Understanding the Barriers to the Use of MOOCs in a Developing Country: An Innovation Resistance Perspective

Despite the promised benefits of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) to address the digital divide and promote equity in educational opportunities, the use of MOOCs is still lagging especially in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers underlying the adoption of MOOCs in the context of a developing country. Drawing from the theoretical framework of innovation resistance theory, this study conducted focus group discussions with 69 college students in China, a major developing country in Asia. It was found that innovation resistance theory is plausible to explain the barriers to adopting MOOCs. Our results showed that the main barriers in the adoption of MOOCs encountered by students in a developing country are usage barrier, value barrier, and tradition barrier. Furthermore, to complement the perspective of innovation resistance theory, this study also conducted an inductive analysis to identify other types of obstacles hindering students' use of MOOCs. It was found that individual factors (e.g., self-control and attitude) as well as the environment (e.g., promotion and economical circumstance) are also barriers to the use of MOOCs. Implications and suggestions for practice are also discussed