Students’ Intention to Adopt E-learning Platform for College English Study: Mediating Effect of Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs

E-learning platform (ELP) provides economic and efficient channels to share and learn knowledge online without time and location restrictions. Earlier studies have identified determinants that impact students’ intention to use new technologies in different learning contexts, yet few have tried to investigate the effect of students’ satisfaction of basic psychological needs during the adoption process. Based on the framework of UTAUT2, this study has tested the mediating role of satisfaction of basic psychological needs to better comprehend the relationships between the antecedents and intention. The partial least square structural equation modeling was used for data analysis, findings indicate that performance expectancy, learning value, hedonic motivation, and habit significantly impact students’ willingness to adopt ELP for college English study. As for the mediating effect of students’ satisfaction of basic psychological needs, it fully mediates the relationship between effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and intention while partially mediating the relationship between performance expectancy, learning value, hedonic motivation, habit, and intention. The study aids in grasping the key factors to increase students’ adoption of ELP and offers recommendations to increase students’ participation, learning efficiency, and their satisfaction of basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness during college English study with ELP.