Analysis of student perceptions relating to satisfaction from online learning during COVID-19 in Sikkim, India: The mediating role of motivation and attitude, and the moderating role of constraints

The objective of this study is to analyse the role that motivation and attitude play as mediators in the relationship between student satisfaction with online learning and comfort during COVID-19 pandemic in Sikkim, India. We define perceived comfort as the level of flexibility and convenience in using technologies for online learning. Motivation is defined as willingness and inspiration to learn. Attitude is defined as the student’s behaviour towards online learning platforms. And constraint is measured in terms of connectivity problem and data limitation in accessing online learning. A mediating and moderating model is developed and casual relationship is analysed between independent and dependent variable with the help of Macro process using IBM-SPSS software (Version 25). The study hypothesize that Motivation and Attitude of the students mediate the relationship between Comfort and Satisfaction from online learning and Constraints of online learning shall moderate the positive relationship between motivation and Satisfaction. For the study, an online data was collected from 403 students studying in various colleges and universities in Sikkim who were undergoing online classes during Covid-19 period. Models were formed to empirically examine and validate the positive relationship of comfort, motivation and attitude with level of satisfaction from online learning. The findings showed that in various higher educational institutions in Sikkim, the relationship between comfort and reported levels of satisfaction is partially mediated by both the degree of motivation and students' attitudes towards online learning. However, the moderating impact of Constraint is found to be negligible.