Review of TAM used in Educational Technology Research: A Proposal

Abstract

Since the research on user acceptance of information technology was introduced by Fred D. Davis in the 1980s, two critical constructs (perceived usefulness and ease of use) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) have generated significant impacts on information science and management information system literature. In the early 2000s, educational technology researchers began to adopt TAM-related concepts to explain teaching and learning contexts. For example, Selim (2003) conducted research on empirically examine students' acceptance of course websites and published on Computers & Education. Accordingly, this proposal paper extends the authors' previous works (Hsiao & Yang, 2011; Hsiao, Tang & Liu, 2015; Hsiao & Chen, 2019; Tang, Hsiao & Hwang, 2022) to trace the latest development of educational technology research using TAM-related framework. In this proposal, we have identified a total of 366 articles with 20,242 citations. For the data analysis, we proposed a series of analyses (e.g., bibliometrics, main path analysis, document co-citation analysis, and social network analysis) to examine the knowledge trajectory in this field. This study is the first attempt to propose a research framework with a series of analyses to systematically analyze and review the longitudinal development of research using a TAM-related framework in educational technology. With this attempt, some significant turning points (e.g., theoretical converging and diverging points) can be further explored in the network diagram to identify the critical constructs, models, and theories in educational technology research. Overall, established on a large number of citation data, the results of this study aim to provide a platform for academic discussion and to make a prediction for the future trend of educational technology research.