The Impact of Multilevel Computer Self-Efficacy on Effectiveness of Computer Training - End User Computing Challenges and Technologies: Emerging Tools and Applications - page 39

the Unix platform was selected for the purpose
of the present study. To verify that subjects had
little experience with the selected technology,
subjects were asked to rate their prior experience
with Unix on a 10-point scale ranging from 1 ( no
experience ) to 10 ( very experienced ). The mean
score was 3.15, indicating that subjects had little
experience with Unix.
A field experiment was conducted to empiri-
cally test the research model and its hypothesized
relationships. Prior to training, subjects completed
a questionnaire containing measures of general
and application (Unix) CSE along with some back-
ground and demographic questions. Next, subjects
received about one-hour training on manipulating
file and directory structures in the Unix environ-
ment. Examples of the skills presented in training
included creating, renaming, copying, deleting
files/directories, listing contents of a directory or
subdirectory, searching for a file or a directory,
identifying the location of the current (working)
directory in the directory structure, and using
absolute and relative directory paths.
Consistent with previous studies which used
tutorials and self-paced manuals (e.g., Simon &
Werner, 1996), subjects were also given a short
tutorial explaining the training material and were
encouraged to study and practice the illustrative
examples included in the tutorial. Finally, based
on past studies which used comprehension tests
of computer learning (Bostrom, Olfman, & Sein,
1990; Lu et al., 2003; Simon et al., 1996), subjects
took a comprehension test of the training material
and completed a questionnaire regarding their per-
ceptions of ease of use and computer anxiety.

scale with end-points of 1 ( not at all confident) )
and 10 ( totally confident). ). Application CSE was
measured by six items adapted from Johnson and
Marakas (2000). These items asked subjects to
indicate the extent to which they agreed or dis-
agreed with six statements related to their ability
to use Unix to manipulate files and directories.
Responses were recorded on a 7-point Likert-
type scale ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to
7 ( strongly agree ).
Three items from Davis's (1989) instrument
were used to measure perceived ease of use.
Following the suggestion that computer anxiety
has multiple dimensions including computer
learning anxiety (e.g., Chua, Chen, & Wong,
1999), computer anxiety was measured with
respect to Unix. Accordingly, four items from
the instrument used by Venkatesh (2000) were
used to measure computer anxiety. Items on this
measure asked subjects to indicate the extent of
their agreement or disagreement with statements
about their uneasiness or nervousness toward
learning and using Unix. Responses to perceived
ease of use and computer anxiety items were
recorded on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 7 ( strongly agree ). A
summary of all multi-item measures is presented
in Appendix 1.
Simple or near-transfer tasks are usually used
to measure rote or near-transfer learning (Davis
& Bostrom, 1993; Simon et al., 1996). Near-
transfer tasks are characterized as being simple
tasks that are similar to the tasks presented in
training. Accordingly, a five-question learning
test was used to measure near-transfer learning.
The skills included in the learning test were
identical to the concepts and skills covered in
training. The specific near-transfer skills included
on the learning test were: (1) renaming a file in
the current directory, (2) navigating to a parent
directory, (3) creating a new subdirectory in the
current directory, (4) listing the contents of the
current directory, and (5) deleting a file from the
current directory. Each question was worth 3

measures

Six items from the widely used instrument devel-
oped by Compeau and Higgins (1995) were used
to measure general CSE. Items on this instrument
asked subjects to rate their ability to perform a
computing task using unfamiliar application.
Responses were recorded on a10-point interval