Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196

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Asia Pacific Management Review

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A study on satisfaction of users towards learning management system at

International University e Vietnam National University HCMC
Nhu-Ty Nguyen a, b, *
a
School of Business, International University, Viet Nam
b
Vietnam National University, HCMC Quarter 6, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

a r t i c l e i n f o a b t r a c t

Article history: Learning management system (LMS) is considered as an important means of knowledge acquisition and
Received 13 June 2020 learning management in the digital era. As users could be seen as the key stakeholders who impact the
Received in revised form system’s survival, their attitudes toward system are put in high consideration. The purpose of this study
30 December 2020
is to explore the factors influencing learner’s satisfaction towards learning management system, specially
Accepted 5 February 2021
Available online 22 March 2021
Blackboard and Edusoft. Blackboard and Edusoft are the two mandatory systems that all students in
International University e Vietnam National University HCMC have been using during their college. A
quantitative survey is applied to current students at International University to test the influence of 4
Keywords:
LMS
factors: Announcement system, Instruction information, Interaction, Technology quality on Learning
University management system usefulness and the impact of learning management system usefulness on their
Online system satisfaction. The findings suggest the significant impact of 5 mentioned factors in learners’ satisfaction
Learning including direct and indirect relations. This study also tests the relationship between the interaction
Satisfaction provided by learning management tool and students’ satisfaction. For students’ side, they have a chance
to raise their voices by ranking the level of which factors make them concern relating to the learning
management tools that they have to use day by bay during college. For university’s side, this research
contributes to provide information relating to students’ perception which could help the improvement
for learning management system afterward.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of College of Management, National Cheng Kung
University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction management system in the world. Of 78% of organizations who

Learning management system (LMS) software application or
website is designed to deliver courses, acquire knowledge and
control learning. In 1924, Sidney Pressey invented the first ‘teaching
machine’; it looked like a typewriter with a window that could
administer questions (Petrina, 2004). There were two windows,
one was used to show the questions and the other was covered by
the answers. In the digital era, LMS has become the dominant flat
form for learning administration at university including: schooling
announcement, lecture delivers, exam revision, report submission,
online assignment and courses registration. According to a report
from Ndegeya (2019), Moodle is the most common learning
* School of Business, International University, Viet Nam.
E-mail addresses: nhutynguyen@hcmiu.edu.vn, nhutynguyen@gmail.com.
Peer review under responsibility of College of Management, National Cheng
Kung University.
reported using LMS, 33% of them had requirement to replace and
upgrade to the new version technology (Akbar et al., 2019; Nguyen,
2019, 2020; Nguyen & Tran, 2015). As the rapid development of
technology, the need of enhancement LMS is increasing consider-
ably. In Vietnam, there are several LMS including: Smas, Mi,
Eschool, Vietschool and so on. International University (Vietnam
National University - HCMC) has adopted Blackboard and Edusoft
which allow learning process happened in digital way.
1.1. Blackboard
According to Alshwaier et al. (2012), Blackboard is compound
learning environment with capacity to take over various fields of
teaching procedures which takes advantage of the technology va-
riety. It is a learning tool that supports lecturers for online material
approach to students, online assignments and even for marking
and giving comments for students’ report. With the development of
technology, Blackboard can be seen as the useful assistant to both

