An Extended Technology Adoption Model with Perceived Visual Attractiveness to Assess Academic Web Portals

The educational system in the Philippines has been slowly progressing in terms of its technological infrastructures, such as web portals. Such a pattern in web portal development prompts stakeholders to carefully consider the adoption constructs, in order for limited and scarce resources to be wisely allocated. Therefore, this paper intends to assess an academic web portal by extending the classical technology acceptance model (TAM) framework with the addition of perceived visual attractiveness. A case study in a state university in Cebu, Philippines, in which 418 undergraduate students participated, was performed to explore relationships among constructs. Using structural equation modeling, the results indicated that perceived attractiveness poses a significant influence on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, which thereby significantly impacts perceived attitude and behavioral intention. Such results can aid stakeholders in managing resources in the development of academic web portals by focusing on important constructs such as perceived visual attractiveness.