AN EXAMINATION ON ACCOUNTING ACADEMICIANS’ PERCEPTIONS OF DISTANCE EDUCATION APPLICATIONS IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL

Developments in information and communication technologies continue to affect every aspect of social life. Education is one of the most affected areas by these developments. As a consequence of the constantly evolving developments in information and communication technologies, universities have to make an effort to integrate these technologies into the field of education. Distance education (DE) is one of the applications that are emerged by the integration of communication technologies in higher education. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting accounting academicians’ usage of distance learning practices via Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Relationships between variables are investigated using data obtained from randomly selected 78 accounting academicians via questionnaire applied by e-mail. The results of analysis are supporting the theory. According to the findings a) accounting academicians perceived usefulness perceptions towards DE has a positive and statistically significant effect on their attitude toward use and behavioral intentions, b) accounting academicians perceived ease of use perceptions towards DE has a positive and statistically significant effect on their behavioral intentions and as a result of this c) perceived ease of use has a positive effect on behavioral intentions