Cognitive Innovativeness as a Predictor of Student Attitudes and Intent: an Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Technology Delivered Instruction

This study, using the Theory of Planned Behavior as a framework, investigated the effect of internal and external cognitive innovativeness on attitudes, beliefs and behavioral intentions related to intent to experience an online technology delivered course. Results indicated that respondents who scored high in levels of cognitive innovativeness had more positive attitudes toward taking an online course than did those who scored low. Analysis suggested that attitude was most predictive of intentions for high internal cognitive innovators, while for high external cognitive innovators, attitude and norms were most predictive. Introduction Although it has been addressed conceptually, limited research has been done on the influence of innate personality traits on students' attitudes and beliefs with respect to technology delivered instruction. Technology delivered instruction, or TDI, encompasses the range of technology-based instructional tools and techniques commonly used in modern distance education and hyper-mediated instruction, including video, interactive television, Internet hypermedia (the World Wide Web, e-mail, discussion forums) and CD-ROM based multimedia. Many of these technologies were initially used to facilitate instruction for adult learners, but are now being targeted at traditional aged students (Universities Target Distance Ed, 1998). Although technology delivered instruction is becoming more common in agriculture, primarily through implementation of distance education programs at the land grant institutions (Miller, 1999), little work has been done to explore how innate traits affect attitudes and intentions of students toward TDI courses. Most of the limited research which has been done in the area of attitudes and intentions has been conducted with adult learners, who do not necessarily share some of the prior experiences, motivations, and beliefs which are known to affect attitudes and intentions. In the studies that have been conducted, findings suggest that individual differences can exert a significant effect on attitudes and preferences toward technology. For example, Hiltz (1987), in a study of adult learners, found that individual differences, primarily differences in learning style, affected preference for online education vs. traditional teaching modes. Miller (1999) in a study of students enrolled in a professional agriculture degree program, found that respondents' cognitive learning style had a significant effect on their attitude toward instruction delivered by distance education technologies. Trede and Whitaker (1998) found that beginning farmers rated "cutting edge" instructional technologies much lower than traditional instructional techniques, perhaps owing to lack of familiarity and prior experience with these technologies. Moore (1990) commenting on the need for more work in this area, noted that research is "not yet sufficient to draw conclusions about the extent of variations in preference for on-line education among the adult population at large" (p.15). One of the motivating forces which underlies formation of attitudes and beliefs with respect to adoption of new technologies in general is innovativeness, an innate personality characteristic which has been explored extensively in the consumer behavior literature. Innovativeness, a construct that evolved out of diffusion theory, was originally associated with the adoption and use of new technological innovations (Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971). Many subsequent consumer behavior studies have used the concept of consumer innovativeness to examine purchase behavior related to adoption of new products. Given the parallels between consumer adoption and use of new products and students' similar ability to "adopt" and "use" (i.e., " take") an online course, the purpose of this study was to attempt to extend the concept of consumer innovativeness to the instructional setting and to determine whether students' levels of innovativeness can be used to predict attitude and intent to enroll in a technology delivered course. Given the investment agricultural schools and colleges are currently making in technology driven education, it is important to have a better understanding of the factors which influence students’ attitudes and behavior towards acceptance of new instructional technologies, with a view towards developing a model that can be used to enhance technological delivered instruction in agricultural settings. Conceptual and Theoretical Framework Innovativeness as a Characteristic of Personality In its original conception, Rogers' defined innovativeness as "the degree to which an individual is relatively earlier in adopting an innovation than other members of his social system," (Rogers & Shoemaker, 1971, p. 27). Hirschman (1980) defined innovativeness as the desire for new experience, and traced the development of the construct to its