Understanding Behavioral Intention to Use Moodle in Higher Education: The Role of Technology Acceptance, Cognitive Factors, and Motivation

The adoption of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) such as Moodle in higher education is influenced by a complex interplay of technical, cognitive, and motivational factors. This study extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by integrating technical system quality (TSQ), educational system quality (ESQ), satisfaction (SAT), anxiety (ANX), and autonomous motivation (AUTO) to provide a more comprehensive understanding of Moodle adoption. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was employed utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze 487 responses from university students with varying levels of Moodle experience. The findings confirm that perceived usefulness (PU), educational system quality (ESQ), and satisfaction (SAT) significantly influence behavioral intention (BI) to use Moodle, whereas Perceived ease of use (PE) was not a significant predictor. Mediation analysis revealed that SAT plays a dominant role in mediating the effects of system and cognitive factors on BI, while ANX exhibited selective and partial mediation effects. Additionally, autonomous motivation (AUTO) moderated the impact of SAT on BI, with results indicating that satisfaction is more critical for low-motivation users. Multi-group analysis further highlighted demographic and usage-based differences, with younger and novice users being more sensitive to technical and cognitive barriers. These findings present both theoretical contributions and inform educational and policy imperatives by extending the TAM in the context of affective and system-level determinants. Institutions should invest in efforts to improve content quality, reduce technology-related anxiety, and establish personalized onboarding and motivation-driven learning strategies.