Does Use of ICT Relate with the way it is Perceived? Evidence from Makerere University

The survey sought to establish how perceived relative advantage, computability, user friendliness and observability related to use of ICT. Quantitative data was collected from 145 teachers, 124 administrators and 175 students using a questionnaire, whose validity and reliability were assessed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Cronbach’s alpha respectively. Descriptive analysis was done using percentages and means, while hypotheses were tested using Multiple Regression. Results suggested that perceived relative advantage, user friendliness and observability were significant positive correlates of use of ICT, while perceived compatibility was not. These findings imply that to enhance ICT adoption in the University, ICT change agents have to raise and maintain perceived relative advantage of ICT among teachers, senior administrators and graduate students via training. They should acquire user friendly ICT whose user interfaces (e.g. screens) give clues to users on what to enter and how to enter, in addition to being accompanied by user manuals. The change agents should enhance perceived observability of ICT, during training, by bringing out vivid examples of teachers, senior administrators and graduate students in other universities that have benefited from integrating ICT in their respective endeavours as employees and clients of universities.