International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2020, Vol. 16, Issue 1, pp. 72-87 User perceptions on the use of Academic Information Systems for decision making support in the context of Tanzanian Higher Education Anna Kayanda and Lazaro Busagala College of Business Education, Tanzania Matti Tedre University of Eastern Finland, Finland ABSTRACT The adoption of Information and Communication Technology in Tanzanian higher education institutions has led to the implementation of different but equivalent Academic Information Systems to support the management of different activities of students. However, these systems are not well used to support decision-making in those institutions. This study applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model to study the perceptions of decision makers on the use of academic information systems in their daily activities, especially in decision-making. A mixed methods approach was followed, whereby questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. Regression analysis was done to test the research hypotheses, and the qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The results showed that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions predicted the behavioral intention to use the systems (p<0.05) while effort expectancy and social influence were statistically insignificant (p>0.05). It was also found that users like to use the system, but undesirable functionalities, lack of necessary data, poor support, and inadequate training undermine their will to use the systems for decision-making. The results obtained cast new light on various issues that hinder the use of academic information systems by decision makers, and point toward new measures to improve them in order to increase their adoption. Keywords: Academic Information Systems; Higher Education; Decision Making; Tanzania. INTRODUCTION The adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Tanzanian higher education institutions (HEIs) has changed the way those institutions perform different operations (Mahenge & Sanga, 2016), such as manage their students’ affairs, allocate facilities, and do a range of other administrative functions. The adaptation of ICT improves quality of management which thereafter increases quality of service (Khanam et al., 2013) and hence support on development (Coelho et al., 2015). On adapting ICT, different Academic Information Systems (AISs) have been implemented to support daily operations, which has been shown to increase the working efficiency (Mahenge & Sanga, 2016) in these higher education institutions. Academic Information System refers to a set of systems and operations used in organizing, processing and using information in higher education institutions (Indrayani, 2013; Utomo et al., 2017; Bon et al., 2018). Since the implementation of these AISs, higher education institutions have experienced massive changes in the way they do their daily activities in supporting students (Duţă, & Martínez-Rivera, 2015). There has been a sharp increase in the wealth of decision- support information available for decision makers within HEIs (Indrayani, 2013). Decision makers include teaching staff and administrative staff, who increasingly rely on AIS functions for