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2021.02.001
1029-3132/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of College of Management, National Cheng Kung University. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
N.-T. Nguyen
teachers and students due to optimal functions including:
Multiple learning styles: Blackboard assists multiple content
formats such as: picture, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, picture, video and
so on which help lecturers widen their kind of materials shared
with students.
Announcement: the announcement systems appear in both
main column of the screen and the right corner with notification
alarm signal for the new announcement which is unread.
Calendar: the school year calendar linked with important
deadline relating to courses help students easily to follow up and
prepare their study in order to meet deadline on time.
Tasks: Both lecturers and students can create personal task with
detail sub-action, beginning date and due day.
Assignment: Whenever there is any assignment posted by the
lecturer, they students could easily catch up by accessing this
function.
My grades: When students click in this box, they can easily stsee
how much scores they have got for the previous completed task/
submission.
User’s directory/Address book/Personal information: This box
includes some information for contact including: name, email,
phone of both the lecturers and students.
1.2. Edusoft
Edusoft is school management software that is designed to
support digital learning administration. This system covers major
entities of university with the variety of function including:
announcement, online course registration, timetable, exam
schedule, tuition fee checking and score record.
The Blackboard and Edusoft (LMS in IU) have been using by all
people involving for example, students, teachers, staff and man-
agers. These are the communication tools among the different
groups of thousands of people. Although the LMS is used widely in
many universities, not many of them could utilize this system in the
most optimal way and take full advantages. Some types of LMS are
global, and despite the fact that universities try to specify to fit with
instructors’ requirement, there is not many studies have been car-
ried out to reflect the way LMS fits with those characteristics
(Papastergiou, 2009).
The system is designed with the general common functions,
however, depending on the characteristics of each type of end
users, it would be better if those are improved corresponding with
what users really yearn for. According to Nielsen (2005), much
dissatisfaction exist relating to LMS usage as the result of the fact
that original type of LMS permits schooling officers to interact with
online learning with weak instruction (Cheng, 2015; Nguyen &
Tran, 2018).
Poor guidance or unsuitable functions not only lead to the
ineffective learning management but also negatively impact on
students’ studying results. At International University (IU-VNU
HCM-VNU HCM), Blackboard and Edusoft are the two mandatory
LMS that go along with all students until they officially graduate.
Even the LMS show the significant role and widely used, though
any research to study about the users’ satisfaction to improve the
LMS. With the aim to find the exact factors which influencing
students’ satisfaction then effectively raising improvement in LMS,
it is really necessary to carry out this research.
This research is done with an aim to (1) understand factors
influencing the LMS usefulness by exploring the impact of four
factors: Announcement system, Interaction information, Interac-
tion and Technology quality on system effectiveness, (2) identify
the relationship between its usefulness and students’ satisfaction,
(3) recommend several methods based on research results to
improve the LMS corresponding to characteristics and demands of
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Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196
their students. There are four questions hopefully to be solved with
the research findings, it is developed.
1. Which factors will affect LMS’s effectiveness? (Applied for
Blackboard and Edusoft)
2. How much influence correlation between each component and
the LMS’s effectiveness? (Applied for Blackboard and Edusoft)
3. Does the LMS’s usefulness impact in level of students’
satisfaction?
4. Is there any improvement for the LMS at International Univer-
sity? (IU-VNU HCM-VNU HCM)
2. Literature review
2.1. Relating research studies
A research carried out in Rust and Oliver, 1994 stated that
satisfaction level correlate with the degree of one belief of having
positive feeling. According to Alavi and Leidner (2001), to ensure
influence of learning management system (LMS) environment or to
explore whether users would have tendency to utilize LMS, have to
study perceived learners’ satisfaction. LMS Students’ satisfaction
could be described as the total students’ behavioral belief and at-
titudes deprived from aggregating all advantages that users achieve
from using LMS. In other aspect, to identify the level of satisfaction,
many determinants would be tested including content, communi-
cation, interface and learners’ result (Nguyen & Tran, 2019; Wang,
2003; Wang et al., 2015). In this research, we test components
composited in LMS students’ satisfaction to realize whether they
are system content, instruction information, interaction, technol-
ogy and technology quality (Table 1).
Especially, according a recent research of Awad et al., 2019, the
LMS has boasted many advantages; however, its features are
accompanied by a high price tag. For example, the functions like
announcements, assessments, and assignments and so on stated the
usefulness and usability of a LMS. Thus, we believe it is worth
investigating the level of utilization of such tools.
2.2. Hypotheses development
2.2.1. System contents
System contents can be seen as one of the top dominant factors
affecting user’s satisfaction caused its’ close impact on software
usefulness. According to Seddon, 1997, system quality could be
described by a set of criteria determines the level of meeting users’
demand. There is intimate relationship between system content
and users’ satisfaction (Nguyen et al., 2015; Seddon, 1997).
Mentioned in Oxford dictionary, content means information or
other material contained on a website or other digital media.
For Blackboard, the content is mainly dependable upon lecturers
for uploading materials. Therefore, this research would focus on the
way Blackboard spread notification to students that help them get
approach to the uploading as soon as possible.
2.2.2. Instruction information
2.2.2.1. Ease of use. Ease of use level could be measured as the
amount of time spent for finding any materials or information on
this software (Birru et al., 2004; Kujur & Singh, 2017; Nguyen, 2019,
2020; Wang et al., 2015). The shorter means the better, it reflects
that all functions in software are designed in an easy-to-use that
help users not take much time for searching or make the question:
“How could I use it?” The software would be seen at high easy-to-
use level if there is the situation happens during utilizing it: the less
difficulty exists, the more time user spent for focusing on learning
(Davis et al. (1992).
N.-T. Nguyen Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196

