Factors influencing acceptance of e-learning by teachers in the Czech Republic Nina Hrton ˇ ová a , Jir ˇí Kohout b , Lucie Rohlíková c,⇑ , Jir ˇí Zounek d a Complex Service and Training Department, Institute of Computer Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic b Department of Physics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of West Bohemia, Plzen, Czech Republic c Department of Czech Language and Literature, Faculty of Education, University of West Bohemia, Plzen, Czech Republic d Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic article info Article history: Available online 2 December 2014 Keywords: E-learning Acceptance Teacher Teacher training abstract The goal of this study was to explore the factors which impact the acceptance of an e-learning course by teachers of elementary and secondary schools in the Czech Republic. The survey involved 228 teachers from 68 different primary and secondary schools. These teachers took part in some of 16 different asyn- chronous on-line courses aimed at the use of modern technologies in education. It was found that the factors with major impact on the e-learning course acceptance include the voluntary participation of teachers in the course and the positive expectations held before the course start (p < 0.001). Working through the course on one’s own and the subjective evaluation of various aspects of the course plays an important role as well (p < 0.001). The factors which had no statistically significant impact (p > 0.05) included the teacher’s age, gender, type of school, prior experience with e-learning, individual habits in terms of completing voluntary tasks and taking notes, the involvement in discussions during the course and the time schedule of the course. We conclude that considerable attention should be paid to the psychological aspects of further education of Czech teachers using e-learning. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Digital technologies have become an inseparable part of both formal and informal distance education. Naturally, further educa- tion of teachers does not stand aside in terms of these trends. Digital technologies in distance education offer numerous opportunities (Bates, 2005). Yet, a number of questions arise regarding the changes in distance education caused by digital technologies and whether these technologies also erect barriers to the learners. This is why great attention has been recently paid to mapping the factors which govern the acceptance of digital technologies among the par- ticipants. Sophisticated structural models have been developed and tested to identify and evaluate the significance of individual factors. These models which are specific to e-learning are often based on more general technology-acceptance theories, such as the technol- ogy acceptance model (Davis, 1989) or the unified theory of accep- tance and use of technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). Selim (2007) reported four basic categories of e-learning acceptance factors (instructor, student, information technology and university support), which comprises a total of 8 critical success factors (attitude towards and control of the technology, teaching style, computer competency, interactive collaboration, e-learning course content and design, ease of access, infrastructure reliability and effectiveness, support). Lee, Yoon, and Lee (2009) identified four basic categories (instructor characteristics, teaching materials, design of learning contents and playfulness) and stressed the importance of the perceived usefulness of e-learning as the inter- vening variable between the instructor characteristics and teaching materials and the e-learning acceptance. To date, the research into factors impacting on the acceptance of e-learning has focused predominantly on students at higher education institutions. As shown in the meta-analysis of e-learning technology acceptance (Šumak, Heric ˇko, & Pušnik, 2011), only lim- ited effort was expended on exploring the way e-learning is accepted among teachers at primary and secondary schools. Nevertheless, the topic has been around, as evidenced by studies by Hu, Clark, and Ma (2003) and Pynoo et al. (2011). It is legitimate to assume that different factors will play their roles in various groups of learners. Particularly striking differences can arise in an environment where digital technologies in further education of teachers are a relatively new phenomenon, where a number of experienced teachers approach them with not only positive http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.018 0747-5632/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Sportovni 21, Plzen 30100, Czech Republic. Tel.: +420 604 115 360. E-mail address: rohlikova@gmail.com (L. Rohlíková). Computers in Human Behavior 51 (2015) 873–879 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh