Examining the perceived impact of ICT adoption on academic workload and on academic productivity

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, the rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought remarkable societal changes. Nowadays, ICT is becoming increasingly important both in the everyday life and in the education system. It therefore makes sense to examine the impact of ICT adoption on the conduct of academic activities. The aim of this paper is precisely to examine the perceived impact of ICT adoption on academic workload and on academic productivity. This aim is achieved within a theoretical framework on the factors affecting academic productivity. This research was conducted as a questionnaire based survey of 103 academic staff drawn from four Higher Education Institutions in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The survey data was analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software using a quantitative approach. The results of this survey indicate that ICT adoption has no impact on teaching workload, or on research workload, or on administration workload. No evidence was found on the impact of ICT adoption on academic productivity. This research contributes to new evidence on the possible impact of ICT adoption on academic workload and on academic productivity.