Massive Open Online Courses for Scalability and Transformational Culture of Learning in Corporate Organizations

Abstract

The global pandemic of coronavirus “Covid-19” in the fall of 2019 caused dramatic changes in all sectors, including education. Businesses, like corporate organizations that normally train their employees annually, were equally affected, due to lack of instructors. Learning institutions were faced with various challenges due to the abrupt paradigm shift of changing from face-to-face to online teaching and learning, with limited preparedness. For scalability, and to maintain their annual strategies of keeping their dynamic capabilities, organizations were forced to adapt online training although with limited preparedness. However, electronic learning innovations such as the massive open online courses (MOOCs) that should have been leveraged by corporate organizations to train their employees during these hard times, had been mainly tailored for educational institutions. More still, much as MOOCs are essential for all enterprises, there have been few or no models developed to inform their adoption for corporate training. This study sought to bridge this gap, thus developed a model for MOOCs adoption for corporate training, based on data collected from South African private sectors, and analysed quantitatively. Results indicated that perception and attitude toward technology, teaching styles, and technology control are key influencing factors of MOOCs adoption for corporate training. The developed model will be used to provide insights into MOOCs adoption for workplace training, and to extend research on MOOCs usage. It is recommended that future studies consider the analysis of the moderating effects of respondents’ demographics, their perceptions possibly changing over time.