Understanding participation in e-learning in organizations: a large- scale empirical study of employees Thomas N. Garavan, Ronan Carbery, Grace O’Malley and David O’Donnell Much remains unknown in the increasingly important field of e-learning in organizations. Drawing on a large-scale survey of employees (N = 557) who had opportunities to participate in voluntary e-learning activities, the factors influencing partici- pation in e-learning are explored in this empirical paper. It is hypothesized that key variables derived from the theories of planned behaviour and instructional design – general-person characteristics, motivation to learn, general and task-specific self-efficacy, situational barriers and enablers, and instruc- tional design characteristics – will predict participation in e-learning. Using structural equation modelling, we find sta- tistical support for the overall theoretical model proposed. We discuss the implications for practice. Introduction e-Learning now forms an important component of training provision in organizations. In 2009, the training industry was estimated to be worth $90 billion worldwide, with $20 billion spent on e-learning (ASTD, 2009; Lam, 2009). The e-learning market will be worth €40 billion by 2012 (Allen & Seaman, 2007; Ambient Insight, 2009; Jones et al., 2005). In the UK it is projected that growth in e-learning will be between 8 and 15 percent per annum (Patterson et al., 2009). Given the significant growth in e-learning, it is important to understand the factors that explain participation in these activities and whether or not the factors that explain participation are different from those that explain participation in other types of train- ❒ Thomas N. Garavan, Professor of HRD, Department of Personnel & Employment Relations, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Ireland. Email: Thomas.Garavan@ul.ie. Ronan Carbery, Lec- turer in HRM, Department of Personnel & Employment Relations, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Ireland. Email: Ronan.Carbery@ul.ie. Grace O’Malley, Psychologist and Lecturer in HRM, School of Business, National College of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. Email: Grace.OMalley@eircom.net. David O’Donnell, Researcher, Intellectual Capital Research Institute, Ballyagran, Limerick County, Ireland. Email: David.ODonnell@ireland.com International Journal of Training and Development 14:3 ISSN 1360-3736 © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Understanding participation in e-learning in organizations 155