PAPER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ADOPTION OF WEBSITE-SERVICE QUALITY BY APPLYING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF… Undergraduate Students’ Adoption of Website- service Quality by Applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in Jordan http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v7i3.2482 Mohammed-Issa Riad Jaradat, Marie Banikhaled Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan Abstract—Websites design and quality becomes a critical success factor especially for Electronic University (E- University) and/or Mobile University (M-University) as a part of E-Government and/or M-Government; because web- sites are the main interface between the universities and its students and stakeholders. This study presents factors that affect undergraduate students’ adoption of website-service quality by applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in Jordan. The proposed mod- el was empirically tested using data collected from a survey containing 24 questions. Out of the 450 questionnaires that were randomly distributed, 422 were returned (93.8%). The structural equation modeling technique (SEM), by using the WarpPLS 3.0 software, was used to evaluate the causal model. Results show that student adoption and use of uni- versity website services can be predicted from the students’ behavioral intentions, which are affected significantly by performance expectancy and effort expectancy. The results show that social influence, website quality, and facilitating conditions have no direct significant effect on behavioral intention to use university website services even they have a medium grand mean for the scores of responses statements. Finally, as an ultimate aspiration, it was found that there is a direct effect between behavioral intention and actual be- havioral to use university website services. Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the underlying assump- tions and theoretical constructs through the use of the UTAUT will assist developers in building, developing and maintaining a university website. Index Terms—The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Website-Service Quality, Perfor- mance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI) and Facilitating Condition (FC). INTRODUCTION I. Reference [17] defined a website as "a group of inter- face and functional attributes that are connected to each other to serve high levels of usability, performance, and beauty to users, to satisfy users’ wants, and to obtain their satisfaction in a competitive market of online and offline sales and information services". With increasing number of websites and considerable investment in them, website quality evaluation has become an important activity [22]. Web based application can be used and reached more than non-web based application. Reference [21] said that web is playing a main role in diverse application domains such as business, education, industry and entertainment. As a result, there are increasing concerns about the ways in which websites are developed and the degree of quality delivered. The design of Web sites becomes a critical success fac- tor especially for Electronic University (E-University) and/or Mobile University (M-University) purposes as a part of E-government and/or M-government; because web sites are the main interface between the universities and its students or stakeholders. This study investigates factors that affect students' adoption of website-service quality by applying the Uni- fied Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) at Al al-Bayt University in Jordan. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of A. Technology (UTAUT): The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technolo- gy (UTAUT) depicted in Fig. 1, was developed by [27] for the purpose of examining technology adoption using a more unified approach. The model integrates the Per- ceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM was initially introduced by [8]. It has become one of the most widely used models in the investigation of user acceptance of information technology. As mentioned above the model integrates the Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) referring to them as Perfor- mance Expectancy (PE) and Effort Expectancy (EE). In addition to these two variables: Social Influence (SI) and Facilitating Condition (FC). Gender, age, experience, and voluntariness of use are posited to mediate the impact of the four key constructs on usage intention and behavior [27]. RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES II. DEVELOPMENT Intention to Use A. Based on previous research, information systems adop- tion is largely influenced by behavioral intention, hence intention to use university website plays an important role in predicting future usage and development. Performance Expectancy B. Performance expectancy (PE) is defined as the "degree to which an individual believes that using website-service 22 http://www.i-jim.org PAPER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ADOPTION