Students’ Acceptance of Online Courses and Perceived Risk: A Study of UTAUT in the Sri Lankan State Universities

Abstract

This study systematically assessed the validity of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) with independent construct Perceived Risk in a voluntary environment with respect to Sri Lankan higher education. State University students, who are partaking online learning experience, have considered, as the target population of the research and the model tested with a sample of 348 respondents. A questionnaire with the 5-point Likert scale was used to obtain data. The regression analysis emphasized the relationships demarcated in the theoretical model of the study. Consequently, the hypotheses substantiated, by highlighting the relationship between antecedents and dependent variable acceptance. The variables, which are greatly influential to augment the level of acceptance of online courses, were filtered, in order to take management decisions.