedonic benefit Zhou, Jin et al. (2014) The effect on satisfaction is more for males
Trust Zhao et al. (2012), Hsu et al. (2011), Hashim and Tan (2015) Positive impact
Perceived similarity Zhao et al. (2012) Positive impact
We-intentions Tsai and Bagozzi (2014) Positive impact
Affective commitment Hashim and Tan (2015), Bateman et al. (2011) It is positively related to posting replies and moderating
discussions
Issue involvement Shih-Tse Wang et al. (2012) Positive impact
Immersion Shin et al. (2013) Positive impact
Autonomy Tsai and Pai (2014) Positive impact
Competence Tsai and Pai (2014) Positive impact
Motivations: Extrinsic and intrinsic Sun et al. (2012) Positive impact

most important factor for emotional engagement (Sun & Rueda, 2012).
The introduction of tools, multimedia, etc. is essential for increasing the
student engagement.
3.3.1.1.2. Focus:. The two factors, promotion focus (growth and
achievements), and prevention focus (safety and security) determines
the owners’ participation as well as the overall engagement with the
collaborative knowledge sharing systems (Arazy & Gellatly, 2012). The
prevention focus leads the participants to play it safe to avoid any
negative outcome whereas the promotion focus positively affects the
owners’ and participants’ engagement.
3.3.1.1.3. Design interventions:. The design interventions of an
online learning system positively affect the student engagement. The
way in which students use the online system, the collaboration and
communication through social media, the relevance and quality of the
course, the staff assistance, etc. are crucial for fostering student
engagement for desired learning outcomes (Khan, Egbue, Palkie, &
Madden, 2017; Pye et al., 2015; O’Shea, Stone, & Delahunty, 2015).
As engagement is one of the key antecedents of learning outcomes,
fostering student engagement is essential for an organization to achieve
desired outcomes. Designing an online learning system with the con-
sideration of learning interventions is important to encourage student
engagement. In addition to this, the online learning system also should
be carefully designed such as to increase the learners’ motivations
(utilitarian, hedonic, and social), interest, self-regulation, etc. for better
engagement.
3.3.1.2. Virtual competency:. The information seeking ICT (Information
and Communications Technology) experience and communication

Table 3b
Summary of Antecedents of Continuance- Environmental factors.
Constructs Authors Observations

Confirmation Bhattacherjee (2001), Limayem and Cheung Positive impact

(2008), Shiau and Luo (2013)
Information Quality DeLone and McLean (2003), Cheng (2012), Positive impact
Cheng (2014)
System Quality DeLone and McLean (2003), Cheng (2012), Positive impact
Cheng (2014)
Service Quality DeLone and McLean (2003), Cheng (2012), Positive impact
Cheng (2014)
Instructor Quality Cheng (2012), Cheng (2014) Positive impact
System Use Sun, Fang, and Hsieh (2014) Diminishing impact on satisfaction under the voluntary use context
Telepresence Guo et al. (2015) Positive impact
Immediate feedback Guo et al. (2015), Csikszentmihalyi (2000) Positive, and no impact
Psychological safety communication Zhang et al. (2012) Positive impact
climate
Perceived responsiveness Zhang et al. (2012) Positive impact
Group norm Tsai and Bagozzi (2014), Zhou (2011) Positive impact
Social Identity Tsai and Bagozzi (2014), Zhou (2011) Positive impact
Familiarity Zhao et al. (2012) Positive impact
Relatedness Tsai and Pai (2014) Positive impact
Cognitive effort Sun, Fang, and Hsieh (2014) Negatively impacts satisfaction
Continuance commitment Bateman et al. (2011) Continuance commitment is positively related to reading
Normative commitment Bateman et al. (2011) Normative commitment is positively related to moderating discussions in the
community
Knowledge Quality Chou et al. (2015), Hsu et al. (2011) Positive impact
Interactions Zhou, Zuo et al. (2014) The fundamental interactions positively impact knowledge acquisition whereas the
supplemental negatively impacts knowledge acquisition and positively impacts
knowledge contribution