Table 1
Several findings of LMS.

Authors Findings of LMS

Dias and Diniz (2014) When talking about the structure which keeps the whole fields relating to online knowledge acquisition with the
participation of both learners and teachers, LMS could be firstly mentioned.
Ellis and Calvo (2007) LMS can be defined as the software to assist learning process including several functions of presenting, assessing and
managing.
Zhang and Nunamaker (2003) Learning management system offers the variety kinds of materials and announcement based on technology to
facilitate learning process.
Babo and Azevedo (2009) LMS can be seen as the tool to operate an environment in which lecturers can easily upload materials and sharing
with students to achieve the mutual learning destination.
Hawkes and Dennis (2003); Papasergiou (2006); Learning management system is applied technological development for the purpose to generate a space in which
Limayem and Cheung (2008) there is no matter in distance concern.

Table 2
Research hypotheses.

H1: System content will have positive effect on perceived learning management system usefulness.

H2: Instruction information will have positive effect on perceived learning management system usefulness.
H3: Interaction will have positive effect on perceived learning management system usefulness.
H4: Technology quality will have positive effect on perceived learning management system usefulness.
H5: Perceived learning management system usefulness will have positive effect on perceived students’ satisfaction.

2.2.2.2. Users e friendliness. A system could be described as
usersefriendliness when its interface supports users to accomplish
goal in a natural way (Ju et al., 2016; McCrickard et al., 2003;
Nguyen & Nguyen, 2020).The level of users-friendliness is tested
based on several criteria including: total time users spend for
practice in the first time, the decree of comfortable feeling when
using that software and the percentage of current users recom-
mend that software to their relatives.
2.2.3. Interaction
2.2.3.1. Ease of discussion with other learners. According to
Delahunty et al. (2014), interaction could be regarded to be in top of
the high essential parts in online learning. Interaction between
learners and learners is considered as jointly transferring materials
and/or knowledge in relation to course under or not under lectures’
instructions (Swan, 2001). When students have any misunder-
standing about any points, the first and most-quick one they could
come to ask recently their classmates. This interaction encourages
learners’ studying result by group learning and discussion.
There are a lot of determinants composited in online learning, in
an aspect, peer discussion and communication could be on top e
Musa and Othman (2012).When students find it too convenient to
get interaction with others, they would use the software more
frequently and get high level of satisfaction.
2.2.3.2. Easy of discussion with teachers. LMS system is built with
an aim to get effective management between learning and teach-
ing. The interaction between learners and instructors plays an
important role in reaching students’ satisfaction. Learnerelecturer
interactions including two-way complementary discussion

Fig. 1. Research model.

