Abstract:
Training is a pillar of the success of military operations in the country. It was badly affected by COVID-19 and had to choose virtual learning for military professional courses. Behavioural intention of the student officers towards these courses is a critical factor in achieving the purpose of these courses. Behavioural intention can be identified as believing to use online learning and keeping with this system. It was affected by many factors during this period. COVID-19 caused Naval and Maritime Academy to close their doors and compelled the switch toward online education. This study aims to investigate factors that impact on the behavioural intention of student officers at the Naval and Maritime Academy on e-learning. An online questionnaire was utilized to gather data from 100 student officers enrolled in the Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee during 2021–2022. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was the primary framework employed for analysis, in which system quality and e-learning experience were included as external constructs to seek out a much better model to improve the understanding of students’ intention to adopt e-learning. The UTAUT model has been recently used to identify the factors impacts to acceptance of the academic online learning. It was developed and tested in this study. The model consists of five constructs: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and behavioral intention. For data analysis, SPSS version 20.0 (Statistical Packages for the Social Scientist) statistical package was applied for data analysis. Results showed that social influence and facilitating conditions have a greater positive and significant effect on student intention towards online learning. This study highlights the requirement of the upgrading of infrastructure facilities towards online learning. And social acceptance influences improving the perception of student officers. Acceptance is more effective towards the perception of students if subjective norms, social factors, and image are positive about online learning. Finally, this study offers recommendations that have major implications for future researchers, policymakers in the military, and practitioners in developing an effective online learning system for educational institutions in the context of military training.