OF WEBSITE-SERVICE QUALITY BY APPLYING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF… will help him or her attain gains in job performance" [27, p. 447]. According to [27], the researchers expect that the relationship between performance expectancy and behavioral intention will be moderated by both gender and agesuch that the effect will be stronger for men and par- ticularly for younger men than for women. Male users tend to be more comfortable with new information sys- tems than female users and they tend to spend more time using new information systems, thus obtaining benefit from the systems. Age was found to be a significant varia- ble in previous research: Older end-users tend to find new information systems such as university website difficult to use and find them less useful when performing their task or assignments thus this research proposes the following hypotheses: H1: Performance Expectancy has a positive effect on the Behavioral Intention to use university website. H2: The relationship between Performance Expectancy and Behavioral Intention to use university website is mod- erated by the gender of users. H3: The relationship between Performance Expectancy and Behavioral Intention to use university website is mod- erated by the age of users. Effort Expectancy C. Effort Expectancy (EE) is defined as "the degree of ease associated with the use of the system" [27, p. 450]. According to [27], female end users of information sys- tems such as university website have higher level of com- puter anxiety and their level of effort expectancy tends to be lower than that of their male counterparts. Also com- pared to men, women are very concerned with the ease of use of information systems. They tend to anticipate more difficulties with ease of use. Reference [26] In the context of experience as a moderating factor, the researchers found that the longer the users use an information system such as university website, the more confident they are towards that information system. So that the influence of effort expectancy on behavioral intention will be moderat- ed by gender, age, and experience, in that the effect will be stronger for women, particularly younger women, and particularly at early stages of experience. Therefore, this research proposes the following hypotheses: H4: Effort Expectancy has a positive influence on the Behavioral Intention to use university website. H5: The relationship between Effort Expectancy and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the gender of users. H6: The relationship between Effort Expectancy and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the age of users. H7: The relationship between Effort Expectancy and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the experience of users. Social Influence D. Social influence is defined as "the degree to which an individual perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system" [27, p. 451]. “Important others” might include bosses, peers, subordinates, etc. Social influence as a direct determinant of behavioral in- tention is represented as subjective norm in TRA, TAM2, TPB/DTPB and C-TAM-TPB, social factors in MPCU, and image in IDT. Reference [15] showed that social influence occurs when other people affect an individual’s thoughts or ac- tions. Reference [24] claimed that social influence, as an external variable, is the construct of interest because it operationalizes how various social influence processes affect the person’s commitment to use the information system (i.e. website-service). Reference [20] found that social influence plays an im- portant role in determining the acceptance and usage be- havior of new adopters of new information technologies. Reference [25] found that social influence is one of the most critical components which has more pronounced effect on international students (both males and females) than their national, in determining the acceptance and us- age behavior from the perspective of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model. Reference [27] expect that the influence of social influ- ence on behavioral intention will be moderated by gender, age, voluntariness, and experience, such that the effect will be stronger for women, particularly older women, particularly in mandatory settings in the early stages of experience. Therefore, this research proposes the follow- ing hypotheses: H8: Social Influence has a positive influence on the Be- havioral Intention to use university website. H9: The relationship between Social Influence and Be- havioral Intention to use university website is moderated by the gender of users. H10: The relationship between Social Influence and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the age of users. H11: The relationship between Social Influence and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the experience of users. H19: The relationship between Social Influence and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the voluntariness of use. Website Quality E. Website quality (WQ) has been added as an independ- ent