A comparative study of Chinese and American preservice teachers’ intention to teach online based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

Online learning emerged as a solution to continue with teaching and learning during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Nonetheless, teaching online consumes considerable time and put pressure on teachers’ daily lives. Thus, the internal mechanism of preservice teachers’ intention to teach online is analyzed in this study. Specifically, this study analyzed preservice teachers’ intention to teach online in China and America to illuminate the internal mechanism of teachers’ intention to teach online in different cultural backgrounds. One hundred seventy-six Chinese preservice teachers and two hundred forty-one American preservice teachers participated in this study. The confirmatory factor analysis supported that the Intention to Teach Online Scale was reliable in three constructs: online teaching attitude, perceived control, and subjective norm. The result demonstrates that there is a significant difference between Chinese and American preservice teachers’ intention to teach online in the online teaching attitude and perceived control. In addition, it is supported that there is a significant difference between the effects of Chinese and American preservice teachers’ teaching attitude, perceived control, and subjective norm on their intention to teach online. Moreover, there is a difference in the relationships among Chinese and American teachers’ online teaching attitudes, perceived control, and subjective norm. The preservice teachers’ demographic features can be factors that caused this difference. Research and practice implications of this study are proposed.