Adoption of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for Health Informatics and Administration Sustainability Education in Saudi Arabia

Sohail Akhtar (), Manahil Mohammed Alfuraydan, Yasir Hayat Mughal () and Kesavan Sreekantan Nair
Additional contact information
Sohail Akhtar: Department of Health Information Management and Technology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Manahil Mohammed Alfuraydan: Department of Health Information Management and Technology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Yasir Hayat Mughal: Department of Health Informatics, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia
Kesavan Sreekantan Nair: Department of Health Informatics, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-26

Abstract: Introduction: The educational landscape has been expanded to disadvantaged and distant areas through online courses. These online courses have gained extensive interest yet there are limited studies available in the literature. The emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has allowed sustainability educators to glimpse the light. Online education is gaining popularity and, with the introduction of MOOCs, would be beneficial for knowledge building and sharing, and the development of learned society. Objective: This study investigated the mediating (indirect) effects of media richness and user-based use motives on the extended UTAUT model, use behavior (UB), and actual use (AU) of MOOCs on health informatics and administration sustainability education among educators and students in Saudi higher learning institutions (HLIs). A theoretical model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Channel Expansion Theory (CET) was used to investigate the factors that affect the adoption of MOOCs in health informatics and administration education. Methodology: A survey design approach was applied. Cross-sectional data were collected from health informatics educators and students from HLIs in Saudi Arabia. A non-probability convenience sampling technique was used for sampling. Data were collected online using Google Forms. A total of 145 completed questionnaires were used in the analysis. PLS-SEM(Version 4.1.1.2) was used for statistical analysis. To investigate the reliability and validity, a measurement model was developed and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted. To test the hypotheses, a structural model was run using bootstrapping, coefficients, standard errors (SE) t -values, p values, and lower and upper-level confidence intervals. Results/Findings: The findings were that system quality and user satisfaction is an important factor in the UTAUT model and the inclusion of media richness and user-based use motives significantly mediated between the expanded UTAUT model and the UB and AU of MOOCs. Moreover, media richness and user-based use motives were found to be dominant factors in the overall study model to predict use behavior and actual use of health informaticians in Saudi Arabia. Conclusions: The combination of these two theories i.e., the UTAUT and CET, can effectively enhance the adoption, use behavior, and actual use of MOOCs in the emerging field of health informatics in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: UTAUT; channel expansion theory; use behavior; actual use; massive open online courses; sustainability education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/3795/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/3795/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:3795-:d:1640464

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().