Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

As mobile learning (m-learning) becomes increasingly prevalent in education, it is recognized for its potential to enhance the overall quality of teaching and learning. Despite the many benefits, m-learning apps often experience low retention rates, which directly impede learners' benefit from using them and cause a waste of resources in app design, development, and maintenance. To investigate the critical factors influencing learners' acceptance of m-learning outside the classroom, this study introduced a novel model, the Mobile Learning Acceptance Determination (mLAD) Model, based on the Technology Acceptance Model and the updated DeLone and McLean Information System Success Model. Through the mLAD model, the study identified the critical app quality factors that influence learners' acceptance of m-learning. The moderating effects of the type of m-learning apps on learners' acceptance of m-learning were also revealed. An online questionnaire named the m-Learning Acceptance Questionnaire (mLAQ) was developed and disseminated through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A total of seven hundred forty-seven adult learners in the U.S. participated in the study. The descriptive statistical results of the examined factors revealed that m-learning apps available in the market demonstrate high mobility and content quality. Still, their interactivity and service quality could be improved. Furthermore, the results of the structural equation modeling analysis indicated that learners' two beliefs, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use, are the two essential determinants of learners' intention to use m-learning apps outside the classroom. Quality factors, such as content quality, interface design, mobility, and service quality, are the antecedents of learners' m-learning acceptance, given that they significantly and directly influence perceived usefulness and ease of use and indirectly impact learners' intention to use m-learning apps through learners' two beliefs. Through (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ana-Paula Correia (Advisor); Minjung Kim (Committee Member); Richard J Voithofer (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Software; Educational Technology; Information Systems; Information Technology; Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Human Nutrition and Food Management

The strategic use of management information systems (MIS) can convey competitive value. For this reason, it is important to understand which antecedents are associated with system success. By utilizing theoretical assumptions from several fields: strategic management, MIS, and hospitality, this study develops a model of Restaurant Management Information System (RMIS) success for the foodservice industry. The purpose of this study was to identify current information technology (IT) trends in the foodservice industry, to identify the types and quality of IT training and support offered to managers, and to develop and test the RMIS model. This study uses survey research. A survey was administered to restaurant managers (n = 243) to gather data about their system features and effectiveness. This study demonstrated several important findings. First, many foodservice establishments are utilizing systems more than indicated in earlier foodservice literature. Food and labor cost analyses, sales forecasts, server performance evaluations, menu analysis, and e-mail are commonly utilized by today's restaurant manager. Second, this study provides support for contingency theory, that is, firms do not use systems equally. Full and quick service restaurants, chains and independents, and successful and unsuccessful restaurants all utilized systems differently. Third, this study provided partial support for systems implementation theory. This study found that training related to system success, but not support. The availability (hours) of support provided by the “help desk” did not relate to system success. Lastly, this study used regression analysis to test the RMIS research model. The first regression model of RMIS success, with decision-making support satisfaction as a dependent variable, exhibited a fit of .450. Four antecedents – system use, system quality, report quality, and training quality –were significant. Sensitivity analysis was conducted on the regression analysis, and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: R. Thomas George (Advisor) Subjects: Business Administration, General

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2013, Cultural Studies (Education)

This research study explored how White working class Appalachian males who have completed, or who were within one term of completing a program of study at one of ten community and technical colleges in West Virginia perceived academic success. It examined their definitions of academic success, the perceptions they held regarding their own past and present academic successes, as well as their views regarding factors from their lived experience that they felt contributed to their program of study completion. Using qualitative methodology, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight participants. It was designed to reflect the tenets of Appreciative Inquiry. While reflecting the changes within White working class identity formation in response to the deindustrialization of the economy, the findings of this study present two contradictions with the research literature. The first is that these men were found to define academic success from a working class perspective. This demonstrated their adherence to working class cultural capital while successfully completing a postsecondary program of study. This implies they did not need to abandon their working class cultural capital in lieu of new cultural capital in order to be successful at the college level. Furthermore, the factors from their lived experience that participants named as contributing to their program of study completion were factors that have previously been identified in research literature as factors that commonly present as barriers to postsecondary success for working class students. However, the participants in this study indicated these factors presented as positive influences that assisted in facilitating their academic success. Additionally, the perceptions of past and present academic success held by participants were noted as those that 1) reflect the development of/presence of positive psychological capital within these individuals and 2) demonstrate the educational experien (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jaylynne Hutchinson Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Michael Hess Ph.D (Committee Member); Jerry Johnson Ed.D (Committee Member); Yegan Pillay Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Community College Education; Community Colleges; Education Philosophy; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; Higher Education