8
R. Panigrahi et al.
through ICT helps to create virtual competence which in turn affects
learning effectiveness and satisfaction (Wan, Wang, & Haggerty, 2008).
The study highlights that low virtual competence may result in low
learning effectiveness and low satisfaction of the learners leading to the
high dropout rate. It is better to continue with the classroom learning
until learners develop virtual competency. In the virtual world context,
the perceived learning outcomes and learning outcome achievements of
students who explored the virtual environment are better than those
who just watched the videos (Chau et al., 2013). In a virtual training
system self-efficacy of a user positively impacts the perceived virtual
environment efficacy (Jia, Bhatti, & Nahavandi, 2014) and virtual team
effectiveness is predicted by the personal, institutional, and cognitive-
based trust (Pangil & Moi Chan, 2014).
3.3.1.3. Team collaboration:. Team collaboration is a crucial factor in
online learning environments to achieve required learning outcomes.
Students who received online collaborative learning received better
grades (Gupta & Bostrom, 2013; Tsai, 2013). The individual
performance is largely predicted by the technology fit and users’ task
(Goodhue & Thompson, 1995) and the team performance in a virtual
world depends on the team cohesion and team technology use
(Venkatesh & Windeler, 2012). Furthermore, the agreeableness,
conscientiousness, openness to experience and computer self-efficacy
have a positive impact on the team technology use.
3.3.2. Contextual differences
3.3.2.1. Learning interventions:. According to Social Cognitive Theory
(Bandura, 1986), learning interventions impact outcomes through
reflection on observations. The participants with enactive learning
(learning by experiencing) exhibited higher learning outcomes in terms
of cognitive knowledge and self-efficacy as compared to those who did
not receive enactive learning (Gupta & Bostrom, 2013). The study also
revealed that positive attitude and faithful use strongly affects the
learning outcome. Moreover, the learning styles such as networked
learning and material development significantly affect learning
achievement and satisfaction (Cheng & Chau, 2016).
3.3.2.2. Formal vs. informal learning:. Learning occurs via textbooks and
other print media in school settings whereas the digital world
dominates outside the school (Taalas, Tarnanen, Kauppinen, &
Pöyhönen, 2008). Students experience constrained learning in school
settings, whereas the learning is less restricted in after-school settings
(peer supported, interest-driven, and production oriented) (Davis &
Fullerton, 2016). Characteristics such as novelty, harmonization, no
time constraint, appropriate facilitations and association of a website
encourage enjoyable informal online learning (Lin, Fernandez, &
Gregor, 2012). For web users, the enjoyment factor is positively
related to the learning outcomes.
3.3.2.3. Virtual world characteristics:. Goel, Johnson, Junglas, and Ives
(2013) by using Theory of Affordance (Norman, 1999) have suggested
that virtual world characteristics (context and social facilitation)
positively influence learning outcome, satisfaction, and task
participation in a virtual world through cognitive absorption. The
context facilitation is related to the place in the virtual world
whereas the social facilitation is related to others in the place.
3.3.2.4. Cloud computing:. Cloud computing is a model for enabling
ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of
configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and
released with minimal management effort or service providers’
interaction (Mell & Grance, 2011). The student performance is found
to be improved after the use of cloud computing assisted instruction in a
blended learning platform (Sun & Shu, 2016). The behavioral intentions
or use intentions in a cloud-based virtual learning environment affects
the instructional effectiveness. Furthermore, the behavioral intentions
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International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