variable to the original UTAUT model and is moderat- ed by gender, age and experience. These variables will assist in understanding the adoption of university website- service. Reference [2] defined website quality as a user’s positive evaluation of a website’s features, ensuring it meets the user’s needs and expectations and reflects the overall excellence of the website. Reference [30] stated iJIM ‒ Volume 7, Issue 3, July 2013 23 PAPER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ADOPTION OF WEBSITE-SERVICE QUALITY BY APPLYING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF… that website quality (WQ) is the quality of the website itself or the services provided by that web system. There- fore, this definition of quality is based on two pillars: website quality and information quality. Reference [1] showed that website quality includes: website design, website functions, website security, and information quali- ty. Website design or usability is one of the most im- portant factors for determining the quality of a website [2], [19], [28], [29]. Therefore, this research proposes the following hypoth- eses: H12: Website Quality has a positive influence on the Behavioral Intention to use university website. H13: The relationship between Website Quality and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the gender of users. H14: The relationship between Website Quality and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the age of users. H15: The relationship between Website Quality and Behavioral Intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the experience of users. Facilitating Conditions F. Facilitating conditions are defined as "the degree to which an individual believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support use of the sys- tem" [27, p. 453]. This is a provision of support for users in terms of computer hardware and software necessary to utilize university website. The influence of facilitating conditions on usage will be moderated by age, monthly expense, and experience, such that the effect will be stronger for older workers, particularly with increasing experience. Therefore, this research proposes the follow- ing hypotheses: H16: Facilitating conditions will have a positive influ- ence on usage of university website. H17: The relationship between Facilitating conditions and usage of university website is moderated by the age of users. H18: The relationship between Facilitating conditions and usage of university website is moderated by the expe- rience of users. Behavioral Intention G. Behavioral Intention (BI) is defined by Reference [7], [10], [11] as the degree to which university website stu- dent’s motivations intend to adopt the website services and this is our goals, aspirations, and expected responses to the attitude object. Reference [27], expect that behavioral intention will have a significant positive influence on technology usage. Therefore, this research proposes the following hypothe- sis: H20: Behavioral intention will have a significant posi- tive influence on usage of university website. RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES III. Research Model A. The present study uses a modified UTAUT. The re- search model tested in this study is shown in Fig. 2. Research Hypotheses B. This section presents the hypotheses to be tested and their relationship with a well-known model, i.e. UTAUT, as shown in Fig. 3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD IV. Population and Sample A. This study was conducted at one of the Jordanian public Universities. The data for the study were gathered from undergraduate students from all academic colleges and levels randomly by using a stratified random sample. A sample of 422 students was selected for the study. Measuring the Constructs B. A questionnaire was developed to achieve the objec- tives based on literature review. The questionnaire con- sisted of multiple items and its organization is based on seven groups using a five-point Likert scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. Measurement items used in this study were adapted from previously validated measures (i.e., [7], [8], [9], and [27]), and were derived from thorough consultation with Information Systems/ Information Technology experts to ensure their reliability and validity of each item. The ques- tionnaire was given to a number of referees. The ques- tionnaire statements were modified based on the results of the referees, specifically the general information and the translation of the statement from Arabic into English. A pilot test of the measures was conducted on a representa- tive sample of 40 students and some statements on the questionnaire were modified based on the results of the pilot test. Data Collection Procedure C. For this study, quantitative analysis was utilized. The questionnaire was distributed to a representative sample. All participants were randomly selected from the Univer- sity by using a stratified random sample. Computer soft- ware was used for the analysis: WarpPLS 3.0 using struc- tural equation modeling (SEM). Statistical Descriptive was used to find out the respondents’ demographic and general characteristics in order to provide a descriptive profile of the respondents. 