Determinants of Technology Acceptance Among Preschools Teachers in Sweden : A mixed methodological approach

Abstract: There is a lot of demand from society or the government to incorporate ICT into preschool and education in general. However, no research in this area has been found that specifically cites technology's capacity to address concerns connected to planning, and systematic quality work in the preschool context. Technology integration, on the other hand, has ramifications for teachers, who face first- and second-order barriers to technological acceptance. In this study, we identify the determinants of technology acceptance among preschool teachers in Sweden. This study follows a mixed-method approach that comprises 12 semi-structured interviews and a self-completion survey of 9 respondents. The qualitative results were analyzed by a thematic analysis process and the quantitative results with descriptive statistics. We identified that job relevance, external control,  result demonstrability, output quality and internal control are the main determinants that play a crucial role in technological acceptance. We also found the persistence of the first-order barrier to the acceptance of technology. This finding contradicts an earlier study where it was stated that the first-order barriers were decreasing in schools. It was, however, discovered that several first-order obstacles in the form of external control factors still exist. Furthermore, it was also found that social factors such as voluntariness, image and subjective norm did not play a crucial role in technology acceptance. Finally, our results show that the use of technology has helped teachers in the documentation and planning, as well as identify the benefits of systematic quality work.