EFFECTS OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD USING
LOGISTICS SOFTWARE ON LEARNING MOTIVATION IN
LOGISTICS EDUCATION
Pei-Chun Lin1 Su-Min Chang1 Jenhung Wang2
1
Transportation and Communication Management Science,
1
National Cheng Kung University,
1
No. 1, University Road, Tainan 701, Taiwan
peichunl@[Link].tw1
2
Department of Logistics Management,
2
National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology,
2
No. 2, Jouyoe Road, Kaohsiung 801, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Logistics software has become integral to the way business is conducted, and the
ever-growing popularity of computers and software in transportation and logistics
suggests that an applications course should be actively considered as part of the
curriculum. However, when such a course is offered, it is essential to focus not only
on the software chosen for the course itself (which should parallel the type of
programs actually used in transportation and distribution operations) but also the
perception of students toward using logistics software. This is necessary because
students’ perceptions of teaching materials ultimately affect their learning outcome.
This study discusses the perception of students toward the Technology Acceptance
Model to explain student behavior in using information technology, how they
perceive its usefulness, and how this perceived ease of use influences their learning
motivation and their attitude toward using logistics software in the logistics
management course. This study intended to capture students’ perceptions of logistics
software’s usefulness, students’ perceptions regarding logistics software’s ease of use,
the subjects’ attitudes toward using logistics software, and their learning motivation in
the logistics management course. The research results determine the key factors which
affected learning motivation when integrating logistics software into education and
show that students’ perception of the logistics software was the significant factor
affecting their attitude and learning motivation.
Keyword: Logistics Education, Technology Acceptance Model, Learning Motivation
INTRODUCTION
The widespread adoption of personal computers and logistics software in the logistics
business community has had a major impact on managerial planning. Because
logistics software can manipulate many variables, perform powerful sensitivity
analyses, optimize mathematical prediction, and assist analysts in simulating the real
business environment to predict detailed operational and financial performance,
logistics software has become a successful tool for logistics management.
Logistics software has therefore become integral to the way business is conducted,
and the ever-growing popularity of computers and software in transportation and
logistics suggests that such courses should be actively considered as part of the
curriculum. Teaching students to use logistics software designed for specific logistics
and transportation functions is important for two reasons. First, the process of using
the software to solve problems and/or the process of building models is well-suited to
reinforcing logistics concepts and developing the conceptual skills that lie at the heart
of the management process. Second, students with ability to use the software would
have a decided advantage in the job market, and would have sufficient preparation to
solve for future logistics problems. Correspondingly, educational departments focused
on logistics management should introduce those popular packages, which have been
adopted by firms which hire their graduates, thereby aiding in the modernization of
management techniques in the logistics field. However, when such a course is offered,
it is essential to focus not only on making sure that the software chosen for the course
itself parallels the type of programs actually used in transportation and distribution
operations, but also the perceptions of students toward using logistics software, since
the students’ perceptions of the teaching materials will ultimately affect their learning
outcome.
In the learning process, learning motivation is an important factor in determining a
student's learning effects, and it has already been proven that learning motivation has
a positive influence on learning achievements. Because learning motivation is one of
the main factors which affect learning, the importance of learning motivation cannot
be overemphasized. Moreover, it is important to note that learning motivation is
affected by students’ perceptions toward the learning material. Therefore, when
logistics educators introduce logistics software to students, they have to take into
consideration the cognitive faith and attitude of the students toward using the logistics
software, in addition to considering the suitability and applicability of the software to
the course objectives. The goal of this study is to enhance students’ learning
motivation in learning logistics management, which consequently result in improved
learning effects, furthermore to achieve the final goal of software aided teaching.
Some studies have provided a comprehensive framework by which educators could
organize the logistics curriculum, and have provided a guide to the software to be
considered for educational use, but those studies paid little attention to the perceptions
of students toward using logistics software. This study discusses the perception of
students toward the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as designed by Davis
(1989) based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), to describe student behavior
in using information technology, how they perceive its usefulness, and how this
perceived ease of use influences their learning motivation and their attitude toward
using logistics software in the logistics management courses.
RESHEARCH METHOD
The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship among students’ perceived
usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward using logistics software
integrated into logistics education. The research structure adopted is illustrated in
Figure 1. This study examines the following hypotheses.
H1. Perceived ease of use has a significant influence on perceived usefulness.