are predicted by interactivity, trust, school support, attitude, media
richness, and content design (Hew & Kadir, 2016).
3.3.2.5. Content management system (CMS) vs. learning management
system (LMS):. The success of online learning systems depends on
various factors such as content, delivery medium, presentation style,
assessments, etc. from the providers’ side. CMS and LMS are widely
adopted by organizations to conduct online learning successfully
(Coates, James, & Baldwin, 2005; Seadle, 2006). The underlying
difference between CMS and LMS are in terms of their specialization;
the former emphasizes on the content whereas the latter emphasizes on
the learning. A CMS is a computer application modeled after the
document library that creates, manages, and presents content in a
collaborative environment with multiple users offering a passive way of
learning. It helps organize the contents of websites, posts, forums,
discussion boards, etc. On the other hand, LMS is a software application
modeled after a physical classroom that creates, manages, and presents
training content with an interactive interface for assessments offering
an interactive way of learning. It helps in the registration (in a course),
assignments, grading, generating reports, tracking the completion
status of learners, etc. Although both the systems provide content for
different purposes, they cannot be replaced by one another as content
management systems support long-term classroom sessions and
learning management systems support short-term training sessions. In
terms of enhancing the learning outcome, LMS is robust as it is an
integrated system and takes into account the grading, student
completion status, delivery medium, way of presentation, content,
etc. The performance in an LMS can be enhanced by analyzing the
available data with various analytics, and changing the content,
delivery medium, or presentation style. On the other hand, it is
difficult for a CMS to track and enhance the learning outcome
automatically.
3.3.3. Summary
It is critical for organizations to assess the learning outcomes as they
spend a lot of their resources such as staff training, infrastructure, etc.
Several personal and environmental factors affect the learning out-
comes. Student engagement is one of the key antecedents that predicts
learning outcome, and factors such as motivation, type of focus, design
interventions, etc. affect the student engagement. Therefore, these
factors should be considered by the stakeholders to foster engagement
while focusing on learning outcome. As students learn over the internet
in an online learning medium, the virtual competency plays a pivotal
role in determining the learning effectiveness. In addition to this, the
team collaboration, team cohesion, team technology use determines the
performance of individuals in a team. Instructors should encourage the
team collaborations to achieve better outcomes in a blended learning
medium. There are several contextual factors in online learning that
affects the learning outcome. The less constrained informal learning
lead to enjoyment which is positively related to the learning outcome.
The virtual world characteristics such as context and social facilitation
positively impact the outcome. Moreover, it is found that using cloud-
based assisted instruction improves the student performance through
their use intentions. Instructors or educators should implement these
technological and pedagogical interventions in online learning to im-
prove the learning outcomes. The antecedents of learning outcomes are
examined from the literature and are shown in Tables 4a and 4b.
Table 4a shows the personal factors and Table 4b shows the environ-
mental factors. Column 1 shows the factors affecting learning outcomes,
Column 2 cites the authors who have used the constructs in their re-
search, and Column 3 discusses the observations.
4. Discussion
Getting a new idea adopted even when it has obvious advantages is
often very difficult (Rogers, 2003). Consistent with the previous
R. Panigrahi et al. International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14

