Factors affecting cloud computing adoption in the Indian school education system

Cloud computing is becoming a leading trend worldwide, due to its enhanced reliability, scalability, flexibility, availability and processing throughput. However, the decision related to adoption of the cloud computing model is often complicated by challenges and uncertainties about the expected business value and its overall impact on the organisation. Till date, different contemporary technology acceptance theories and models have been used to test and validate adoption chances of cloud computing at organisational and individual levels. However, no experimental study has been conducted to provide a holistic evaluation of the determinants of cloud computing in the Asian world particularly in the context of the Indian school education system. Due to lack of such studies, we propose a theoretical model based on the TOE framework to explain the role of technological, organisational and environmental factors on the adoption of cloud computing in the Indian school education system. The data was collected from fifty-six 56 randomly selected secondary schools through questionnaire based survey to examine the relationship between the variables employing 5-points Likert scale. Reliability and validity measures were used to establish the quality and the usefulness of the collected data. In addition multi co-linearity test was also conducted. In order to test the research hypothesis, multiple regression analysis was conducted. The results indicate that relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity representing technological factors; top management support representing organisational factors; and competitive pressure, external expertise and attitude towards change representing environmental factors were found to have an positive and significant influence on the adoption of cloud computing services in the Indian school education system. The findings have a great significance since they can provide knowledge about cloud computing factors as well as insights and directions to the education policy planners and decision makers for successful adoption of cloud computing technology in India.

[1]  Subhas C. Misra,et al.  Identification of a company's suitability for the adoption of cloud computing and modelling its corresponding Return on Investment , 2011, Math. Comput. Model..

[2]  Ibrahim M. Al-Jabri,et al.  Cloud Computing Adoption by Higher Education Institutions in Saudi Arabia: Analysis Based on TOE , 2015, 2015 International Conference on Cloud Computing (ICCC).

[3]  Jane E. Dutton,et al.  Resource-based view of the firm , 1994 .

[4]  Fred D. Davis.  Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology , 1989, MIS Q..

[5]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  Information Technology Payoff in E-Business Environments: An International Perspective on Value Creation of E-Business in the Financial Services Industry , 2004, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[6]  P. Y. Thomas,et al.  Cloud computing: A potential paradigm for practising the scholarship of teaching and learning , 2011, Electron. Libr..

[7]  P. Mell,et al.  The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing , 2011 .

[8]  Ibrahim M. Al-Jabri,et al.  Cloud computing adoption by higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia: an exploratory study , 2015, Cluster Computing.

[9]  Michael Miller,et al.  Cloud Computing: Web-Based Applications That Change the Way You Work and Collaborate Online , 2008 .

[10]  Toby Velte,et al.  Cloud Computing, A Practical Approach , 2009 .

[11]  Felix Ter Chian Tan,et al.  A Perception-Based Model for Technological Innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises , 2010, ECIS.

[12]  H. S. Booker,et al.  Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences , 2020 .

[13]  Joseph Vithayathil,et al.  The Impact of Cloud Computing: Should the IT Department Be Organized as a Cost Center or a Profit Center? , 2013, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[14]  Saul J. Berman,et al.  How cloud computing enables process and business model innovation , 2012 .

[15]  Fred D. Davis.  A technology acceptance model for empirically testing new end-user information systems : theory and results , 1985 .

[16]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Electronic Data Interchange and Small Organizations: Adoption and Impact of Technology , 1995, MIS Q..

[17]  Sharon Q. Yang,et al.  Move into the Cloud, shall we? , 2012 .

[18]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Predicting Intention to Adopt Interorganizational Linkages: An Institutional Perspective , 2003, MIS Q..

[19]  Afzaal H. Seyal,et al.  A quantitative analysis of factors contributing electronic data interchange adoption among Bruneian SMEs: A pilot study , 2007, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[20]  Jungwoo Lee,et al.  Discriminant Analysis of Technology Adoption Behavior: A Case of Internet Technologies in Small Businesses , 2004, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[21]  Hart O. Awa,et al.  Integrating TAM, TPB and TOE frameworks and expanding their characteristic constructs for e-commerce adoption by SMEs , 2015 .

[22]  John W. Creswell,et al.  Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches , 2010 .

[23]  Susan K. Lippert,et al.  Technological, Organizational, and Environmental Antecedents to Web Services Adoption , 2015, Communications of the IIMA.

[24]  Arshia Khan,et al.  Comparison of Contemporary Technology Acceptance Models and Evaluation of the Best Fit for Health Industry Organizations. , 2011 .

[25]  Frank Maurer,et al.  Emerging Issues & Challenges in Cloud Computing—A Hybrid Approach , 2012 .

