Gender and Cultural Differences in Attitudes toward Schooling Usage and Personal Usage of Computers: A Study of Malaysia and Jordan

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 103 ( 2013 ) 425 – 433

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The Association of Science, Education and Technology-TASET, Sakarya Universitesi, Turkey.doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.356

ScienceDirect

13th International Educational Technology Conference

Gender and cultural differences in attitudes toward Schooling usage and Personal usage of Computers:

A study of Malaysia and Jordan Nabeel Abedalaziza , Chin Hai Lengb & Saedah Sirajc

a b cDepartment of Curriculum and Instructional Technology

Faculty of Education University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract

The present study aimed at exploring the overall Malaysian and Jordanian teachers attitudes toward schooling usage and personal usage of computers, and testing The following hypotheses: (1) Teachers attitudes toward schooling usage and personal usage of computers would not be significantly related to gender, (2) Teachers attitudes toward schooling usage and personal usage of computers would not be significantly related to the culture (country), and (3) Teachers attitudes toward schooling usage and personal usage of computers would not be significantly related to the interaction between gender and culture. A total of 369 Malaysian and 342 Jordanian English teachers were participated in the present study. Computer Attitude Scale (CAS) developed by Troutman (1991) was adapted and validated for both countries. The means suggest that participants have high level perceptions about the personal usage and schooling usage of computers. Furthermore, teachers in both sexes and from different countries have high levels of perceptions toward personal usage and schooling usage of computers. For Malaysian samples, MANOVA results indicated that: males and females are similar in their attitudes toward the personal usage and schooling usage of computers. For Jordanian samples, MANOVA results indicated that: males and females are similar in their attitudes toward the personal usage and schooling usage of computers. Finally, Malaysian and Jordanian teachers were similar in their attitudes toward schooling usage and personal usage of computers. In conclusion, attitudes toward computer usage are unrelated to culture and gender. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The Association of Science, Education and Technology-TASET, Sakarya Universitesi, Turkey. Keywords: Attitudes, Jordanian teachers, Malaysian teachers, Personal usage, Schooling usage

Corresponding author. Tel.: +603-79675170 E-mail address: [email protected]

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

© 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The Association of Science, Education and Technology-TASET, Sakarya Universitesi, Turkey.

426 Nabeel Abedalaziz et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 103 ( 2013 ) 425 – 433

1. Introduction

Cross-cultural comparisons are needed to give a better understanding of teacher’s attitudes toward (Information and Communication Technology) ICT usage in different national cultural backgrounds. Despite the economic agenda driving the adoption of the ICT, little cross-cultural educational research has been done to explore attitudes toward ICT usage. Most research on gender differences in the Internet or ICT usage has been done in Western countries. But, if gender is a social construct one cannot presume that it will be express in the same way everywhere (Li & Kirkup, 2007, p. 302). The ICT may be a global technology but teachers work in local/national contexts, and have differences in other aspects of their identities; one of the most important of which is gender identity. Research with young adult’s shows that information technology, as an activity, was found to be male stereotyped. Women are less likely to be attracted to computer courses and to a computer-related career (Li &Kirkup, 2007).

Earlier findings identify the symbiotic relationship of technology (ICTs) and society. The creation of a technology does not occur in a vacuum but instead encompasses social and cultural phenomena (Davies, 1988, p. 163). Collis (1999) argues that culture is a critical factor in influencing people’s acceptance and use of Internet-based learning resources. The earlier findings suggest that, in different cultures, people might have different perceptions about ICT ( Li & Kirkup, 2007; Brosnan & Lee, 1998; Makrakis, 1992; Martin, Heller, & Mahmoud, 1992; Omar, 1992). For instance, Li and Kirkup (2007) found that attitudes toward Internet usage between Chinese and British students were cultural and gender related. Brosnan and Lee (1998) indicated those students attitudes toward computers and their usage of them were cultural related. In another study, Makrakis (1992) confirmed that attitudes toward computers are cultural related. Furthermore, Omar (1992) found that students in the United States held more positive attitudes to computers than their Kuwait counterparts. Martin et al. (1992) found that children from American and Soviet had similar positive attitudes to computers.

Gender differences in attitudes toward computers usage have been well documented. Most research on gender differences of ICT usage has been done in Western countries (Li &Kirkup, 2007). But, if gender is a social construct one cannot presume that it will be expressed in the same way everywhere. Therefore studies of gender differences in attitudes toward ICT usage in different cultural contexts need to be carried out. This paper reports research carried out with Malaysian and Jordanian teachers, which investigated their attitudes toward computers, to explore what, if any, gender and culture differences were observed between the two countries/cultures. The teachers in these two countries have been taught in different educational systems, live in different political systems, speak different languages, and have different views on the value of ICTs. But how national cultures influence teacher attitudes toward computer usage needs to be explained theoretically and investigated systematically. In this paper, we hypnotized that: 1. Teacher’s attitudes toward computer usage would not be related to gender. 2. Teacher’s attitudes toward computer usage would not be related to culture. 3. Teacher’s attitudes toward computer usage would not be related to the interaction between gender and

culture. 2. Methodology 2.1 Samples

A total of 369 Malaysian English teachers and 342 Jordanian English teachers were participated in the present study. Jordanian sample includes 113 male and 229 female; primary teachers (46%) and secondary teachers (54%); bachelor holders (67%) and master degree holders (33%). Malaysian sample includes 114 male and 247 female; primary teachers (69%) and secondary teachers (31%); bachelor holders (59%) and master degree holders (41%). Table 1 shows samples distribution by country, gender, stage level, and qualification.