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N.-T. Nguyen Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196

between the instructor and learners. According to Powers and
Rossman (1985), the interaction between learners and teachers
occupies large portion for students’ decision to apply for the higher
education at that university or not, to Master program after getting
Bachelor degree, for example. The shortage of this interaction could
lead to learners’ distraction and hard concentration on the lectures.
An effective and active LMS is a learning environment in which
lecturers will take role as a friendly advisor of learners, show great
effort to connect with students and create space for them to freely
raise any misunderstanding or concerns relating to the lectures.
2.2.3.3. Ease of accessing shared data. The way all materials are
displayed is very important to the LMS effectiveness. It is not only
about the amount or quality but also the well-organized structure
that allow students to reach all in such an easy way. According to
Delahunty et al. (2014), the interaction between learners and
contents is continuous advancement to get approach and interpret
on their own. With the large amount of materials, students could
not just roll down and look for what they need without remem-
bering the exact title or posting day (Nguyen & Tran, 2018; Swan,
2001; Yücel & Usluel, 2016). This requires the assistance of search
engine and filter function for convenient accessing shared data. The

Table 3
Measurement of variables.

Item Measurements References

System content Easy of reaching new uploading Arbaugh (2000)

Instruction information Ease of use Arbaugh (2000)
User-friendliness Coombs (2000)
Interaction Ease of discussion with other learners Shee and Wang (2008)
Ease of discussion with other teachers Shee and Wang (2008)
Ease of accessing shared data Shee and Wang (2008)
Technology quality Accessibility Alturki and Aldraiweesh (2016)
Appealing design Arbaugh (2000)
Perceived LMS usefulness David et al. (1989)
Perceived students’ satisfaction Swan (2001)

Table 4
The full measurement scale items.

System content

SC1 I satisfy with announcement system when there is new uploading

SC2 Announcement system helps me get approach to new uploading quickly
SC3 All up-loadings are organized in easy-to-approach structure
Instruction information
II1 I feel that using software is too easy
II2 It takes me not too much time to get familiar software
II3 Instruction information is clear and detailed
II4 I could get quick support when there is any problems related to software
II5 I could easily use this software at first time
II6 I feel that all functions running smoothly
II7 Instruction guidelines is very clear for new users
II8 All guidelines is designed in easy-to-understand structure
Interaction
INT1 Learner elearner interaction is too convenient
INT2 Online course discussion happens smoothly
INT3 I could learn more from my classmate by using this software
INT4 I feel easy to follow online group discussion
INT5 Learner-lecturer interaction happens easily
INT6 I feel easy to directly raise question with lecturers via this software
INT7 Group discussion with lecturers happens effectively by using this software
INT8 I feel easy to get sharing from lectures
INT9 I feel convenient to get material sharing from my friend via this software
INT10 I could find information uploaded in previous time very easily
INT11 I find no difficulty in performing online assignment via this software
INT12 I could filter data to find material needed on this software
Technology quality
TQ1 I feel that all information is easy to understand and easy to use
TQ2 I feel that technology design allow me to have flexible time connection
TQ3 I feel that technology design allow me to have flexible accessibilities
TQ4 All functions on this software are design in appealing way
TQ5 Theme of software is design in easy-to-search for information uploaded long time ago
TQ6 Software is designed in user-friendly structure
Perceived Learning Management System Usefulness
LMSU1 This software is really useful to my studying
LMSU2 This software affect largely to my study result
LMSU3 This software helps me to easily get approach to school announcement
LMSU4 This software effectively assists me in exam revision
Perceived Students’ satisfaction
SS1 I feel that this software well serve my crucial studying requirement
SS2 I feel satisfied with this software
SS3 I think that there is nothing to improve with this software

