Technology Acceptance, Technological Self-Efficacy, and Attitude Toward Technology-Based Self-Directed Learning: Learning Motivation as a Mediator

“Hu and Bentler (1999) suggested that TLI and CFI should be greater than or equal to 0.90 to indicate good suitability, and RMSEA and SRMR should be less than 0.06 and 0.08, respectively.”

“The TAM was first proposed by Davis (1989) on the basis of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) advanced by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), which is used to explain the associations between the students’ technology acceptance of computer system, behavioral intention, and definite behavior of technology…”

“Venkatesh et al. (2003) expanded the TAM with empirical research by adding such factors as social influence, cognitive structure, and experience and the factor of subjective norm that had not been adopted in the original TAM.”

“In this study, structural equation modeling was used, and a two-stage approach to data analysis was adopted (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988).”

“According to Deci and Ryan (2000), intrinsic motivation helps to construct students’ experience of pleasure, enjoyment, and satisfaction, which in turn would further motivate their learning engagement (Dysvik and Kuvaas, 2013).”

“According to Teo et al. (2015, p.78), “attitude toward technology use has been examined in various models that attempt to explain individuals’ intention for technology use, including Technology Acceptance Model (TAM; Davis et al., 1989), TAM2 (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Tec…”

“It represents learners’ ownership and responsibility for their learning as it reflects their personal autonomy in handling and controlling their learning objectives (Pan, 2020).”

“For example, perceived ease of use was associated with self-efficacy in undergraduate students engaged in technol-ogy-supported self-directed learning (Pan, 2020).”

“Studies have proven the presence of an interaction between attitude toward technology and the adoption of AI, which was mostly found to be positive (Adelana et al., 2024; Ayanwale & Ndlovu, 2024; Cai et al., 2017; Kwak et al., 2022; Obenza et al., 2024; Pan, 2020).”

“In contrast, students with high technology or online self-efficacy beliefs show more self-regulated learning strategies, motivation, confidence, engagement, and satisfaction (Pan, 2020; Namaziandost & C¸akmak, 2020).”

“Students recognizing the benefits of greater technology use possessed a higher level of learning motivation, thus facilitating students’ technology-based self-directed learning [26].”

“The technology acceptance level and technological self-efficacy among students are also related to their attitudes toward SDLT (Pan, 2020).”

“The present results echo previous studies documenting technology acceptance, technological self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning (Pan, 2020).”

“In one model, self-efficacy is influenced by a person’s specific abilities, other individual factors, and environmental factors [68,69].”

“From the viewpoint of self-directed learning theory, students should have the self-ability of "ICT skills" and "ICT cognition", manifested in the self-assessment of AI information technology, transformation of learning needs and goals, selection of efficient strategies, and the ability to collect and evaluate (Loeng,…”

“…computer-and internet-related ability to carry out specific tasks and it has been concluded in many reviews and empirical studies that ICT self-efficacy plays an integral role in a computer-mediated learning environment (e.g., Moos and Azevedo, 2009; Kumar et al., 2020; Pan, 2020; Zheng and Li, 2020).”

“The rule of thumb that a factor load should be at least 0.30 in the relevant factor was followed in order for each item to be kept on the scale (Pallant 2005).”

“Research from (de Barba et al., 2016; Pan, 2020; Wang et al., 2021) reports that motivation plays a signi fi cant role in mediating the indirect effect of digital technology capabilities and supporting equipment on e-learning readiness.”

“Moreover, faculty members’ level of technology acceptance may moderate the extent to which AI literacy supports psychological need fulfillment (Pan, 2020).”

“Pan (2020) demonstrated that college students who were more confident in using tech were more open to trying AI tools, Liwanag and Galicia (2023) emphasized AI’s role in promoting self-directed learning, and Masry-Herzallah and Watted (2024) highlighted the positive effect of AI on engaging with…”

“Furthermore, personalized services significantly improve user experience and satisfaction because they are tailored to users’ individual needs and preferences (Pan 2020; Schmid and Dowling 2020; Kabalisa and Altmann 2021).”

“Online learning, E-learning, M-learning and other informal technological learning approaches provide students with more chances to explore selfdirected learning ways (King and He, 2006; Zandi et al., 2014; Hsu, 2016; Huang et al., 2020; Pan, 2020).”

“In the interim, Pan (2020) .”

“Studies have highlighted the role of technological self-efficacy, anxiety and attitude on the acceptance and actual usage of systems (Pan, 2020; Schlebusch, 2018).”

“Past studies have revealed that self‑directed learning ability is posi‑ tively associated with students’ usage behaviors of digital technologies, including GenAI tools (Esiyok et al., 2024; Gokcearslan, 2017; Pan, 2020).”

“However, unlike some previous research (e.g. Pan 2020), our study suggests that the direct in fl uence of intrinsic motivation on satisfaction is less pronounced than that of technological self-ef fi cacy and the contextual factors shaping online learning environments.”

