Exploring students’ attitudes toward university e-textbooks: Experiences,expectations,and preferences

Abstract

Universities have been proactively exploring e-textbooks to resolve the issue of high textbook prices. The study examined students’ attitudes toward using e-textbooks through a questionnaire survey of 324 randomly sampled students from eight universities. The analysis highlighted students’ expectations from a library in terms of textbook provision and the preferred format, their intentions and behaviors toward the textbook purchase, perceived equitable discounts in price and ideal preview mechanisms offered by e-textbooks, assessment of e-textbooks, assessment of features in terms of usefulness and practicality, and the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators of adopting e-textbooks. Students in the West and East are similar in expecting libraries to underwrite their textbook access. The students prefer e-textbook over print for the library collection, but vice versa for individually owned textbooks. In the fast-growing virtual learning environment, direct library provision of e-textbooks has become essential, particularly during the pandemic and probably post-pandemic era. Big-screen mobile devices, such as laptops and tablets, are students’ most preferred options for reading e-textbooks. The students perceived e-textbooks as not yet mature and expected improvement. They also lack confidence in their self-control ability to read e-textbooks without distraction in the Internet environment. The findings suggest the design of motivator type of engagement features may focus on individual attainment.