1 Available online at www.ijcmit.com International Journal of Contemporary Management and Information Technology Volume 1, No 1, November 2020 Adoption of Cloud Based E-learning in Developing Countries: A Combination of DOI, TAM and UTAUT Mohammad Kayali 1* , Saad Alaaraj 2 1, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Selangor, Malaysia *Corosponding author: Email: muhammad_kaiiali@yahoo.com 2, Faculty of Economic and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Negeri Sembilan, Malaysai. Emial: saadalaaraj@gmail.com Article history Submitted: 29 October, 2020 Revised: 11 November, 2020 Accepted: 22 November 2020 Abstract Cloud computing (CC) has created a paradigm shift in using technology. Prior literature focused on the adoption of this technology among business organization while studies that are related to educational institutions are few. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the cloud based e-learning (CBEL) adoption among students. Based on the literature, it is proposed that relative advantage (RA), perceived ease of use (PEOU), social influence (SI), and user satisfaction affect the behavioural intention (BI). BI is expected to affect the adoption of CBEL. In addition, attitude is proposed to mediate the effect of RA, PEOU, SI and user satisfaction on BI. The population of this study is four universities in Lebanon. Stratified sampling technique was used to collect the data using a questionnaire. A total of 422 students participated in this study. Data was analysed using Smart Partial Least Square (PLS). The findings indicated that the user satisfaction is the most important predictors of BI followed by RA, SI, and PEOU. BI affected use behaviour significantly. Attitude mediated the effects of SI and user satisfaction on BI. Decision makers are recommended to focus on user satisfaction and increase the benefits of CBEL. Keywords: TAM UTAUT User satisfaction Cloud Based E-learning Higher education 1. Introduction Cloud computing (CC) has revolutionized the way of doing business. It was developed during the last decade and it has caused a paradigm shift in Information Technology (IT) [1]. CC is referred to as a dynamic innovation platform that addresses a wide variety of requirements by giving a digital framework to broaden information storage abilities. Moreover, CC gives access to programming and equipment without substantial capital costs and gives easy access to applications and administrations that can be acknowledged with insignificant service provider interaction [2]. This has empowered CC to create a technological advancement that can deal with large amount of data that are exchanged and stored via means of electronic applications [1], [3]. Organizations have found in CC the solutions that they seek for the cost minimization, efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage [4]. The cost advantages were achieved through virtualization, scalability, and on demand hardware and software [5], [6]. In this sense, most previous studies focused on how to deploy and migrate to the cloud and the requirement for such move [7]–[9]. Researchers believe that the biggest challenge of CC is not technological oriented rather, it is related to the perception and attitude of the users [10]–[12]. For this reason, many studies focused on the behavioural factors that leads to the adoption of CC. However, the majority of the previous studies were conducted on business organizations addressing the organizational aspect of CC adoption [2], [13]–[15]. The adoption of CC by educational institutions has not received much attention from researchers [16], [17]. CC enables users such as students to have full access to applications, packages, software, databases, assignment, and projects from inside and outside the campus. In addition, CC is one of the widely used services by students for storing data and entertainment [18]. Nevertheless, the widespread of CC adoption and the factors that affect the users’ adoption in universities remains unexplored [19], [20]. Theoretical adoption theories and models such as TAM [21] suits well the developed nation but in the case of developing nation such as Lebanon, the model has not been extensively tested [22]. Other models such as UTAUT [23] was developed to test the individual adoption of technology [23], [24] but the use of the model in CC is still limited [25], [26]. Meta- analyses studies showed that the literature of CC is dominated by TAM model and 1% have used UTAUT [27]. Previous studies on the adoption phase of CC has not focused on the usage of the technology in educational settings and studies in this domain are few ([16], [17]. Most prior studies focused on the adoption of CC in developed countries [28]. However, due to technological gap between developed and developing countries, more challenges are existed in the latter [29]–[31]. Thus, it is important to investigate the issues surrounding the adoption of CC to ensure its success [32].