Temporal Cross-lagged Effects Between Subjective Norms and Students’Attitudes Regarding the use of Technology

The present study concentrated on the interplay of subjective norms and attitudes towards WebCT over time in a U.S. higher education setting. Panel data collected on three occasions over the course of a semester were investigated in a Web-enhanced hybrid undergraduate psychology course, using a crosslagged and autoregressive model. Results suggested: 1. the degree to which students report deferring to their professor s expectations and peer opinions (subjective norms) influences the degree to which they, on future occasions, report deferring to their professor s expectations and peer opinions; 2. students attitudes towards using WebCT influence their attitudes assessed on immediately following occasions, but only those attitudes assessed immediately afterwards; 3. the degree to which students report deferring to professorial expectations and peer opinions (subjective norms) influences contemporaneously measured attitudes toward WebCT use; 4. student attitudes regarding WebCT use actually influence how students on a later occasion report their degree of deference to professorial expectations and peer opinions (subjective norms). Further research was suggested.