What drives a successful e-Learning? An empirical investigation of the critical factors influencing learner satisfaction Pei-Chen Sun a, * , Ray J. Tsai b , Glenn Finger c , Yueh-Yang Chen d , Dowming Yeh a a Institute of Information and Computer Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, 116 Ho-Ping First Road, Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan, ROC b Department of Information Systems, St. Cloud State University, MN 56301-4498, USA c Centre for Learning Research, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Qld. 9726, Australia d Department of Information Management, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan, ROC Received 16 August 2006; received in revised form 20 November 2006; accepted 22 November 2006 Abstract E-learning is emerging as the new paradigm of modern education. Worldwide, the e-learning market has a growth rate of 35.6%, but failures exist. Little is known about why many users stop their online learning after their initial experience. Previous research done under different task environments has suggested a variety of factors affecting user satisfaction with e-Learning. This study developed an integrated model with six dimensions: learners, instructors, courses, technology, design, and environment. A survey was conducted to investigate the critical factors affecting learners’ satisfaction in e-Learning. The results revealed that learner computer anxiety, instructor attitude toward e-Learning, e-Learning course flexibility, e-Learning course quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and diversity in assessments are the crit- ical factors affecting learners’ perceived satisfaction. The results show institutions how to improve learner satisfaction and further strengthen their e-Learning implementation. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Learner satisfaction; E-Learning; E-Learning management 1. Introduction E-Learning is the use of telecommunication technology to deliver information for education and train- ing. With the progress of information and communication technology development, e-Learning is emerging as the paradigm of modern education. The great advantages of e-Learning include liberating interactions between learners and instructors, or learners and learners, from limitations of time and space through 0360-1315/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2006.11.007 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 7 717 2930; fax: +886 7 7117529. E-mail address: sun@nknu.edu.tw (P.-C. Sun). Computers & Education xxx (2007) xxx–xxx www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article in press as: Sun, P. -C. et al. , What drives a successful e-Learning? An empirical investigation ..., Computers & Education (2007), doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2006.11.007