Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use constitute important belief factors when technology adoption decisions are made within a non-mandatory setting. This paper investigated the role played by psychological ownership in shaping teachers' beliefs about using a cloud-based virtual learning environment (VLE). Psychological ownership is increasingly becoming a relevant phenomenon in technology adoption research, where people can feel psychologically attached to a particular technology. The study proposed that such phenomenon can also occur when using a VLE, and a hypothesised model with six constructs was tested with 629 Malaysian teachers from 21 schools. Results from structural equation modelling-partial least squares analysis found teachers' experiences with the VLE significantly influenced psychological ownership, which in turn significantly predicted perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the VLE. Overall, the model possesses predictive relevance for the outcome predictors as indicated by Stone-Geisser's Q2, and accounted for 61.6% of variance in perceived usefulness and 62.0% of variance in perceived ease of use. This study provides insights into the motivation behind teachers' beliefs which are shaped by their experiences with the VLE. Implications for theory and practice were discussed based on the insights of the study.
Some say that big data is transforming business and society. This can mean wide-reaching disruption for commerce, health and world governance. Few authors agree on what constitutes big data, depending on the philosophical stance taken. Our propensity for keeping data archived is posing major issues globally, with retrieval and application of such data crossing ethical boundaries. However, one of the more pressing issues is the growing need for confirming whether those working with such big data have the required digital skills to cope. This paper presents one effective and efficient way to identify such digital skill acquisition. We show the progression from the earlier approach used for measuring proficiency between novice and experienced programmers using traditional statistical measures, to adopting a more comprehensive unidimensional scale that empowers comprehension of human performance and test item performance relative to each other. This methodology offers an effective tool for understanding individual of differences in digital skill development.