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SAS professor's new book explores learning management systems

School of Administrative Studies Professor Hassan Qudrat-Ullah has a new book that focuses on the power and potential of learning management systems. The book Adoption of LMS in Higher Educational Institutions of the Middle East (Springer 2021) discusses the adoption of learning management systems (LMS) in higher education institutions.

Hassan Qudrat-Ullah

Hassan Qudrat-Ullah

It presents influential predictors that may impact instructors’ behavioral intention to adopt learning management systems in the context of Arab culture, as well as a unique model of technology acceptance that draws on and combines previous technology adoption models such as a modified unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model (UTAUT2).

The book extends the UTAUT2 model by including Hofstede’s (1980) cultural dimensions and technology awareness as the moderators of the model. It also describes the explanatory technique approach used to collect quantitative data from the instructors at higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia and were analyzed with structural equation modelling using SPSS/Amos software. The findings revealed that facilitating conditions were the strongest predictor of behavioral intention to adopt an LMS, followed by performance expectancy and hedonic motivation, technology awareness and cultural dimensions exerted a moderating influence on instructors’ behavioral intention to use LMS in their teaching.

Book cover for Adoption of LMS in Higher Educational Institutions of the Middle East

Book cover for Adoption of LMS in Higher Educational Institutions of the Middle East

By including new constructs, this becomes the first study of its kind exploring instructors’ use of LMS in higher educational institutions of Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Middle East. It offers practical insights for a broad range of researchers and professionals at higher education institutions and serves as a reference guide for designers of learning management systems (such as blackboard systems), policymakers and Ministry of Education staff.

Qudrat-Ullah is a professor of decision sciences at the School of Administrative Studies (SAS) in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies at York University. He has more than 20 years of university teaching, research and consulting experience in the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Norway, Algeria, U.K., the UAE, South Korea, Zambia, China, Colombia, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Bahrain and Pakistan. His research interests are in dynamic decision making, interactive learning environments, system dynamics and sustainable energy policies.

A prolific author, he has published 30 journal articles including in Decision Support Systems, journal of Cleaner Production, Energy, and Energy Policy, 12 books, 12 book chapters and more than 50 papers in refereed conference proceedings. Qudrat-Ullah is the recipient of the SAS Teaching Excellence Award (which he has received several times) and the Monarch Business School (Switzerland) has awarded him “Doctoral Teaching Excellence” award. He is a former chair of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies’ Faculty Council and is the editor-in-chief of International Journal of Complexity in Applied Science and Technology. He is also serving as the director of board, Swiss Federation of Private Business Schools, Switzerland, and is a member of the Editorial & Program Advisory Board, Springer Complexity in the U.S.