Table 4a
Summary of Antecedents of Learning Outcomes - Personal factors.
Constructs Authors Observations

Self-efficacy Jia et al. (2014) Positive impact

Enactive learning Gupta and Bostrom Exhibited higher outcome regarding cognitive knowledge, self-efficacy, but not for satisfaction as
(2013) compared to those who did not receive enactive learning
Attitude Gupta and Bostrom Positive impact
(2013)
Self-efficacy Gupta and Bostrom Positive impact
(2013)
Enjoyment Lin et al. (2012) Positive impact
Online participation: networked learning, material Cheng and Chau Positive impact
development (2016)
Virtual competence Wan et al. (2008) Positive impact
Learning engagement Hu and Hui (2012) Positive impact
Self-regulation Sun and Rueda (2012) Positive impact
Interest Sun and Rueda (2012) Positive impact
Enjoyment Lin et al. (2012) Positive impact

statement, despite the advantages of online learning such as improving
accessibility, quality, and reducing cost, it has a long way to go to be
adopted and used by organizations because of the resistance at different
levels (Hanley, 2018). The reasons for resistances offered by the em-
ployees in an organizations include perceived poor focus of the e-
learning initiative, lack of time to learn new way of working, too much
effort to change, lack of awareness, and resistance to change (Ali et al.,
2016; Hanley, 2018). It is crucial from an institutional point of view to
overcome the resistance to adopt and implement the online learning
systems successfully.
Understanding the factors of online learning adoption, continuation
use intention, and learning outcomes are vital for an e-learning plat-
form providing organization because the success of the platform de-
pends on the successful adoption, continuation use, and finally
achieving the desired outcomes. From the literature, it is found that the
national culture affects the adoption and moderates the relationship
between variables of adoption and use. Therefore, the results of adop-
tion and use of technology might differ in different counties with dif-
ferent cultural dimensions. At a broader level, the perceived char-
acteristics of innovation (of online learning) such as relative advantage,
compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability play a sig-
nificant role in adoption. At an individual level, the primary factors of
adoption are the individual expectancies such as the perceived useful-
ness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, performance ex-
pectancy, effort expectancy, etc., and the external influences such as
subjective norm, social norms, surrounding conditions, national cul-
ture, social network characteristic, etc. On the other hand, the primary
factors of continuation of technology use are the experiences of the
individuals in the technology such as satisfaction, confirmation, self-
efficacy, flow, trust, we-intention, sense of belongingness, immersion,
IS qualities, etc. The perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are
found to be vital for both the technology adoption and continuation
use. This implies that the usefulness of the technology and how easy the
technology to use determines the adoption and continuation of tech-
nology. Apart from these technology enablers, the platform providers
should consider the technology inhibitors which negatively impact the
acceptance of the technology. The factors of the learning outcomes such
as self-efficacy, virtual competence, engagement, design interventions,
etc. should be considered before designing and delivering the content in
the online learning platform to achieve optimum learning outcomes.
The learners’ intention to use full e-learning in developing countries
depends on the learners’ characteristics, and learners’ adoption of
blended learning (Al-Busaidi, 2013). Studies for example by Verbert
et al. (2014) have shown that blended learning yields the best outcome
in terms of grade when students learn in online collaborative learning
with teacher’s initiation and feedback. On the contrary, some studies
have shown that contents such as business games do not need the in-
teraction with the instructor; in fact, they are negatively related to
perceived learning (Proserpio & Magni, 2012). MOOC (Massive Open
Online Course) users have organized face-to-face meetings to fulfill
their belongingness or social connectedness as a part of their learning
activity (Bulger, Bright, & Cobo, 2015). This indicates that not everyone
is good with a digitized form of learning, and hence both face-to-face
and online components should be integrated for better outcomes.
Lack of human connection is one of the limitations of online
learning (Graham, 2006) which may reduce the satisfaction level. To
address this limitation, personalization functions of e-learning systems
began. The satisfaction level, perceived and actual performance, self-
efficacy scores increase in personalized online learning where learning
materials are provided according to the cognitive capability and style of
each individual (Xu, Huang, Wang, & Heales, 2014). Although perso-
nalization of e-learning systems is beneficial, they are socially and
ethically harmful, and special attention should be given to issues such
as privacy compromisation, lack of control, the commodification of
education, and reduced individual capability (Ashman et al., 2014).
Personal e-learning systems collect user information to understand the

Table 4b
Summary of Antecedents of Learning Outcomes- Environmental factors.
Constructs Authors Observations

Collaborative learning Gupta and Bostrom (2013), Tsai Exhibited higher learning outcomes regarding satisfaction, self-efficacy, but
(2013) not for cognitive learning as compared to those learning alone
Team cohesion Venkatesh and Windeler (2012) Positive impact
Team technology use Venkatesh and Windeler (2012) Positive impact
Task-technology fit Goodhue and Thompson (1995) Positive impact
Context facilitation Goel et al. (2013) The physical space facilitation has positive impact on learning outcome
Social facilitation Goel et al. (2013) The presence of others in the virtual world has positive impact on learning
outcome
Design interventions (collaboration, quality, use of social Khan et al. (2017), Pye et al. (2015), Positive impact on engagement
media, staff assistance, etc.) O’Shea et al. (2015)