24 http://www.i-jim.org PAPER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ADOPTION OF WEBSITE-SERVICE QUALITY BY APPLYING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF… Data Analysis D. The data for this research were collected by using a questionnaire containing 24 questions. After the follow-up activities from 450 survey respondents, 430 returned the questionnaires. Eight participants gave incomplete an- swers, so their results were dropped from the study. This left 422 sets of data for statistical analysis, with 93.8% valid return rate. Reliability and Validity E. Cronbach Alpha was used to measure internal con- sistency for state survey and research variables. The re- sults of the reliability test for the measures suggested that all the measures in this study were reliable. The Alpha coefficients for the measures ranged from 0.61 to 0.99 and are presented in Table 1. Reference [14] claimed that a value greater than 60% is regarded as a satisfactory level of internal consistency of measure. Therefore, a questionnaire was distributed to a selection of referees and a group of participants, and both of them agreed that the questionnaire measured the attributes it intended to measure. RESULTS V. Descriptive Statistics (Demographic Profile of A. Respondents) This section describes respondents’ personal back- ground such as gender, age, and level of study. The demo- graphic profile of the respondents is illustrated in Table 2: About 36.7% of the respondents are male. The majority of the respondents’ ages (78.7%) were students in the 20 - Less than 25 years old range; 80 (19.0%) were less than 20 years old; 10 (2.3%) were more than 25 years old. Grand Mean for the Scores of Responses for All Study B. Variables Table 3 illustrated the arithmetic grand mean for the scores of responses for all the study variables statements. The answers to these parts relied on a 5-Likert’s Scale, ranging from strongly disagree (1); disagree (2); moder- ately degree (3); I agree (4); and strongly agree (5). The interpretation of these results depends on the following scale: from 1.00-2.49 degree, low; from 2.50-3.49, medi- um; and from 3.50-5.00, high. The highest average of 3.52 in this table corresponds to the factor of Effort Expectan- cy. In other words, most of the respondents agreed that the use of university website is very easy. They also have the use behavioral intension to use it, with a moderate average of response reached 3.30. They also have the behavioral intension to use it, with a moderate average of response reached 3.10. The respondents moderately agreed that facilitating conditions are important with an average re- sponse of 2.96. They also agreed that website quality is moderately important, with a moderate average of re- sponse reached 2.92. The respondents moderately agreed that social influence is important with an average response of 2.90, but the lowest average response is for the its per- formance expectancy; the average response was about 2.84 which came to be on a moderate scale Analysis of the independent factors C. The Tables below show the response average for each factor in more detailed response. Therefore, the first factor which is clearly analysed in the table below shows that the lowest average response is for the question that is related to the overall Performance Expectancy with a moderate response average of 2.84. The highest response average is for providing a desired level of service capability with an average of 3.49. TABLE I. THE ALPHA COEFFICIENTS. Alpha 1 Performance Expectancy 0.793 2 Effort Expectancy 0.776 3 Social Influence 0.776 4 Website Quality 0.667 5 Facilitating Conditions 0.608 6 Behavioral Intention 0.834 7 Use Behavioral 0.990 TABLE II. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS Percentage Frequency Variable 63.2 267 Female Gender 36.7 155 Male 19.0 80 Less than 20 Age (years) 78.7 332 20- Less than 25 2.3 10 More than 25 9.5 40 First Year Levels 23.9 101 Second Year 26.8 113 Third Year 36.3 153 Fourth Year 3.5 15 Fifth Year TABLE III. GRAND MEAN FOR THE SCORES OF RESPONSES FOR ALL STUDY VARIABLES STATEMENTS. No. Variable Grand Mean 1 Performance Expectancy 2.84 2 Effort Expectancy 3.52 3 Social Influence 2.90 4 Website Quality 2.92 5 Facilitating Conditions 2.96 6 Behavioral Intention 3.10 7 Use Behavioral 3.30 TABLE IV. PERFORMANCE EXPECTANCY No Mean Std. Deviatio Rank Level 1 I would find the university website useful in my job. 3.49 1.274 1 Medium 2 Using the university website enables me to accomplish tasks more quickly. 2.90 1.388 2 Medium 3 Using the university website increases my productivity. 2.63 1.204 3 Medium 4 If I use the university website, I will increase my chances of getting a raise. 