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Table 5 2.2.3.5. Appealing design. The way that online software could touch
Subject demographic (n ¼ 299). users will be highly impacted by the design dimension. Before you
Details Frequency Percentage want to use e-learning software, at first sight, you would take a
Gender Male 121 40%
general look at the structure, theme and design to see whether that
Female 178 60% consistent with your demand or not. During a semester, a lot of
First-year students 23 8% information, assignments and materials would be posted, if
Type of Students Second-year students 93 31% everything is not structured in such logic and appealing structure,
Third-year students 80 27%
difficulties and annoyance will appear. Additionally, the impressive
Last-year students 103 34%
design will promote and inspire users utilizing more frequently
causes “human will always love the beauty”. That is the reasons why
much software instruction written guideline is replaced by info-
previous research from Chejlyk (2006) proved that the level of
graphic design that easily catch users’ eyes (Table 2 and Fig. 1).
interaction between learner and shared data is the most crucial to
learners’ satisfaction in web-based learning.
3. Methodology

2.2.3.4. Accessibility. Accessibility is not only a high-level of tech-
nology goal but also is a goal of software developers, their re-
sponsibilities to design software that could reach users with variety
devices. In technology era, most software is accessible to users via
many devices such as: phone, laptop, tablet, hand-watch and so on
with great effort to remove barriers of disabilities. Users with dis-
abilities can only access to software if it is compatible with one or
two specific devices. According to Lazar et al., (2011) a web site
could be seen as accessible when it is used in flexible time and
flexible device. Similarly, no one could bring their laptop along with
them every second; they would be satisfied if getting connection
and compatibility between software and various devices (Nguyen
& Tran, 2015).
3.1. Research design
When the purpose of this study is to test the relationship among
factors, a quantitative should be implemented. The main idea of
this methodology is data assumption’s forecasting. Moreover,
quantitative method helps to explain the relationship in order to
support the scientific model and theories (Turner, 2010; Nguyen,
2019, 2020). According to Aliaga and Gunderson (2000), quantita-
tive method is described as one way of running mathematical
approach to for data collection and analysis. As the result, the
quantitative approach was applied to achieve the objectives to test
factors influencing students’ satisfaction toward Blackboard and
Edusoft at International University (IU-VNU HCM) including three

Table 6
Reliability testing.

Variables Item Cronbach’s alpha if item deleted Cronbach

System content SC1 .818 .837

SC2 .713
SC3 .787
Instruction information II1 .777 .807
II2 .816
II3 .767
II4 .833
II5 .789
II6 .760
II7 .762
II8 .769
Interaction INT1 .814 .840
INT2 .852
INT3 .815
INT4 .815
INT5 .816
INT6 .847
INT7 .859
INT8 .813
INT9 .817
INT10 .816
INT11 .815
INT12 .849
Technology quality TQ1 .806 .792
TQ2 .741
TQ3 .734
TQ4 .738
TQ5 .732
TQ6 .805
Perceived LMS usefulness LMSU1 .812 .832
LMSU2 .794
LMSU3 .759
LMSU4 .783
Perceived students’ satisfaction SS1 .671 .744
SS2 .593
SS3 .709

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N.-T. Nguyen Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196

Fig. 2. SEM result.

Table 7 the second and third part. (1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3:
Final result. neutral, 4: agree, 5: strongly agree).The questionnaires consist of 38
Measurement EFA CFA SEM testing items.
Testing testing This research study has investigated many previous studies to
KMO (>0.5) 0.909 set up the important part for the input data, which is measurement
Sig (<0.05) 0.000 of variables. The measurement of each item takes references from
Cumulative percentage 70.743% the articles as below (Table 3):
(>50%)
From the hypotheses and references of measurement items, this
Chi-square 395.465 566.941
Df 335 345 research study has built the brief content for survey items, which
CMIN/df (<2) 1.180 1.643 are then carefully read and revised according to current situations
GFI (<0.8) 0.918 0.88 and contexts of students using the LMS for their studying. The full
TLI 0.985 0.945 measurement scale items are shown in Table 4.
RMSEA (<0.08) 0.025 0.046
Result Significant Valid Significant
match
3.2. Sample and survey

