The Learning Technology Adoption Model (LTAM) : A Critical Realist Grounded Theory Approach to Understanding Academics’ Adoption and Use of Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education

Rea, Nick (2026) The Learning Technology Adoption Model (LTAM) : A Critical Realist Grounded Theory Approach to Understanding Academics’ Adoption and Use of Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

The increased adoption of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in Higher Education (HE) has prompted an appreciable amount of research into their acceptance and use. Despite producing useful insights, existing studies present notable limitations: most focus on student opinions while those concerning academics often employ hypothetico-deductive approaches based on two generalised technology acceptance theories and their extensions. However, as neither of these theories were developed for learning technology, or VLE adoption, they fail to satisfactorily account for the complexities and dynamics of academics’ VLE adoption, or their use behaviours. Specifically, these theories overlook the complexities of the diverse, nuanced characteristics of human behaviour and their perceptions of organisational systems and culture. This study investigates academics’ adoption and use of VLEs in HE to generate a new understanding of VLE adoption and use. It employs a Straussian Grounded Theory (SGT) methodology combined with an extension of Critical Realism (CR), namely the Morphogenetic Approach, to explore academics’ practices, perceptions, and experiences. Data from 24 semi-structured interviews with different groups of academics, including three Learning Technologies support staff, are analysed. The outcomes, aligned with SGT and conducted within a CR framework and the Morphogenetic Approach, identify the key explanatory factors seen as influencing academics’ adoption and use of VLEs in HE. These findings, presented as a new explanatory model, the Learning Technology Adoption Model (LTAM), explains academics’ VLE engagement, and overcomes limitations in the dominant theories of technology adoption. LTAM consists of six categories of influence which represent the key explanatory mechanisms and are mediated by the seventh, the academics’ reflexivity. Reflexivity is central to LTAM by mediating the different entities and generating their temporal realisation. In alignment with CR, the six categories of influence are understood to be stratified and consist of complex meso- and micro-level dimensions which act in concert to influence adoption. This study makes three core contributions to the existing knowledge on the adoption and use of VLEs: the development of LTAM itself; the presentation of distinct methodological strengths of a novel CR-informed SGT approach that reflect the complexities of learning technology adoption; and the identification and reconceptualisation of seven key factors which influence and explain academics’ adoption and use of VLEs in HE. Alongside these seven key factors, it also provides a conceptual clarification of two frequently discussed constructs which are frequently used in VLE adoption studies.