2.32 1.209 4 low Total average 2.84 (Medium) iJIM ‒ Volume 7, Issue 3, July 2013 25 PAPER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ADOPTION OF WEBSITE-SERVICE QUALITY BY APPLYING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF… From Table 4, the averages of university website ser- vices ranged between 2.32 of paragraph (4), which attains the lowest average, and 3.49 of paragraph (1), which at- tains the highest average. All these averages were medi- um, except paragraph (4) was low, indicating that the level of Performance Expectancy provided to the sample mem- bers was medium. TABLE V. EFFORT EXPECTANCY No Mean Std. De- viation Rank Level 1 My interaction with the universi- ty website would be clear and understandable. 3.50 1.138 3 High 2 It would be easy for me to become skillful at using the university website. 3.75 1.181 1 High 3 I would find the university web- site easy to use. 3.73 1.133 2 High 4 Learning to oper- ate the university website is easy for me. 3.09 1.233 4 Medium Total average 3.52 (High) From Table 5, the averages of university website ser- vices reached 3.09 for paragraph (4), which attains the lowest average, and 3.75 for paragraph (2), which attains the highest average. All these averages were High, except paragraph (4) was Medium, indicating that the level of Effort Expectancy provided to the sample members was high. TABLE VI. SOCIAL INFLUENCE No Mean Std. De- viation Rank Level 1 People who influence my behavior think that I should use the university website. 3.04 1.364 2 Medium 2 People who are important to me think that I should use the university web- site. 3.16 1.273 1 Medium 3 The senior man- agement of this university has been helpful in the use of the website. 2.60 1.335 4 Medium 4 In general, the university has supported the use of the website. 2.78 1.418 3 Medium Total average 2.90 (Medium) From Table 6, the averages of university website ser- vices reached 2.60 for paragraph (3), which has the lowest average, and 3.16 for paragraph (2), which has the highest average. All these averages were medium, indicating that the level of Social Influence provided to the sample mem- bers was medium. TABLE VII. WEBSITE QUALITY No Mean Std. De- viation Rank Level 1 University web- sites appear safe and secure for carrying out transactions. 3.43 1.345 1 Medium 2 University web- sites look attrac- tive and use fonts and color proper- ly. 2.35 1.116 5 low 3 University web- sites look orga- nized. 2.98 1.184 3 Medium 4 University web- sites are always up and available 24/7. 2.73 1.295 4 Medium 5 Content of uni- versity websites is useful and updated regular- ly. 3.11 1.463 2 Medium Total average 2.92 (Medium) Table 7 shows that the averages of university websites services reached 2.35 for paragraph (2) which attains the lowest average, and 3.43 for paragraph (1), which attains the highest average. All these averages being medium, except paragraph (2) was low, indicate that the level of Website Quality provided to the sample members was medium. TABLE VIII. FACILITATING CONDITIONS No Mean Std. De- viation Rank Level 1 I have the re- sources neces- sary to use the university web- site. 3.25 1.285 2 Medium 2 I have the knowledge nec- essary to use the university web- site. 3.49 1.193 1 Medium 3 The university website is not compatible with other systems I use. 2.80 1.178 3 Medium 4 A specific per- son (or group) is available for assistance with university web- site difficulties. 2.30 1.303 4 Low Total average 2.96 (Medium) As shown in Table 8, the averages of university website services reached 2.30 for paragraph (4) which attains the lowest average, and 3.49 for paragraph (2) which attains 26 http://www.i-jim.org PAPER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ADOPTION OF WEBSITE-SERVICE QUALITY BY APPLYING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF… the highest average. All these averages were medium, except paragraph (4) was low, indicating that the level of perceived usefulness provided to the sample members was medium. TABLE IX. BEHAVIORAL INTENTION No Mean Std. Devi- ation Rank Level 1 I intend to use the university website in the next months. 3.16 1.281 1 Medium 2 I predict I would use the universi- ty website in the next months. 3.12 1.263 2 Medium 3 I plan to use the university web- site in the next months. 3.01 1.327 3 Medium Total average 3.10 (Medium) As shown in Table 9, the averages of university website services reached 3.01 for paragraph (3), which attains the lowest average, and 3.16 for paragraph (1) which attains the highest average. All these averages were medium, indicating that the level of Behavioral Intention provided to the sample members was medium. Hypotheses Test D. The model included 24 items describing seven latent constructs: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Website Quality, Behavioral Intention, and Use Behavioral. The structural equation modeling (SEM) using the WarpPLS 3.0 soft- ware was used that applies the partial least squares (PLS) technique (http://www.scriptwarp.com/warppls). SEM is a second generation statistical method that, in contrast to regression, allows for the simultaneous assessment of multiple independent and dependent constructs, including multi-step paths [13]. The measurement