10
R. Panigrahi et al.
users’ interests and requirements for the learning which violates the
privacy of individuals. The system utilizes the user information to show
the personal content where the individuals do not have control over the
learning content. Hence they are limited to certain personal contents
which reduce their individual capabilities.
Studies, for example, Zhao et al. (2012) have shown that VCs create
a sense of belongingness and keeps the members engaged which results
in improving the learning outcome, and users with same age groups are
less likely to attrite (Freitas et al., 2015). Studies have shown that en-
gagement is promoted when criteria such as problem-centric learning
with clear expositions, peer interaction, active learning, instructor ac-
cessibility and passion, and using helpful course resources are met
(Hew, 2015). Social interactions through social networking produce an
intangible asset known as social capital (Coleman, 1988) in terms of the
trust, collective action, and communication. Social capital is positively
related to online learning satisfaction in group interactions, class in-
teractions, learner-instructor interactions, as well as increasing stu-
dents’ e-learning performance in groups (Lu, Yang, & Yu, 2013).
The continuous development of mobile technology has expanded
the opportunity to learn from mobile devices anywhere, anytime. M-
Learning is much more beneficial for accessing education in remote
areas and developing countries. The success of M-learning in organi-
zations depends on organizational, people, and pedagogical factors
apart from technological factors (Krotov, 2015). A range of mobile
technologies such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets are embraced by
students to support informal learning (Murphy, Farley, Lane, Hafeez-
Baig, & Carter, 2014). Learning through mobile devices poses both
opportunities as well as challenges; it provides flexibility in learning, on
the other hand, it is a limitation for those who do not have connectivity
and access to these devices. In student-centered learning especially
collaborative and project-based learning, the use of mobile devices can
be promoted by the mobile apps (Leinonen, Keune, Veermans, &
Toikkanen, 2014). The use of mobile apps along with guidance from
teachers integrates reflection in the classroom learning (Leinonen et al.,
2014).
Cloud computing provides organizations with a way to enhance
their IT capabilities without a huge investment in infrastructure or
software. The benefits of cloud computing are low cost, scalability,
centralized data storage, no maintenance from user side (no software
needed), easy monitoring, availability and recovery, and the challenges
include it requires fast and reliable internet access, and privacy and
security issues (El Mhouti, Erradi, & Nasseh, 2018). The primary factors
for adoption of cloud computing in e-learning are ease of use, useful-
ness, and security (Kayali, Safie, & Mukhtar, 2016). Private cloud inside
educational institutes can acquire the additional benefits in non-com-
promising the security and data privacy concerns associated with cloud
computing (Mousannif, Khalil, & Kotsis, 2013). Cloud computing pro-
vides support to the online learning platforms to store and process the
enormous amount of data generated. The problem of managing the
increasing growth of online users, contents, and resources can be re-
solved by using cloud computing services (Fernandez, Peralta, Herrera,
& Benitez, 2012).
5. Future directions
Future directions of research in online learning are as follows: First,
the feedback mechanism used in online learning in institutions has not
been used to measure the continuation intention in VCs. Feedback en-
ables learners to define goals and track their progress through dash-
board applications to promote awareness, reflection, and sense-making
(Verbert et al., 2014). The students who received teachers’ feedback
along with online learning achieved better grades than those who did
not receive feedback (Tsai, 2013) and students positively perceive the
feedback systems more than the educators (Debuse & Lawley, 2016).
Although immediate feedback is one of the dimensions of the flow
(Csikszentmihalyi, 2014), the factor has not been studied in a VC
11
International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
context. It is vital for managers to check if feedback on a community
post fosters the members’ continuation intention, and they should de-
sign user interfaces which encourage providing feedback. Second, it is
high time to develop an integrated model for formal learning (online
and blended) with VCs for students’ engagement. Informal learning as
itself, not limited to the body of knowledge, rather, is the result of the
interaction of people via communities of practice, networks, other
forms, etc. (Rennie & Mason, 2004). The networked communities build
intimacy and support which helps in self-directed learning (Rennie &
Mason, 2004) which is an important parameter for online learning.
