Consumerisation of information technology, user autonomy and personal innovativeness among self-sponsored students of the university of Nairobi`s school of business

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to empirically identify and explain consumerisation of information technology (IT) in educational settings, and to establish its relationship with user autonomy and personal innovativeness. We used a cross-sectional survey involving 143 self-sponsored students in six different classes in both undergraduate and postgraduate sections of the School of Business of the University of Nairobi. The choice of self-sponsored students enrolled in part-time programmes was premised on the observation that many students undertaking these programmes were employed in the workforce full-time and took classes in the evenings. They were thus in the unique position of being able to evaluate technology in the context of both the commercial arena (their workplace) as well as, for their academic programme, the educational arena. Our study established that the rate of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and the basic level of consumerisation of IT in the sample was about 91%, and found significant positive correlations among the research variables of consumerisation of IT, user autonomy and personal innovativeness. We also established that the respondent’s BYOD status (that is, whether or not they owned a device that they brought to class) was a statistically significant factor in understanding the research variables, but that there were no statistically significant differences in the respondent’s single or multiple device ownership and similarly in the respondent categories of gender, academic programme and age group. Our study produced useful insights into the factors that influence innovation in the classroom and significantly contributed new ideas towards the understanding of the concept of consumerisation of IT in educational settings, recommending that educators should look for innovative ways to use mobile technologies in their classrooms.