What drives teachers’ intention to integrate digital technologies? Positioning value beliefs about technology within the Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract

International agendas have long urged education systems to embed digital competence, yet technology integration remains uneven. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) explains behavioural intention (BI) and use via perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU) and attitudes (ATT), but the role and placement of teachers’ value beliefs about technology (VALUE) remain unclear. This study integrates VALUE into a TAM-anchored network and tests its functional role. An online cross-sectional survey was completed by Italian pre-service and in-service teachers (N = 375). PU, PEU and ATT were measured with a semantic-differential scale; BI with three items; VALUE with a six-item scale. Analyses comprised hierarchical regression and path analysis, comparing specifications by BIC/AIC and global fit. Adding VALUE to the TAM baseline yielded a significant increment in explaining BI (ΔR² = .084; f² = .176). In path models, specifications including a direct VALUE→BI path consistently dominated information-equivalent alternatives. The best-fitting model treated VALUE as endogenous to PU and ATT and retained VALUE→BI (CFI = .994, TLI = .969, RMSEA = .085, SRMR = .021; R²(BI) = .515). In this model, the VALUE→BI path was large (β = .386), while direct PU→BI and ATT→BI were attenuated, consistent with VALUE capturing proximal variance in BI. No empirical justification emerged to add a PEU-VALUE linkage. Findings clarify that VALUE is a distinct belief, positioned downstream of PU/ATT and exerting a unique, direct influence on BI. Results have implications for the theoretical refinement of TAM and for the design of teacher education and professional development.