Analysis of factors influencing acceptance of personal, academic and professional development e-portfolios.

Abstract: This research investigates factors that influence students’ intentions to use personal, academic and professional development portfolios using a theoretical model based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB). Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) are important pedagogical tools and a substantial amount of literature supports their role in personal, academic and professional development. However, achieving students’ acceptance of e-portfolios is still a challenge for higher education institutions. The model suggests that Attitude towards Behaviour (AB), Subjective Norms (SN) and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) and their decomposed belief structure can assist in predicting and explaining students’ Behavioural Intention (BI) to use e-portfolios. After using e-portfolios, data was collected from 204 participants from a UK university and analysed through the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique. The results demonstrated that the proposed personal, social and control factors in the model were well supported statistically and significantly influenced e-portfolio acceptance. The study provides for the first time a proven theoretical model which can be used to predict e-portfolio acceptance. The findings are valuable for system developers, educational developers and higher education institutions where e-portfolios are being used.