[26]  Hakan Erdogmus,et al.  Cloud Computing: Does Nirvana Hide behind the Nebula? , 2009, IEEE Softw..

[27]  Viswanath Venkatesh,et al.  Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a Research Agenda on Interventions , 2008, Decis. Sci..

[28]  Andrzej M. Goscinski,et al.  Toward dynamic and attribute based publication, discovery and selection for cloud computing , 2010, Future Gener. Comput. Syst..

[29]  Amitrajit Sarkar,et al.  E-Commerce Adoption and Implementation in SMEs: An Analysis of Factors , 2008 .

[30]  Naresh K. Malhotra,et al.  Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation , 1993 .

[31]  Mrs. S. M. Barhate,et al.  Cloud Based Teaching and Learning Environment for Smart Education , 2015 .

[32]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[33]  U. Sekaran,et al.  Research Methods for Business : A Skill Building Approach (5th Edition) , 1992 .

[34]  Anabel Gutierrez Mendoza,et al.  Technological, organisational and environmental factors influencing managers' decision to adopt cloud computing in the UK , 2015, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[35]  Dingtao Zhao,et al.  TOE drivers for cloud transformation: direct or trust-mediated? , 2015 .

[36]  Aminul Islam,et al.  Factors that Influence Customers’ Buying Intention on Shopping Online , 2011 .

[37]  Randy H. Katz,et al.  A view of cloud computing , 2010, CACM.

[38]  Chalermsak Lertwongsatien,et al.  E-Commerce Adoption in Thailand: An Empirical Study of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) , 2003 .

[39]  Mary C. Whitton,et al.  Using innovation diffusion theory to guide collaboration technology evaluation: work in progress , 2001, Proceedings Tenth IEEE International Workshop on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises. WET ICE 2001.

[40]  Ibrahim M. Al-Jabri,et al.  Cloud Computing Adoption by Higher Education Institutions in Saudi Arabia , 2015 .

[41]  Hsiu-Fen Lin,et al.  Determinants of e-business diffusion: A test of the technology diffusion perspective , 2008 .

[42]  Gary B. Wills,et al.  Factors Influencing an Organisation's Intention to Adopt Cloud Computing in Saudi Arabia , 2014, 2014 IEEE 6th International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science.

[43]  Kar Yan Tam,et al.  Factors Affecting the Adoption of Open Systems: An Exploratory Study , 1997, MIS Q..

[44]  Yogesh Kumar Dwivedi,et al.  Investigating the Research Approaches for Examining the Technology Adoption in the Household , 2005 .

[45]  Ian Sommerville,et al.  The Cloud Adoption Toolkit: supporting cloud adoption decisions in the enterprise , 2010, Softw. Pract. Exp..

[46]  Deepa Ray,et al.  Cloud Adoption Decisions : Benefitting from an Integrated Perspective , 2016 .

[47]  Rajkumar Buyya,et al.  Evaluating the cost-benefit of using cloud computing to extend the capacity of clusters , 2009, HPDC '09.

[48]  Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay,et al.  Cloud Computing - The Business Perspective , 2011, 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[49]  Byung Gon Kim,et al.  Factors affecting the implementation of electronic data interchange in Korea , 2008, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[50]  Sherali Zeadally,et al.  Trust management of services in cloud environments: Obstacles and solutions , 2013, CSUR.

[51]  Diane Blyler,et al.  Examining the relationship between technological, organizational, and environmental factors and cloud computing adoption , 2012 .

[52]  Nabil Sultan,et al.  loud computing for education : A new dawn ? , 2009 .

[53]  Mohssen M. Alabbadi.  Cloud computing for education and learning: Education and learning as a service (ELaaS) , 2011, 2011 14th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning.

[54]  Tuncay Ercan,et al.  Effective use of cloud computing in educational institutions , 2010 .

[55]  Amy K. Yarbrough,et al.  Technology Acceptance among Physicians , 2007, Medical care research and review : MCRR.

[56]  S. Laforet.  A framework of organisational innovation and outcomes in SMEs , 2011 .

[57]  Eric W. T. Ngai,et al.  A qualitative study of information technology adoption: how ten organizations adopted Web‐based training , 2007, Inf. Syst. J..

[58]  Jeffrey P. Baker,et al.  The Technology–Organization–Environment Framework , 2012 .

[59]  A. Kuo.  Opportunities and Challenges of Cloud Computing to Improve Health Care Services , 2011, Journal of medical Internet research.

[60]  Angela Lin,et al.  Cloud computing as an innovation: Percepetion, attitude, and adoption , 2012, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[61]  Peter Kawalek,et al.  SME Adoption of Enterprise Systems in the Northwest of England - An Environmental, Technological, and Organizational Perspective , 2007, Organizational Dynamics of Technology-Based Innovation.