Community commitment (Bateman et al., 2011), immersion (Shin et al.,
2013), we-intentions (Tsai & Bagozzi, 2014), sense of belongingness
(Zhao et al., 2012), etc. from the VC would help students to continue
the engagement for a better learning outcome. Moreover, it is found
that collaborative chat participation in MOOCs slows down the rate of
attrition over time (Ferschke, Yang, Tomar, & Rosé, 2015). It is of great
importance to check if learning outcome improves when the virtual
community is integrated or embedded in the learning environment
(online and blended). The educators and managers should encourage
their students and employees to participate in VCs. Third, the growth of
the adoption of mobile devices has expanded the arena of e-learning
platforms. Integrating the virtual communities via a mobile platform
with online learning can foster the student engagement resulting in
higher learning outcome. Fourth, cloud computing has great potential
in dealing with the scalability issues arising from the rise in numbers of
users, content, and resources in online learning. Furthermore, it can
provide tremendous benefits to organizations as well as users in terms
of ease of access, flexibility, and lower cost. Although a few studies
cover cloud computing infrastructure in education and pedagogic pro-
cesses, the empirical research on the cloud computing for education is
very shallow (Baldassarre, Caivano, Dimauro, Gentile, & Visaggio,
2018). As the mobile devices are often limited by storage space, future
researchers are invited to carry out effective research on the integration
of cloud computing and mobile learning to understand the factors af-
fecting learning outcome.
6. Conclusion
Understanding the antecedents of e-learning adoption, continuance,
and learning outcomes in online platforms are essential in ensuring the
successful implementation of technology in learning and achieving the
maximum benefits. This study shows factors such as PU, PEoU, PE,
culture, attitude, subjective norms, system and information inhibitors,
etc. contribute to the adoption of technology. Factors such as satisfac-
tion, confirmation, user involvement, system quality, information
quality, feedback, self-efficacy, social identity, perceived benefits, etc.
determine the continuation of technology use. This implies factors for
adoption, and continuation intentions vary; the attitude and usefulness
of a system are essential for adoption while the experience and sa-
tisfaction in the environment lead to continuation intention. It is also
found from the literature that the learning outcomes depend on the self-
efficacy, collaborative learning, team cohesion, technology fit, learning
engagement, self-regulation, interest, etc.
The contribution of the paper can be summarized as: understanding
the factors that are studied for adoption, continuance, learning out-
comes in an online environment, and the provision of future research
directions for educators and managers for successful implementation of
technology in online platforms to achieve maximum benefits.
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Ms. Ritanjali Panigrahi is a research scholar at Indian Institute of Management Rohtak,
India in the area of Management Information Systems. She has completed her Bachelor in
Technology in Information Technology from College of Engineering and Technology,
Bhubaneswar, India. Her research interests include online learning, blended learning,
social networking, collaborative learning through virtual communities, and data analy-
tics.
Dr. Praveen Ranjan Srivastava is an Assistant Professor & Area Chair at Indian Institute
of Management Rohtak, India in the area of Management Information Systems. His re-
search interests include Analytics, E-commerce, online learning, and software
Management using novel meta-heuristic techniques. He has published more than 120
research papers in various leading international journals and conferences. He is an
awardee of Microsoft Research Grant. He is Editor in Chief of International Journal of
Software Engineering, Technology and Applications (IJSETA), published by Inderscience.
He is also a member of Editorial Board of various leading journals.
Prof. Dheeraj Sharma is Director, Indian Institute of Management Rohtak. He is also
Professor at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. He has taught or presented
R. Panigrahi et al.
research at several educational institutions in North America, Europe and Asia. Prof.
Sharma’s publications have appeared in Advances in Marketing, Developments in
Marketing, Business and Society Review, European Journal of Marketing, European
Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Emerging Markets, Journal of
Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Marketing
14
International Journal of Information Management 43 (2018) 1–14
Channels, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Product
and Brand Management, Journal of International Business Strategy, Marketing
Management Journal, New Technology, Work and Employment, among other prominent
publications.