“Prior AI related studies on enterprise management concentrated on analyzing from one employee view, such as the AI adoption (Pan, 2020; Bakir et al., 2025) or AI awareness (Kong et al., 2024; Wang et al., 2022) on employee behavior from the perspective of individual employees.”

“Technological self-efficacy is the conviction that one can successfully use technology to fulfill a learning task (Pan, 2020).”

“This finding is consistent with the other works (Pan, 2020; Zaineldeen et al., 2020), which indicate that attitudes toward technology, while influential, are often overshadowed by more immediate contextual factors such as usability and perceived usefulness.”

“Table 5 details the correlation coefficient analysis results of the six latent variables (Pan, 2020).”

“Regarding technology-based behavior, a number of meta-analyses have found that there is a good correlation between perceived behavioral control and the usefulness of certain technologies (Pan, 2020), which means that self-efficacy of technology is related to its usefulness.”

“Conversely, low technological self-efficacy may lead to avoidance of technology and decreased participation (Li et al., 2025b; Pan, 2020).”

“This tendency can be high for a few individuals and for some it is low [38].”

“Patil et al. (2020) assessed the association between behavioral intention and the actual use of mobile payments and demonstrated that behavioral intention drives the actual usage of users.”

“Previous studies have emphasized the importance of learning motivation as a mechanism that illustrates the relationship between students’ perception of technology environments and their attitude toward technology-based SDL (Pan, 2020).”

“Furthermore, students’ technological learning motivation is reflected in their mastery and familiarity with technical skills, thus significantly influencing their intention to use VR applications [71].”

“In the field of education, they are particularly important as they directly influence students’ willingness and effectiveness in using technology-assisted learning (Pan, 2020).”

“Learning motivation can be seen as a mediator between technological acceptance and self-efficacy on the task [35, 36].”

“In addition, students’ self-efficacy is related to the PU and PEOU of technology (Pan, 2020), through which learners can feel that technology is more useful and easier to use (Nur and Joviando, 2021).”

“This notion aligns with findings from Pan (2020), who noted that individuals with a predisposition for physical activity tend to engage more with technological tools designed to enhance their workouts.”

“Studies on students’ technological intentions have found a strong correlation between SE and SN 54,55 .”

“Past research showed that learners have a positive attitude positively correlated with technology usage (Pan, 2020; Tatli et al., 2019).”

“On the students’ side, technology can enhance students’ self-directed learning abilities [52].”

“If the learning or operating process of a new technology is easy, they will perceive the AI image generator as a practical and valuable tool because they can easily use its various functions during use, thus increasing their perception of the software’s usefulness [45].”

“Furthermore, the study of Pan (2020) also proves that students experiencing greater technology acceptance and technological self-efficacy showed higher attitudes toward technology-based self-directed learning.”

“…use and self-regulation (Pintrich and Schunk, 2002; Zusho et al., 2003) and that learning motivation functioned as a mediating mechanism illustrating relations between students’ perception of technology environments and their attitude toward technology-based self-directed learning (Pan, 2020).”

“According to the self-efficacy theory, a person’s perception of their ability to carry out particular activities impacts their emotional reactions and behavior (Pan, 2020).”

“…de los antecedentes más importantes del uso de las plataformas de e-learning y de la satisfacción de utilizarlas, © COMUNICAR, 74 (2023-1); e-ISSN: 1988-3293; OnlineFirst DOI: 10.3916/C74-2023-07 siendo los efectos directos de la autoeficacia positivos y significativos (Pan, 2020), apoyando la H1.”

“This aligns with the “risk–benefit acceptability” model, which highlights that risk evaluations are influenced not only by personal beliefs but also by how risks and benefits are framed and communicated within one’s social environment [17].”

“Pan (2020) used structural equations to demonstrate the positive effect of technical self-efficacy on motivation among undergraduate English students.”

“In addition, an individual’s adoption of a technological intervention is greatly influenced by their perception of technology self-efficacy, which is defined as an individual’s confidence in applying a technology to perform a task [20-23].”

“Previous studies have emphasized that independent learners should be motivated to learn, have clear goals, and be able to learn independently and continuously [21-23].”

“These findings align with previous research, highlighting the importance of engaging in self-directed learning environments in fostering positive attitudes toward new technologies (An et al., 2022; Mentz & Van Zyl, 2016; Pan, 2020).”

“In educational environments, it might be understood as the inclination of students or learners to utilize or not use an application or specialized technology, depending on the degree to which they believe it would improve their study performance (Pan, 2020 ; Alfadda & Mahdi, 2021).”

“So far, the influence of TSE has been explored for the use of technology in higher education and online classes (Huffman et al., 2013; Pan, 2020; Warden et al., 2020), and in healthcare (Rahman et al., 2016).”

“Past studies have shown that when a technology is easy to use, users are more likely to perceive it as useful, which in turn enhances their overall attitudes toward adoption (Ashraf et al., 2014; Pan, 2020; Yao et al., 2024).”

“As expected, we found that individuals’ attitudes toward IoT-enabled healthcare devices significantly affect their intention to use them (H 7 ), which is consistent with earlier studies conducted by Svenningsson, Höst 61 and Pan 62 .”