Differences in Personal Innovativeness in the Domain of Information Technology Among University Students and Teachers

Two online surveys among 1105 university students and 656 employees were conducted with the inclusion of the construct Personal Innovativeness in the domain of Information Technologies (PIIT). After calculating descriptive statistics, statistically significant differences between personal innovativeness of university students and teachers were sought by the application of one-way ANOVA. The first and most important finding was that average perceived PIIT of teachers and students falls around the middle of the seven-point scale, which cannot be regarded as a plausible predictor of upgrading the University as an Innovative Ecosystem. The second was that university teachers scored higher than their students, a situation that could produce an expectancy conflict between those who want to work in an innovative way and those who would prefer study by the book. Teaching assistants, who should belong to the generation of digital natives, are only slightly more innovative than university teachers, who can be regarded as digital immigrants. Assuming that innovativeness can be upgraded by learning, means that efforts should be made by University Management to encourage and support Personal Innovativeness (and other creativities, as well) as a preferred teaching practice.