Critical success factors for eLearning adoption in the public health care sector in South Africa

Abstract

Electronic learning (e-learning) in the health care sector is viewed as the delivery of Continued Professional Development (CPD) material via electronic media such videoconferencing, DVDs, Smartphones and other media. E-learning is recognized as one of the most important supportive practice for learning at work. Thus, an e-learning program allows the busy health care workers to access training and learning opportunities while they are also working. In South Africa, e-learning is growing at a rate of 36.2% annually, but the acceptance of this new technology is still very low. The aim of this study is to investigate the critical success factors that will help address the barriers of e-learning adoption in the public health care sector of South Africa. The study made use of a thorough literature review of peer reviewed papers in order to identify the barriers of e-learning in the South African public health sector. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model was then used to develop the critical success factors that can be used to address the identified barriers. Critical success factors identified can be divided into management issues such as providing adequate finance and infrastructure as well as organisational factors including a change management programme, policies to guide e-learning programmes and training of health care workers. The study therefore recommends that the critical success factors be used to increase the adoption of e-learning in the public health care sector in order to improve service delivery.