Investigating science teachers’ intention to adopt virtual reality through the integration of diffusion of innovation theory and theory of planned behaviour: the moderating role of perceived skills readiness

This study contributes to the extant literature on instructional technology by investigating the relationships between the social and personal factors and behavioral intention to use virtual reality. Moreover, the current study examined the links between perceived characteristics of virtual reality and attitude and the moderating role that can be played by perceived skills readiness between those links. Inspired by the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Diffusion of Innovation Theory, a set of hypotheses was formed to test the proposed relationships using structural equation modeling partial least square to a sample of 171 science teachers in Oman. The results showed that attitude, social norms and perceived behavioral control can predict behavioral Intention to use virtual reality with attitude as the strongest predictor. Furthermore, the results indicated that relative advantage could predict attitude towards using virtual reality while compatibility and observability cannot. Finally, perceived skills readiness can strengthen the relationship between the perceived characteristics of virtual reality applications (relative advantage, compatibility and observability) and attitude towards using the virtual reality in the science classroom. Thus, this study highlights the importance of focussing on science teachers’ skills readiness to use virtual reality so that they can use it confidently. Implications and future research studies are discussed.