Cloud computing adoption model based on IT officers perception in Malaysian public higher education institutions

Abstract

The growing needs for information technology and abridge budgets due to recent economic recession, has incurred a lot of difficulties for higher education institutions. It hinders the institutions from delivering necessary information technology services for their organizational as well as educational activities. The information technology divisions of these higher education institutions are facing tremendous pressure to provide more and efficient information technology services with almost same or less budgets. Thus, these institutions are continuously looking for cost-effective and reliable information technology resources, that can promise better IT provisioning at affordable costs. Cloud Computing is one such option, that has transformed information technology provisioning in various sectors like government, commerce and healthcare among others. This technology provisions IT resources at demand with improved performance and lower hardware and software procurement costs. Although, there exists a rich body of knowledge on Cloud Computing usefulness, yet higher education institutions are still skeptical about the Cloud Computing use and its adoption. This study examines the factors that influence the IT Officers’ perceptions about Cloud Computing adoption in Malaysian public higher education institutions. Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and Status Quo Bias (SQB) theory were used by the researcher for developing the study model. A quantitative research approach was employed to collect data from IT Officers of Malaysian public universities using an online survey. The researcher used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Ver. 22) and SmartPLS 3.0 software to analyse the data. The findings revealed that all constructs met construct reliability and validity criteria, as both measurement and structural models demonstrated good fit to the data. Additionally, the path estimates revealed that 12 out of 13 proposed relationships were significant. The empirical results disclosed that perceived usefulness (β=0.208; t=3.377), perceived ease-of-use (β=0.164; t=3.660), top management support (β=0.092; t=2.154), employee support (β=0.121; t=2.320), regulatory policy (β=0.097; t=2.120) and vendor reliability (β=0.108; t=2.086) have a direct significant positive influence on IT Officers’ perceptions to adopt Cloud Computing. Whereas, Status Quo Bias (β=-0.477; t=4.933) has a direct negative impact on IT Officers’ perceptions to adopt Cloud Computing. Furthermore, the mediation analysis showed that Status Quo Bias mediates the relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use, top management support, employee support, regulatory policy and intention to adopt Cloud Computing. On the other hand, vendor reliability only demonstrated a direct influence on intention to adopt Cloud Computing. The findings of the study will prove beneficial to decision makers of higher education institutions in Malaysia to ensure successful adoption of Cloud Computing among their institutions.