Development and Validation of the Technology Adoption and Gratification (TAG) Model in Higher Education: A Cross-Cultural Study Between Malaysia and China

The prime objective of this study was to develop and validate the Technology Adoption and Gratification (TAG) Model to evaluate the adoption and gratification of lecturers in using ICT facilities for their teaching and research purposes in higher education. The second objective of this study was to evaluate the cross-cultural validation of the causal structure of the TAG model. A total of 396 lecturers were collected from two public universities, namely, University of Malaya in Malaysia and Jiaxing University in China using stratified random sampling procedure. The questionnaire's validity was established through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using SPSS version 21.0. The data was analyzed applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS version 18. The findings of the research using the TAG model discovered that the computer self-efficacy of the lecturers had a positive direct impact on their perceived usefulness and ease of use, while the latter two factors also had a significant direct impact on gratification and intention to use, separately. Meanwhile, gratification and actual use of ICT facilities were directly affected by intention to use. Moreover, computer self-efficacy had a positive and significant indirect impact on gratification and intention to use mediated by perceived usefulness and ease of use, respectively. In addition to lecturers' perceived ease of use and usefulness had a significant indirect effect on their gratification mediated by intention to use. The results of the invariance analysis of the TAG model also demonstrated that the model was valid for measuring lecturers' adoption and gratification in using ICT facilities. However, the TAG model works differently in cross-cultural settings. The findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge in the field of ICT by developing and validating the applicability of the TAG Model within institutions of higher education. Once validated the model could then be applied by future researchers, academicians and practitioners in the diverse context of education.