The target participants taking survey are students at Interna-

parts: The first one would be demographic information; the second
part encompasses questionnaires measuring four independent
variables and which affect students’ satisfaction through interme-
diate variable. The last section is the list of items which are in
relation to test students’ satisfaction toward LMS (Blackboard and
Edusoft). Five-point Likert scale would be applied for question in
191
tional University (IU-VNU HCM), because every student at this
university are mandatorily to use LMS (Blackboard and Edusoft),
therefore, all are eligible to do the survey. According to Hernandez
et al. (2006), identify the suitable size of sample is an essential and
serious matter, which is dependent on the researchers’ require-
ment of statistical accuracy and number of variables. In
N.-T. Nguyen
mathematical practice, the bigger the sample size is, the more ac-
curate testing is.
Moreover, in mathematical aspect, the ideal sample size should
be five times the number of items measured. Applied for the cur-
rent questionnaire of 38 items, the ideal sample size would be
minimal at 214 responses. On the other hand, Lombard et al. (2002)
gave advice that if the researchers want to get reliable result, the
ideal sample size should be 200 to 300. As the result, a sample of
300 is regarded enough for a high level of reliability. Finally, the
survey was carried out and collected via both online and directly
distributed to students at International University (IU-VNU HCM) in
the period of September to November 2019.
4. Result findings
4.1. Validity rate
In a set up survey in the period of September to November 2019,
type of students will be based on number of school years they have
been studying at IU-VNU HCM because there is the positive cor-
relation between number of school years and numbers of times
they experience LMS at this university i.e. students have to use the
LMS right from the time they enter university life.
For detailed information, last-year students take largest amount
of respondent (34%) and the second largest is second-year student
(31%), the remaining are 27%,28% for third-year and first-year stu-
dents respectively. Those statistical number means that the last
year students also those who spend most time at university using
LMS in high frequency have more interest in this topic than others.
For detailed numbers, the amount of respondents are 103, 90, 83,
and 23 for last-year students, second-year students, third-year
students and first-year students, respectively (Table 5).
Fig. 3. ME interface.
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Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196
4.2. Reliability analysis
Before performing analysis, it is essential to carefully check the
correlation of each determinant that is the reason why the reli-
ability test should be conducted first. The credibility’s level of data
is put in to consideration based on standard ratio to make sure the
consistency; this means that the variable which drops out of the
acceptable range would be eliminated to keep the reliable data
system (Table 6).
4.3. Structural equation model (SEM) e model and criteria
SEM is carried out to test five hypotheses proposed in model
mention above with same criteria with CFA analysis.
Based on Fig. 2, all ratios meet the condition. Discussing in
detail, Chi-square ¼ 1.643 (<2), GFI ¼ 0.880 (>0.80), CFI ¼ 0.950
(>0.90), and RMSEA ¼ 0.046 (<0.05). Therefore, SEM significantly
matches with the data from surveying.
INT (Interaction) occupies the largest influence on LMSU
(Perceive LMS Usefulness) with the dominant percentage (55.7%)
and indirectly affects SS (Student satisfaction). Based on the results,
it could jump to summary that there are 4 factors affecting stu-
dents’ satisfaction including Interaction, Instruction information,
Technology quality and System content.
4.4. Final result
As Table 7 shows that all items which are valid have been
classified in category with significant correlation; the research
model proposed is highly valid and all data from surveying are
ensured to match with 5 hypotheses mentioned previously.
N.-T. Nguyen
Fig. 4. ME instruction “home”.
4.4.1. System content
The average mean of system content is 3.41, nearly neutral. It
may come to conclusion that LMS has promoted system content.
However, the lowest mean was SC3 which can reflect that up-
loadings are not all organized in easy-to-approach way.
4.4.2. Instruction information
Instruction information variable has the average mean of 3.52,
which positively means that users feel fairly with the instruction
information of current LMS. Looking to more detail, II5 account for
the lowest mean of 3.33, it could mean that respondents perceive
their first time using this software may not too easily.
Instruction information variable has the average mean of 3.5,
