Determinants of perceived usefulness of e-learning systems

E-learning systems are increasingly essential in universities, schools, government departments and other organizations that provide an education or training service. The objective for adopting e-learning systems is to provide students with educational services via electronic channels. The focus of this study is on the impact of IT infrastructure services and IT quality on perceptions of usefulness of e-learning systems. A model is proposed which includes five constructs: IT infrastructure services, system quality, information quality, service delivery quality, and perceived usefulness. A quantitative study was conducted at an Australian university with 720 survey responses from students who were enrolled in online courses. The results suggest that IT infrastructure services play a critical role in generating information with high quality, enhancing the aspects of e-learning system quality, and improving service delivery quality. The impact of IT infrastructure services, system quality, and information quality on perceived usefulness is fully mediated by service delivery quality. Universities need to be aware of the critical impact of IT infrastructure services and consider how investment in these services could improve system and information quality, service delivery quality, and the usefulness and success of e-learning systems.