model test pre- sented a good fit between the data and the proposed meas- urement model. To assess the model fit with the data, it is recommended that the p-values for both the average path coefficient (APC= 0.106, P<0.001) and the average r- squared (ARS= =0.591, P<0.001) be both lower than 0.05. In addition, it is recommended that the average variance inflation factor (AVIF= 1.760) be lower than 5 [16]. The various goodness-of-fit statistics are shown in Table 10. TABLE X. MODEL EVALUATION OVERALL FIT MEASUREMENT Measure Value P values Average path coefficient (APC) (<0.05) 0.106 P< 0.001 Average r-squared (ARS) (<0.05) 0.591 P< 0.001 Average variance inflation factor (AVIF) 1.760 Good if < 5 To validate the measurement model, convergent validi- ty was evaluated by examining composite reliability and average variance extracted (AVE) from the measures. Values for composite reliability are recommended to ex- ceed 0.70 [5] and AVE values should be greater than the generally recognized cut-off value of 0.50 [12] . All composite reliability and AVE values meet the rec- ommended threshold values except perceived price level. Table 11 summarizes the results. The AVE for each varia- ble was obtained to check discriminant validity [4]. As shown in Table 11, the square root of AVE for each con- struct is greater than the correlations between the con- structs and all other constructs, indicating that these con- structs have discriminant validity [12]. TABLE XI. COMPOSITE RELIABILITY, AVE, AND CORRELATION OF CON- STRUCTS VALUES. Composite Reliability AVE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 PE 0.867 0.620 0.787 2 EE 0.857 0.601 0.499 0.775 3 SI 0.856 0.601 0.567 0.454 0.775 4 WQ 0.790 0.501 0.663 0.541 0.559 0.708 5 FC 0.772 0.501 0.365 0.389 0.396 0.422 0. 708 6 BI 0.900 0.751 0.367 0.332 0.390 0.421 0.381 0.867 7 UB 0.990 0.990 0.314 0.310 0.357 0.361 0.365 0.859 0.995 (Square roots of the AVE are the bolded diagonal values) Fig. 4 presents the significant structural relationship among the research variables and the standardized path coefficients. The hypotheses (H1, H4, H15, H19, and H20) were strongly supported as shown in Table 12. However (H2, H3, H5, H6, H7, H8, H9, H10, H11, H12, H13, H14, H16, H17, and H18) are not supported, the result indicated that Performance Expectancy of website-service quality has a significant effect on behavioral intention to use website- service quality (H1: !=0.17, P<0.05), and indirectly influ- ences actual use. The data also shows that Effort Expec- tancy significantly directly influences the behavioral in- tention to use (H4: !=0.19, P<0.001) and indirectly influ- ences actual use. For hypothesis 15, the relationship be- tween website quality and behavioral intention to use uni- versity website is moderated by the experience of users it has a significant effect (H15: !=0.17, P<0.05). For hypoth- esis 19, the relationship between social influence and be- havioral intention to use university website is moderated by the voluntariness of use it has a significant effect (H19: !=0.16, P<0.05). According to moderating variables (gen- der, age, monthly expense, and experience) the result indi- cated that they are not supported (H2, H5, H13, H9, H3, H6, H12, H14, H17, H7, H11, and H18) except (H15, and H19). As an ultimate goals the result indicated that behavioral inten- tion to adopt and use of university website-services has a significant effect on the actual use (H20: != 0.90, P<0.001). This means that users’ behavioral intention is an important determinant of system adoption and usage. iJIM ‒ Volume 7, Issue 3, July 2013 27 PAPER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ADOPTION OF WEBSITE-SERVICE QUALITY BY APPLYING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF… TABLE XII. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY Independent Dependent Moderate Result H1: PE BI Supported H2: PE BI gender Not Sup- ported H3: PE BI age Not Sup- ported H4: EE BI Supported H5: EE BI gender Not Sup-ported H6: EE BI age Not Sup-ported H7: EE BI experience Not Sup-ported H8: SI BI Not Sup-ported H9: SI BI gender Not Sup-ported H10: SI BI age Not Sup-ported H11: SI BI experience Not Sup-ported H12: WQ BI Not Sup-ported H13: WQ BI gender Not Sup-ported H14: WQ BI age Not Sup-ported H15: WQ BI experience Supported H16: FC UB Not Sup-ported H17: FC UB age Not Sup-ported H18: FC UB experience Not Sup-ported H19: SI BI voluntariness Supported H20: BI UB Supported DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS VI. The purpose of this article is to present the factors that affect undergraduate students’ adoption of website-service quality by applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in Jordan. For this purpose, a model based on a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was developed and measured. The results suggest that: First, user adoption and use of university website services can be predicted from the stu- dents’ behavioral intentions, which are affected signifi- cantly by performance expectancy, and effort expectancy. Effort expectancy has