[62]  Gordon B. Davis,et al.  User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View , 2003, MIS Q..

[63]  Tom E. Yoon,et al.  An empirical investigation of factors affecting organizational adoption of virtual worlds , 2009 .

[64]  C. Parker,et al.  Factors affecting e-commerce adoption by SMEs : a meta-analysis , 2004 .

[65]  Elyjoy Muthoni Micheni,et al.  Using the Technology Organization Environment Framework for Adoption and Implementation of Cloud Computing in Institutions of Higher Learning in Kenya , 2015 .

[66]  Virginia Watson Ross,et al.  Factors influencing the adoption of cloud computing by decision making managers , 2010 .

[67]  Prashant Pandey,et al.  Cloud computing , 2010, ICWET.

[68]  Patrick Y. K. Chau,et al.  A perception-based model for EDI adoption in small businesses using a technology-organization-environment framework , 2001, Inf. Manag..

[69]  Eric W. T. Ngai,et al.  Predicting the organisational adoption of B2C e-commerce: an empirical study , 2006, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[70]  Ing-Long Wu,et al.  The adoption of mobile healthcare by hospital's professionals: An integrative perspective , 2011, Decis. Support Syst..

[71]  Chinyao Low,et al.  Understanding the determinants of cloud computing adoption , 2011, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[72]  Amanpreet Kaur,et al.  The Future of Cloud Computing: Opportunities, Challenges and Research Trends , 2018, 2018 2nd International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC)I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC), 2018 2nd International Conference on.

[73]  Adel M. Aladwani.  A Deeper Look at the Attitude-Behavior Consistency Assumption in Information Systems Satisfaction Research , 2003, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[74]  E. Rogers.  Diffusion of Innovations , 1962 .

[75]  Hema Date,et al.  Understanding determinants of cloud computing adoption using an integrated TAM-TOE model , 2015, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[76]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  Innovation diffusion in global contexts: determinants of post-adoption digital transformation of European companies , 2006, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[77]  Li Xiong,et al.  Exploring Tourist Adoption of Tourism Mobile Payment: An Empirical Analysis , 2012, J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res..

[78]  Julie F. Pallant,et al.  SPSS Survival Manual , 2020 .

[79]  Veera Bhatiasevi,et al.  Investigating the structural relationship for the determinants of cloud computing adoption in education , 2015, Education and Information Technologies.

[80]  Ritu Agarwal,et al.  A Conceptual and Operational Definition of Personal Innovativeness in the Domain of Information Technology , 1998, Inf. Syst. Res..

[81]  I. Ajzen.  The theory of planned behavior , 1991 .

[82]  Mridula.  Educational statistics at a glance , 1987 .

[83]  Alemayehu Hailu,et al.  Factors influencing cloud-computing technology adoption in developing countries , 2012 .

[84]  Hakan Erdogmus.  A Process That Is Not , 2009, IEEE Software.

[85]  Julie Pallant,et al.  SPSS survival manual : a step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows , 2001, Behaviour Change.

[86]  David C. Yen,et al.  An exploratory study to understand the critical factors affecting the decision to adopt cloud computing in Taiwan hospital , 2014, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[87]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Technology Readiness Index (Tri) , 2000 .

[88]  E. B. Swanson,et al.  Information systems innovation among organizations , 1994 .

[89]  L. G. Pee,et al.  The Impact of Institutional Influences on Perceived Technological Characteristics and Real Options in Cloud Computing Adoption , 2010, ICIS.

[90]  J. Tomljanovic,et al.  Cloud computing in education and student's needs , 2013, 2013 36th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO).

[91]  Alberto Bayo‐Moriones,et al.  A firm-level analysis of determinants of ICT adoption in Spain , 2007 .

[92]  George Feuerlicht,et al.  Impact of Cloud Computing: Beyond a Technology Trend , 2010 .

[93]  Yogesh Kumar Dwivedi,et al.  It's unwritten in the Cloud: the technology enablers for realising the promise of Cloud Computing , 2010, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[94]  Ali H. Al-Badi,et al.  Critical success factors affecting the adoption of cloud computing in oil and gas industry in Oman , 2016, 2016 3rd MEC International Conference on Big Data and Smart City (ICBDSC).

[95]  Tiago Oliveira,et al.  Assessing the determinants of cloud computing adoption: An analysis of the manufacturing and services sectors , 2014, Inf. Manag..

[96]  Hart O. Awa,et al.  Using T-O-E theoretical framework to study the adoption of ERP solution , 2016 .

[97]  Benjamin T. Hazen,et al.  Adoption of cloud computing technologies in supply chains: An organizational information processing theory approach , 2012 .