H2. Perceived usefulness has a significant influence on the attitude toward using
logistics software.
H3. Perceived ease of use has a significant influence on the attitude toward using
logistics software.
H4. Attitude toward use has a significant influence on learning motivation in
logistics-management course learning.
Perceived usefulness
H2
Attitude H4 Learning
Toward Using Motivation
H1
H3
Perceived Ease of Use
Figure 1: The theoretical framework
Definition of Terms
• Perceived usefulness: This is the degree to which a student believes that using
particular logistics software will enhance his or her logistics management learning
performance. In this study, perceived usefulness was assessed by means of four
items adapted from the instrument used by Davis (1989). The participants were
asked to rate the items on a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from “strongly
disagree” (1 point) to “strongly agree” (7 points).
• Perceived ease of use: This is the degree to which a person believes that using
particular logistics software would entail less effort. In this study, perceived ease
of use was assessed by means of four items adapted from the instrument used by
Davis (1989).The participants were asked to rate the items on a seven-point Likert
scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” (1 point) to “strongly agree” (7 points)
(Davis, 1989).
• Attitude toward using logistics software: This refers to favorable or unfavorable
feelings toward using the logistics software. In this study, “attitude toward using
logistics software” was assessed by means of four items adapted from the
instrument used by Taylor and Todd (1995). The participants were asked to rate
the items on a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” (1 point)
to “strongly agree” (7 points).
• Learning Motivation: Learning motivation refers to the extent to which an
individual works or strives to learn because of a desire to do so, as well as the
extent of the satisfaction gained from the activity. In this study, learning
motivation was assessed by means of 24 items adapted from the instrument used
by Silagyi-Rebovich et al. (1998). The participants were asked to rate the items on
a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” (1 point) to “strongly
agree” (7 points).
RESULTS
The study recruited students at National Cheng-Kung University in Taiwan as
investigation subjects. All students enrolled in the logistics management course
agreed to participate in this study. During the class, the teachers integrated logistics
software into the course and provided students with an overview and demonstration of
logistics software as part of their classroom training. Following the demonstration, the
subjects were given an exercise in which they were asked to use the logistics software
to build models for optimizing mathematical predictions and simulations. At the end
of the software demonstration, all students received and completed the questionnaires
which were designed to capture their perceptions on logistics software’s usefulness,
their perceptions on its ease of use, the subjects’ attitudes toward using the logistics
software, and their learning motivation in the logistics management course. The
experiment involves 180 subjects, the valid respondents were 115, and the response
rate was 63.9 percent.
After the data collection, we first run a test of internal consistency reliability as shown
in Table 1. Cronbach's alpha is an estimate of the internal consistency of responses
from multiple items, based on the average inter-item correlation. A Cronbach’s alpha
equal to or greater than 0.7 indicates a satisfactory level of reliability for widely used
scales. The analyzed Cronbach’s alpha for perceived usefulness was 0.806295;
0.915228 for perceived ease of use; 0.896929 for attitude toward using logistics
software; 0.925160 for learning motivation; and 0.942968 for the entire scale. The
Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were higher than 0.7 and a high level of reliability was
established in this study.
Table 1: Test of internal consistency reliability
scale Cronbach α Overall Cronbach α
Perceived usefulness 0.806295 0.942968
Perceived ease of use 0.915228
Attitude toward using 0.896929
Learning motivation 0.925160
Following the reliability test, Structure Equation Model (SEM) was used to verify the
hypotheses regarding the relationships among perceived usefulness, perceived ease of
use, attitude toward using logistics software, and learning motivation. Figure 2 is the
structural equation model of the research.