the most important significant direct effect on behavioral intention, even more than perfor- mance expectancy. A possible explanation of this finding is that students have troubles when they use a university website there are some weaknesses in some aspects such as in design, interface, and performances from their per- spective; so the university website developers should keep developing student oriented easy-to-use interfaces. Refer- ence [6] said that some research has found that the effort expectancy usage relationship is stronger than the perfor- mance expectancy usage relationship as a predictor of user acceptance in hedonic context. They claimed, "If users seek self-fulfilling value or hedonic-oriented product, ef- fort expectancy would have more important value affect- ing the intended use than performance expectancy." This result indicates that the progress of student adoption could be made by focusing on effort expectancy (with less ef- fort). This conclusion corresponds with a number of prior studies such as [18], [21]. Second, the results show that Social Influence, Website Quality, and Facilitating Condi- tions have no direct significant effect on behavioral inten- tion to use university website services even they have a medium grand mean for the scores of responses state- ments; according to social influence students are affected by the thoughts and actions of others regarding the use of university website services. Our findings support prior studies such as [3], [20], [23], [25], [27]. For website qual- ity students care about the quality of the websites in gen- eral but they do not think that the university website has a good quality, they mention that the website does not look attractive and does not use fonts and color properly. Fa- cilitating conditions are also in medium grand mean; stu- dents think that the necessary resources and knowledge to use the website are somehow available but there is not a specific person or group available for assistance to deal with university website difficulties. Third, the results indi- cate that moderating variables (gender, age, and experi- ence) are not supported. They did not influence the adop- tion and use of university website services except the rela- tionship between website quality and behavioral intention to use university website is moderated by the experience of users and the relationship between social influence and behavioral intention to use university website is moderat- ed by the voluntariness of use. Finally, as an ultimate aspi- ration, it was found that there is a direct effect between behavioral intention and actual behavioral use of universi- ty website services which is consistent with prior research [3], [21]. This research presents a new opportunity for further re- search in a country like Jordan, which actually focuses on improving and developing information technology in all fields. This research avoids spending thousands of dollars that may invest without ensuring that the students will actually adopt and use of the website services. In future this research could assist developers in building, develop- ing and maintaining a universities website. REFERENCES [1] Ahn, T., Ryu, S., and Han, I. The Impact of Web Quality and Playfulness on User Acceptance of Online Retailing, Information and Management 44 (3): 263-275, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.im.2006.12.008 [2] Aladwani, A.M. and Palvia, P.C. Developing and validating an instrument for measuring user-perceived web quality. Information & Management, 39 (6): 467-76, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S0378-7206(01)00113-6 [3] Alshehri, M., Drew, S., Alhussain, T., and Alghamdi, R. 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In Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Wire- less Communications, Networking and Mobile Computing Con- ference (WiCOM), 12-14 October 2008, pp 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/WiCom.2008.2011 AUTHORS Dr. Mohammed-Issa Riad Mousa Jaradat is an assis- tant professor in the department of Information Sys- tems/Management Information Systems in the Faculty of Prince Hussein Bin Abdullah for Information Technology – Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan. He earned his Doctorate in Management Information Systems. His re- search interests cover IT innovation acceptance and adop- tion, learning technology, e-business, mobile technology, knowledge management, e-government, and m- commerce. He was awarded for his best effort in computer programming by Philadelphia University for the year 2004. (mi_jaradat@aabu.edu.jo; mi_jaradat@yahoo.com). Marie Banikhaled is with Dept of Business Admin- istration -Faculty of Business & Finance at Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan (mariebk1961@gmail.com). Submitted 17 January 2013. Published as re-submitted by the authors 26 June 2013. iJIM ‒ Volume 7, Issue 3, July 2013 29 iJIM – Vol. 7, No. 3, July 2013 Undergraduate Students’ Adoption of Website service Quality by Applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in Jordan