Investigating the intent of nursing faculty to integrate collaborative learning: exploratory research study in a collectivistic culture

Although collaborative learning (CL) is widely recognized as an effective pedagogical approach in health professions education, little is known about the factors influencing nursing faculty intentions to implement CL in collectivistic cultural contexts. Most existing research has been conducted in individualistic, Western contexts, resulting in limited understanding of how cultural expectations and social norms influence faculty adoption of collaborative learning. To address this gap, this study employed the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine the relationships among faculty beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to implement CL in teaching. A cross-sectional study using an exploratory correlational design was conducted across nine branches of the Oman College of Health Sciences. Nursing faculty members (n = 96) completed a 69-item TPB-based questionnaire measuring intention, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and associated behavioral, normative, and control beliefs. Hierarchical multiple regression, and Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were included in the model explaining variance in faculty intention to implement CL; however, only subjective norms emerged as a significant independent predictor of intention. Previous experience implementing CL was significantly associated with higher intention, stronger subjective norms, and greater perceived behavioral control, whereas nationality and academic qualification were not associated with differences in intention. These findings highlight the importance of social expectations and prior experience in shaping faculty behavior, underscoring the need for institutional support to promote CL in nursing education.