Factors Affecting Employees’ Motivation to Use E-training in the Manufacturing Sector in Thailand

Abstract

The manufacturing sector, inclusive of agricultural processing, beverages, electric appliances, computers and parts, furniture, plastics, and automotive parts have greatly contributed to the growth of national income. The sector creates jobs and income for the country and contributes to a highly skilled and educated labor force. However, the recent shift in manufacturing firms moving up the value chain and expanding their capabilities to produce greater value-added products, has generated the need to further improve the effectiveness of employees. E-training is an alternative training approach to traditional classroom-style training, and many large firms have begun implementing this electronic training for their employees. This research studied the current implementation of E-training in manufacturing firms and identified significant factors affecting the employees’ intention to use E-training. Both primary and secondary data were gathered to identify potential factors. Data were collected randomly by means of self- administrative questionnaire. Questionnaires from 400 employees in manufacturing firms was collected and analyzed by using factor analysis and multiple regression. The result indicates that there are seven significant factors that influence the adoption of e-learning by manufacturing organizations: Trust, Reward, Ease of use, Social norm, Attitude, Virtual learning, and Education level.