which positively means that users feel fairly with the interaction
information of current LMS. Looking to more detail, INT7 account
for the lowest mean of 3.19, it could mean that group discussion has
not been supported well via this software.
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4.4.3. Technology quality
Technology quality variable has the average mean of 3.7, which
positively means that users feel convenient with technology qual-
ity. The lowest mean is TQ6 which means that users slightly feel
satisfied with the software’s users-friendliness.
4.4.4. Perceived Learning Management System Usefulness
Perceived Learning Management System Usefulness variable
has the average mean of 3.7, which positively means that Users
widely perceive the LMS’s usefulness.
4.4.5. Perceived Students’ satisfaction
Perceived Students’ satisfaction variable has the average mean
of 3.8, which positively means that students quite satisfy with this
current LMS.
5. Conclusions and recommendations
5.1. Key findings
5.1.1. System content
The hypothesis H1 is supported due to the findings result. With
the estimated weight regression of 17.5%, it could be concluded that
System content positively affect LMS usefulness that leads to the
influence in students’ satisfaction, which stands the lowest mean of
3.41 among all factors (cf. Awad et al., 2019, their findings indicate
that the system is used and treated primarily as a content re-
pository by both faculty and students). Thus, Blackboard and Edu-
soft at IU-VNU HCM need to be considered as following:
The announcement system does not act well, on both Black-
board and Edusoft, only when students access these software, they
could check whether there are new up loadings or new
announcement or not.
The application Blackboard is designed under app; however,
rarely students install it due to no outstanding advantage compared
to the website interface.
5.1.2. Interaction
The hypothesis H3 is supported due to the finding result. With
the estimated highest weight regression of 55.7%, occupies over a
half. It could be concluded that Interaction positively highly affects
LMS usefulness that leads to the influence in students’ satisfaction
(cf. Ohliati and Abbas (2019) showed that The results show that
information quality, service quality, and perceived ease of use have
a significant effect on student satisfaction). To be more detailed,
which stands the second lowest mean of 3.5 among all factors
which means that respondents just fairly satisfy. Some consider-
ations need to be discussion in the case of Blackboard and Edusoft
at IU-VNU HCM.
5.1.3. Interaction between learners: rarely happens
Interaction between learners and lecturers: just via comments
relating to assignments, not any more sharing or Q & A. The in-
structors upload material, announcement and assignment for stu-
dents to follow, the students get access and just follow the
instruction, they can’t raise question directly if any.
Interaction between students and shared data: students could
get approach to data only in the current semester on Blackboard,
and some current announcement or procedures on Edusoft. - On
Edusoft, there is mainly no interaction causes students just focus
and follow the announcement and instruction, if they have any
concern, they could not raise directly, frequently via fan page or
email of the department in charging of those announcement.
N.-T. Nguyen
5.1.4. Instruction information
The hypothesis H2 is supported due to the findings result. With
the estimated weight regression of 14.2%, it could be concluded that
Instruction information positively affect LMS usefulness that leads
to the influence in students’ satisfaction (cf. Ghazal et al. (2017, pp.
688e698)) pointed out that system quality was the most significant
positive factor affecting students’ acceptance and satisfaction). The
Instruction information stands the second lowest mean of 3.52
among all factors which means that respondents just fairly satisfy.
There are 8 items in this compound, the lowest is INT 5 with mean
of 3.55 which reflects students do not feel too easily with the in-
struction when using in the first time.
5.1.5. Technology quality
The hypothesis H4 is supported due to the findings result. With
the estimated weight regression of 20.1%, it could be concluded that
Technology quality positively affect LMS usefulness that leads to
the influence in students’ satisfaction (cf. Ghazal et al., 2017, pp.
688e698). Technology quality gets mean of 3.7, which means that
respondents feel convenient with technology quality. The lowest
mean is TQ6 which means that users slightly feel satisfied with the
software’s users-friendliness and reflects the non-highly user-
friendliness interface.
5.1.6. Perceived LMS usefulness
The hypothesis H5 is supported due to the findings result. With
