| The K-12 public school system's adoption of a novel broadband Carrier Ethernet (CE) network and services is becoming critical, as it enables the delivery of data, voice, and video applications within the institution's network; however, the technological, organizational, and environmental predictive determinants of these adoptions had received little attention in the scholarly community. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to examine the relationships between eight predictive determinants of an Ethernet Virtual Private -- Local Area Network (EVP-LAN) (top management support, normative pressure, mimetic pressure, organizational size, E-Rate funding level, coercive pressure, Carrier Ethernet network and services availability, and perceived benefits) and its adoption likelihood, in the context of K-12 public school districts in California's cities and suburbs. A newly created web-based survey instrument was administered to 319 IT managers of the selected school districts. The questionnaire comprised 7-point Likert scale items measuring the agreement level of various attitudes and perceptions related to the EVP-LAN adoption. The descriptive statistics indicated general support for the proposed predictors, with the means of the independent composite constructs averaging 5.7, close to agreement. However, the logistic regression showed Carrier Ethernet network and services availability as the only significant predictive variable (p = .041). The results did not indicate sufficient proof of correlation for top management support (p = .62), normative pressure (p = .54), mimetic pressure (p = .65), organizational size (p = .63), E-Rate funding level (p = .63), and perceived benefits (p = .150); the coercive pressure was dropped for failing Cronbach's alpha reliability test (alpha = .45). It was noticed that 45 (95.7%) out of the 47 valid respondents were adopters. A key implication for stakeholders is to establish a single statewide or countywide purchasing group, which includes geographically remote school districts. Recommendations for future studies suggested that researchers closely examine the EVP-LAN adoption lifecycle, as the adoption appears to spread quickly. Researchers could replicate this research in other geographic areas, especially rural areas. |