Table 1. Samples distribution by country, gender, stage, and qualification

No. 0f students Percentage

Jordanian

Gender

Male 113 33

Female 229 67

Stage

Primary 157 46

Secondary 185 54

Qualification

Bachelor 228 67

Master 114 33

Malaysian

Gender

Male 122 33

Female 247 67

Stage

Primary 256 69

Secondary 113 31

Qualification

Bachelor 219 59

Master 150 41

Total 711 100

2.2 Instruments

Computer Attitude Scale (CAS) developed by Troutman (1991) was adapted to Jordanian and Malaysian environments. The scale compressed 51 statements representing attitude towards computers usage. Participants responded to the CAS using a five-point scale of strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), neutral (3), agree (4), and strongly agree (5). Furthermore, the negative items were reversed coded. Computer Attitude Scale (CAS) includes two subscales:


2.2.1 Attitude toward Personal Use of Computers (ATPUC) Subscale

The ATPUC subscale to measure in-service teachers’ attitudes toward personal usage of computers. This subscale compressed 19 items to measure in-service teachers’ feelings towards computers, teachers' beliefs about the usefulness of computers in their life, perceived comfort level or difficulty of using computers, and behavioural intentions and actions with respect to computers. As such, the possible marks range is from 19 to 95 with a mean of 57. The reliability of this subscale is 0.79 as reported by its authors and calculated by split-half method and corrected by Spearman Brown Prophecy Formula. The inner consistency coefficient determined by the alpha correlation is 0.89.

2.2.2 Attitudes toward Schooling Use of Computers (ATSUC) Subscale

The ATSUC subscale compressed 32 items to measure teachers’ attitudes toward the usefulness of computers in school environments, the feasibility of using computers in instruction and management, affective outcomes of computers in schooling, and the dependence of society on a computer-literate citizenry. The possible marks range is 32 to 160 with a mean of 96. The reliability of this subscale is 0.92 as reported by its authors and calculated by split-half method and corrected by Spearman Brown Prophecy Formula. The inner consistency coefficient determined by the alpha correlation is 087. Also, the inner consistency coefficient of CAS determined by the alpha correlation is .91.

Thus, the results show that the alpha coefficients for all subscales were significantly high, suggesting that the internal reliability index of the two constructs and the entire scale is adequate. In addition, the results of inter correlations showed that each subscale correlates significantly with another subscale and the entire scale. According to Harrison, Seeman, and Behm (1991), this result provides at least further evidence for the consistency of the entire scale and for the convergent validity of each subscale. All subscales correlate significantly at the p < .05 level and the coefficients range from 0.39 to .59. This suggests that the two constructs (i.e. schooling use and personal use) were fairly independent to be used as independent variables. This allows us to examine the computer attitudes of students by each subscale. 3. Results

Overall profile of the Jordanian teachers attitudes towards computer were measured in terms of personal and schooling use. The mean scores and standard deviations were used to explain the participant's attitudes profile. As can be seen in Table 2, the results of the descriptive statistics indicated that Jordanian teachers attitudes towards computer as indicated by the mean scores is 3.74 for personal use and 3.70 for schooling use. The means suggest that participants have high level perceptions of the personal and schooling use of computer.

Overall profile of Malaysian teachers attitudes towards computer were measured in terms of the personal and schooling use. As can be seen in Table 3, the results of the descriptive statistics indicated that Malaysian teachers attitudes towards computer as indicated by the mean scores is 3.73 for personal use and 3.68 for schooling use. The means suggest that participants have high level perceptions of the personal and schooling use of computer.


Table 2. Descriptive statistics of Jordanian teacher's attitudes towards personal and schooling usage of computer

Schooling Personal

Gender

Male Mean 3.75 3.79

S.D 13.17 11.19

Female Mean 3.67 3.72

S.D 16.41 11.27

Total Mean 3.70 3.74

S.D 15.44 11.25

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of Malaysian teacher's attitudes towards personal and schooling usage of computer

Schooling Personal

Gender Male Mean 3.75 3.77

S.D 13.59 10.99

Female Mean 3.64 3.73

S.D 14.14 11.18

Total Mean 3.68 3.73

S.D 14.15 11.18


A multivariate analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of gender on Jordanian teacher's attitudes towards computer usage. In order to evaluate multivariate significance, Wilks Lambda statistic was used. The results indicated no statistically significant effect of gender on the combined dependent variables (F(4, 339)= .98, Wilks lambda= .99. p= .38).