the estimated weight regression of 35.1%, it could be concluded that
Perceived LMS usefulness positively affects Students’ satisfaction
(cf. Ohliati & Abbas, 2019). These findings generate result that
students at IU-VNU HCM eVNU have experienced that LMS
(Blackboard and Edusoft) is useful to their study.
Fig. 5. ME interaction support.
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Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196
5.2. Comparison practical improvement e “ME” application
As it can be seen from discussion, the top two priorities need to
be improved are System content and Interaction due to the large
influence in students’ satisfaction but low in current mean.
Recommend some improvement based on the application “ME” is
applied at Lac Hong University (Bien Hoa province, Viet Nam).
5.2.1. What is “ME” application?
It is one tool of LMS applied at Lac Hong University (LHU) with
interface and operating principle mainly based on Facebook e the
most dominant social media in the world. According to a statistic
from Hootsuite and We Are Social Megazine, Vietnam ranks in top 7
countries most frequently using Facebook in the world. Similarly to
Blackboard and Edusoft at IU-VNU HCM-VNU HCM, all students at
LHU are mandatorily required to use this application.
5.2.2. Technology quality
With easy access to download from appstore (iOS) or CH Play
(Android), when searching “ME Lac Hong”, this application would
be ready just in 1 s.Mainly based on Facebook Interface, new users
could get easy access by using the account provided by university,
only students and officers at LHU could be eligible to get account for
logging in (Fig. 3).
5.2.3. Instruction
There are lots of categories at “home button”, even if you are the
new user, just by looking this interface, you could easily get access
to the needed (Fig. 4).
5.2.4. Interaction
Sharing relating to course or announcement including attach-
ments could be easily and quickly posted in relating groups that all
members could follow.
N.-T. Nguyen
Fig. 6. System content support.
Similarly to Facebook, there would be many groups that stu-
dents would be invited to join for information catching up.
Whenever they are misunderstanding about assignment or
announcement, they could raise question directly in the comment
box, the poster will directly give answer, the useful point is not only
that users including learners, teachers could interact with others
but also all participants could see the conversation and if they have
the same question, they don’t need to take time for asking again.
5.2.5. System content
With similar interface as Facebook, whenever there is any new
uploadings or announcement, the “notification bell” will signal the
numbers of new unread updates within both visual and audio way.
Moreover, putting in lecturers’ role, when they post a
announcement with important deadline, with notification, he
could know that whether the monitor has shared his announce-
ment to class or not and even more, the number of people “seen”
counted at the right corner of the post box could act as evidence
when students miss the deadline with reason of not having seen
the announcement yet (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6).
5.3. Limitations review and suggestion for coming research
This study conducted a model based on theory and significantly
examined how of 4 factors affect students’ satisfaction via inter-
mediate factors (Perceived LMS usefulness) which are System
content, Interaction, Instruction information and Technology
quality.
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Asia Pacific Management Review 26 (2021) 186e196
Despite of having meaningful findings, there are some limita-
tions need to be regarded:
Firstly, because time and resources limitation, there are only 300
responses for the survey of all around 5000 students at IU-VNU
HCM.
Secondly, the research studies the students’ side only. Because
the fact that instructor play an important role in using this soft-
ware, they are users, also, collecting data from their side would
generate deeper and more thorough understanding.
Thirdly, there are also other versions of the Blackboard and
Edusoft for students those who are studying Master program at IU-
VNU HCM, they could also contribute valuable perception for
improvement.
Allocate more time and resources for expanding sample size.
Get data collection not only from side of students following
Bachelor-program but also that of students studying Master pro-
gram at IU-VNU HCM and instructors’ side to test factors influence
in all two-side users’ satisfaction for getting multi-aspect LMS
improvement.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Vy from
School of Business, International University e Vietnam National
University, HCMC for her editorial assistance.
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