Figure 2: structural equation model
The SEM structural model was used to capture the causal relationships (regression
effects) of the exogenous variables on the endogenous variables, and the causal
relationships of the endogenous variables on one another. Concerning the assessment
of the hypothesized model adequacy, the overall model-fit indices such as the ratio of
the Chi-square to degrees of freedom (CMIN/DF), Goodness of Fit (GFI), Adjusted
Goodness of Fit (AGFI), Root Mean Square of Approximation (RMSEA), and Root
Mean Square Residual (RMR) were adopted in this study. In regard to the acceptable
fit between the hypothetical model and the sample data (i.e., CMIN/DF value), a ratio
of equal to or less than 1 indicates that the hypothetical model is over-fitted, while a
ratio in between 1 and 3 shows an acceptable hypothetical model. GFI represents the
degree to which the actual or observed covariance matrix is predicted by the estimated
model. GFI deals with explained covariance, relative to total covariance. GFI values
can range from 0.0 (poor fit) to 1.0 (perfect fit). In practice, a GFI value greater than
0.9 represents a strong fit. AGFI is an extension of GFI, which is adjusted by the ratio
of degrees of freedom for the proposed model to the degrees of freedom for the null
model. It is suggested that an AGFI equal to or greater than 0.9 indicates a good fit,
while an AGFI that is greater than 0.8 is a sign of a marginal fit. RMSEA represents
the square root of the ratio of the rescaled no-centrality index (i.e., the population
discrepancy function) to the model's degrees of freedom. In other words, RMSEA is
the discrepancy per degrees of freedom, measured in terms of the population, and so
is relatively insensitive to sample size. It is suggested that an RMSEA value of 0.05 or
less indicates a close fit of the model, in relation to the degrees of freedom, and an
RMSEA value of 0.08 or less indicates a reasonable error of approximation. An RMR
which ranges from 0 to 1, with values less than 0.05 is considered to be a good fit.
By conducting analysis by AMOS 6.0, the standardized estimates of AMOS for model
specification are listed in Figure 3, and the indices of model fitness are listed in Table
2.
Figure 3: Standardized estimates of AMOS for model specification
Table 2: Test of model fit
Indices Suggestion value Result of the research
Less that 3 1.502
χ2／df
P-value > 0.05 0.089
GFI Greater than 0.9 0.942
AGFI Greater than 0.9 0.870
RMR Less than 0.05 0.029
RMSEA Less than 0.08 0.08
The path coefficients for four measurement subsystems were all above [Link]
Chi-square value indicates that the model fit the collected data ( χ square = 24.035,
p-value = 0.089 > 0.05, and χ square/degree-of-freedom = 1.502). The GFI and
AGFI values were 0.955 and 0.90, indicating a good fit. Furthermore, the levels of the
RMR value (0.021) and the RMSEA value (0.08) were both acceptable. According to
those figures, it is estimated that the predictors of attitude toward using can explain
69% of the variance, and those of learning motivation can explain 66% of the
variance. The composite reliability in the present study was as follows: perceived
usefulness, 0.8403; perceived ease of use, 0.9072; attitude toward using, 0.8729; and
learning motivation, 0.9419. The extracted variance values for the above constructs
were 0.7234, 0.8316, 0.7738, and 0.894, respectively. Composite reliabilities and
extracted variances were examined to ensure that the loadings were statistically
significant; the former were all above 0.70, while the latter were at least 0.50. All fit
indices revealed that the proposed research model fit the data well, and the
measurement model also showed statistically significant relations between the latent
variables and their indicators.
Table 3 lists the unstandardized regression weight and we can conclude all regression
weights are significant difference from zero. According to the analyzed result, all of
the hypotheses proposed in the study were supported. The main results are listed
below:
Table 3: Unstandardized regression weight
Path Estimate S.E. C.R. P
Perceived <--- Perceived ease of .132 .054 2.416 .016
usefulness use
Perceived Attitude toward 1.053 .142 7.399 ***
usefulness <--- using
Perceived ease of Attitude toward .182 .057 3.171 .002
use <--- using
Attitude toward Learning .556 .064 8.711 ***
using <--- motivation
1. Perceived ease of use has a significant influence on perceived usefulness;
2. Perceived usefulness has a significant influence on attitude toward use;
3. Perceived ease of use has a significant influence on attitude toward use; and
4. Attitude toward use has a significant influence on learning motivation in
logistics-management course learning.
Logistics software has become integral to the way business is conducted, and the
ever-growing popularity of computers and software in transportation and logistics
suggests that an applications course should be actively considered as part of the
curriculum. By applying the theory of TAM and the education theory of learning
motivation, we can determine the key factor which affects learning motivation when
integrating logistics software into education. Moreover, we can show that students’
perceptions of the teaching materials-logistics software are the significant factor
affecting their attitude and learning motivation. If the logistics software used in the
course were useful for learning and ease of use, students would maintain a positive
attitude to the logistics software in the course. When students think that using the
logistics software is a good idea and using the logistics software would be pleasant,
they will show more interest in, and will be much more devoted to,
logistics-management learning.
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