In order to investigate on which dependent variables Jordanian participants in different group of gender differed in their attitudes towards computer use, multivariate analyses of variance between groups was conducted. Table 4 shows the summary results of MANOVA analysis. As we seen in table 4 males and females are similar in their attitudes toward schooling usage of computer F(1, 340)= 1.93, p>0.05; and personal usage of computer F(1, 340)= 1.08, p>0.05.

Table 4. Summary Results of MANOVA analysis of Jordanian teachers attitudes toward computer usage by gender

Source Component Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Gender Schooling 459.00 1 459.33 1.93 .17

Personal 136.80 1 136.80 1.08 .30

A multivariate analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of gender on Malaysian teacher's

attitudes towards computer usage. In order to evaluate multivariate significance, Wilks Lambda statistic was used. The results indicated no statistically significant effect of gender on the combined dependent variables (F(2, 366)= 2.86, Wilks lambda= .99. p= .06).

In order to investigate on which dependent variables Malaysian participants in different group of gender differed in their attitudes towards computer use, multivariate analyses of variance between groups was conducted. Table 5 shows the summary results of MANOVA analysis. As we seen in Table 5 males and females are similar in their attitudes toward schooling usage of computer F(1, 366)= .88, p>0.05, personal usage of computer F(1, 366)= .87, p>0.05). Table 5. Summary Results of MANOVA analysis of Malaysian teachers attitudes toward computer usage by gender


Gender Schooling 110.69 1 110.69 .88 .36

Personal 108.51 1 108.51 .87 .35

A multivariate analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of teacher’s culture (country) on their attitudes toward computer usage. The results indicated that males teachers in both countries are similar on computer usage (F (2, 708) = .05, Wilks lambda = 1.00, p=.95); females teachers in both countries are similar on


computer usage (F (2, 708) = 1.57, Wilks lambda = 1.00, p=.21). Furthermore, the results indicated that no significant effect of the interaction between country and gender on teachers attitudes towards computer usage (F (2, 708) = .24, Wilks lambda = 1.00, p=.79).

In order to investigate on which dependent variables Malaysian and Jordanian teachers in different group of gender differed in their attitudes towards computer usage, multivariate analyses of variance was conducted. Table 6 shows the summary results of MANOVA analysis. As we seen in Table 6, males from both countries are similar on their attitudes toward schooling usage (F (1, 709) = .00, p>.05) and personal usage (F (1, 709) = .08, p>.05); females from both countries are similar on their attitudes toward schooling usage (F (1, 709) = 2.92, p>.05) and personal usage (F (1, 709) = 2.28, p>.05). Teachers from both countries are similar on their attitudes toward schooling usage (F (1, 709) = .22, p>.05) and personal usage (F (1, 709) = .12, p>.05). Results revealed that no significant effect for the interaction between gender and country on teachers attitudes toward schooling usage (F (1, 709) = .20, p>.05) and personal usage (F (1, 709) = .01, p>.05). Table 6. Summary Results of MANOVA Analysis to compare between Malaysian and Jordanian teachers attitudes toward computer.


Male (both countries) Schooling .07 1 .07 .00 .99

Personal 9.37 1 9.37 .08 .78

Female (both countries) Schooling 720.42 1 720.42 2.92 .09

Personal 313.62 1 313.62 2.28 .13

Country Schooling 48.36 1 48.36 .22 .64

Personal 14.49 1 14.49 .12 .73

Gender*Country Schooling 42.71 1 42.71 .20 .66

Personal 1.45 1 1.45 .01 .92

4. Discussion

In general, teachers from both countries hold positive attitudes toward personal and schooling usage of computers. The overall positive level of computer attitudes could be attributed to the availability and accessibility to ICT given to teachers in both countries. Moreover, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in both countries has given approval to implement ICT in education. Therefore, the two governments have facilitated computer


integration in schools to improve the usefulness of the teacher’s education on a personal and national level. Implementing ICT in ways that may have shaped their ICT attitudes in a positive direction, and contributed towards increasing home computer ownership among them, which could have promoted greater opportunities with ICT (Teo, 2008).

Moreover, the reason for these high attitudes toward computer usage can be attributed to high usage of the computer and its various applications in instruction and being assigned homework and various tasks requiring computer usage. The moderate emotional response mean scores for participants were indicative that they were likely to be less anxious about future usage of the Internet (Abedalaziz, Jamaluddin, & Chin, 2013).

Further, results revealed that Malaysian and Jordanian teacher’s attitudes toward computer usage are unrelated to gender. These findings are consistent with the earlier studies (Abedalaziz, Jamaluddin, & Chin; Teo, 2008; Cavas et. al, 2009). Moreover, North and Noyes (2002) felt that increased usage of computers for teaching and learning in schools has worked against the development of gender differences. Contrary to the findings of these studies, previous studies reporting sex related differences in attitudes toward computer ( Adebowale et. al., 2010; Sainz et. al., 2010; Avraham, 2005; Graff, 2003; Brosnan & Lee, 1998; Shashaani, 1993).

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Gender and Cultural Differences in Attitudes toward Schooling Usage and Personal Usage of Computers: A Study of Malaysia and Jordan