Abstract

Although digital game-based learning (DGBL) has the potential to enhance learning motivation and complex cognitive skills of students, its adoption and effectiveness are heavily dependent on lecturers’ acceptance. Comprehending lecturers’ perceptions and beliefs underlying their decision-making processes is therefore significant. This study examines factors determining the intention of accounting and business lecturers in Indonesia to use digital games in their courses using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Based on data collected from 258 lecturers, the research model is analyzed using PLS-SEM approach. The results show that the proposed model can explain 52.4% of the variance in accounting and business lecturers’ behavioral intention to use digital games in class. Particularly, both perceived ease of use and usefulness are the factors significantly determining lecturers’ intention. However, DGBL frequency negatively moderates the positive effect of perceived ease of use on lecturers’ intention.

Introduction

This study raises a question of what factors affect lecturers’ intention to adopt Digital game-based learning (DGBL)1 in accounting and business courses. The question is based on the issue of DGBL’s low acceptance in the classroom, despite the fact that it is regarded as an effective approach for promoting students’ learning motivation, social skills, and complex cognitive skills (Faisal et al., 2022). Lecturers are the focus of study because they play a critical role in promoting the use of new learning technology in their courses. To answer this question, this study uses a technology acceptance model (TAM) extended by De Grove et al. (2012) as a theoretical foundation to predict the DGBL’s acceptance of accounting and business lecturers. This study also incorporates DGBL frequency into the extended TAM to explain the strength of the relationship between perceived ease of use (PEOU) and behavioral intention.

This question is relevant and timely because comprehending lecturers’ perceptions and beliefs about DGBL could help accounting educators find the appropriate strategies to promote its use in the classroom. There are two advantages of using DGBL over traditional teaching methods. First, the DGBL can provide engaging, interactive, and motivating learning experiences which are essential for an effective learning (Garris et al., 2002; Jabbar & Felicia, 2015; Tennyson & Jorczak, 2008). For example, Loon and Bell (2018) found that positive emotions stimulated by a computer simulation game enhance students’ cognitive skills. Second, the DGBL has proven to be an effective method for students to acquire complex cognitive skills, such as decision making (Pasin & Giroux, 2011; Severengiz et al., 2020; Tawil et al., 2015), critical thinking (Lovelace et al., 2016; Urquidi-Martín et al., 2019; Yang, 2015), problem solving (Eder et al., 2019; Torres & Augusto, 2017; Yang, 2015), and higher-order thinking skills in Bloom’s Taxonomy (Adams et al., 2012; Barab et al., 2012; Hwang et al., 2013; Soflano et al., 2015). These skills are important because research on students’ conceptual understanding and learning approaches revealed that accounting students generally achieved lower-order learning outcomes (Kuang et al., 2021). Therefore, promoting an instructional method that can help students acquire higher-order thinking skills should be a concern for accounting educators.

Conclusions

This study raises the question of what factors affect lecturers’ intention to adopt DGBL in accounting and business courses based on the extended TAM. This study finds that the original TAM variables: PEOU and PU affect behavioral intention, indicating the model is applicable in the context of Accounting and Business education. Additionally, learning opportunities are the only variable proposed in the extended TAM affecting lecturers’ behavioral intention. The new variable introduced in this study, DGBL frequency, was found to significantly weaken the effect of PEOU on behavioral intention, indicating a frequent exposure to DGBL is critical to enhance lecturers’ intention to accept DGBL. Overall, the proposed model can explain 52.4% of the variance in accounting and business lecturers’ behavioral intention to use digital games in the classroom.

This study contributes to theory and practice in several important ways. First, this study extends the literature on DGBL acceptance by evaluating the role of extended TAM in explaining lecturers’ intention behavior to use DGBL in accounting and business education in Indonesia. Second, this study extends the modified TAM (De Grove et al., 2012) by adding the moderating role of DGBL frequency in explaining the relationship between PEOU and lecturer’s acceptance of DGBL. Third, this study addresses curriculum and instruction issues in the field of accounting education, which has rarely been empirically studied in the context of Asian countries. Fourth, this study contributes to empirical research by employing structural model analysis which has not been widely adopted in the accounting curriculum domain. Finally, this study informs educational game developers about the importance of collaborating with lecturers to understand their needs and assist them in developing games that align with curriculum goals. It also encourages regulators to heavily publicize the effectiveness of game-based learning to accountant educators.