Digital transformation challenges in higher education institutions post COVID-19

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Abstract

Higher education institutions (HEIs) encountered an unanticipated and unprepared digital transformation because of COVID-19, which obliged most services, including teaching, learning, and working, to shift from physical to digital and virtual platforms. Digital transformation among employees provided an opportunity for technological upgrades and challenged technological competence and adaptability among employees to enable transitions between physical and virtual platforms. As a result, this paper through the technology acceptance model (TAM) reflects on factors that influence successful transformation of technological adoption among support staff members in a university of technology (UOT). This paper argues that the use of TAM to predict staff members’ attitudes toward adopting new technology can assist HEIs in decision-making regarding technology selection. Using descriptive research design and non-probability sampling method, data was collected from 177 support staff members from different departments. The findings of the study, which emanated from surveys, established that employees’ digital skills need improvement; lack of digital infrastructure funding; poor planning and unclear forms of communication proved to be a recipe for failure to implement a successful digital shift and in creating acceptance digital user behaviour among the employees.

Keywords: Digital Transformation, Higher Education Institutions, Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Employees, Technology

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — N.E.N.; Methodology — N.E.N.; Validation — G.M.N.; Investigation — N.E.N.; Writing — N.E.N. and G.M.N.; Supervision — G.M.N.; Project Administration — N.E.N.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: A10, A29, I23

Received: 11.03.2024
Accepted: 20.08.2024
Published online: 23.08.2024

How to cite this paper: Ndaba, N. E., & Naidoo, G. M. (2024). Digital transformation challenges in higher education institutions post COVID-19. Corporate Governance and Organizational Behavior Review, 8(3), 54–63. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgobrv8i3p5