The factors influencing the continuance intention of MOOCs: The perspective of socio-technical approach

The enduring challenges faced by MOOCs have consistently revolved around the low completion and high dropout rates. To explore the factors that affect the continuance intention of MOOCs, this study constructed a new theoretical model to analyze how the social and technical factors influenced the intention to continue using MOOCs through attachment (emotional attachment and functional attachment) and learning stickiness. To test the hypotheses, 334 valid samples were collected through a questionnaire from individuals in China who claimed that they had the experience using MOOCs and analyzed using PLS-SEM method. With the help of Smart PLS 3.0, the proposed model explained 64.10% variance of the continuous intention of MOOCs. The results found that the continuance intention of MOOCs was influenced by learning stickiness, which affected by students’ emotional and functional attachments to MOOCs. And the social factors (identification and social presence) and technical factors (interactivity and personalization) positively and significantly influence emotional attachment and functional attachment, respectively. The paper contributes to explain the factors affecting the intention to continue using MOOCs from the socio-technical perspective, which enriches the theoretical basis for the evaluation of the continuous use of MOOCs, and provides practical references for practitioners to better design MOOCs to enhance the student’s intention to continue using them.