What impacts learning with wearables? An integrated theoretical model

Wearable technologies are becoming more pervasive with the development of high computational capability devices such as smartwatches, smart glasses, smart pills, and sensors. The emergence of these technologies may offer unique opportunities for both students and academics by allowing ubiquitous communication. Accordingly, the current study develops a theoretical model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and the most effective features of smartwatches, including availability, mobility, trust, and enjoyment. The proposed model was validated by employing a partial least squares-structural equation modeling approach based on data collected from 572 students. The results suggested that mobility has a significant relationship with perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of smartwatches. The results also suggested that perceived enjoyment was significantly associated with the perceived usefulness. Further, availability and trust were significantly related to the perceived ease of use. The implications of these findings for research and practice were also discussed.