Predicting Intention to Choose the Online Degree During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Perceived Effectiveness

This study examines the relationship between the theory of planned behaviour model (TPB: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behaviour control) and its effect on students’ choosing the online degree during the COVID-19 pandemic through the mediating role of perceived effectiveness. The online questionnaires of 215 online degree students were used for the quantitative study through convenience sampling. The collected data were analysed using the SPSS Version 27 and PLS-SEM program. The results show that perceived effectiveness is the significant mediator between the TPB model and the intention to choose the online degree during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, perceived behavioural control has the highest impact on perceived effectiveness, followed by the attitude and subjective norm. The educational leaders and programme directors should consider TPB model adoption in the educational sector because it is related to perceived effectiveness and turn it to intention to choose the online degree during the COVID-19 pandemic.