Motivational factors and psychological barriers among faculty members in the context of the digital transformation of higher education: an empirical study

The digital transformation of higher education requires faculty members to adopt new technologies, yet significant variability persists in adoption rates. This study examined the relationships among motivation factors, psychological barriers, and technology adoption among university faculty members. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we investigated how different types of motivation relate to technology anxiety, resistance to change, and digital self-efficacy. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 154 faculty members from public, private, and national research universities. Participants completed validated instruments measuring academic motivation, technology anxiety (CARS), resistance to change, digital self-efficacy, technology acceptance, digital competence, and burnout (MBI). Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, ANOVA, multiple regression, and k-means cluster analysis. Results revealed that age was the dominant predictor across all regression models, explaining substantial variance in intrinsic motivation (β = −1.09), technology anxiety (β = 0.71), digital self-efficacy (β = −0.81), and technology acceptance (β = −0.80). External negative motivation showed strong positive correlations with psychological barriers (r = .39–.46) and negative correlations with selfefficacy (r = −.55). The cluster analysis provided four types of faculty members: Digital Leaders, Digital Enthusiasts, Pragmatic Adapters and Resistant Sceptics, based on the age of the participants.

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