Empoderado para aprender: as relações entre a cultura organizacional e empoderamento psicológico para a aceitação e uso do e-learning na hotelaria

Abstract

As a result of digital transformations and changes in educational processes that support a more autonomous and liberating education, the concept of online learning (e-learning) emerges as an alternative to promote training, development and education actions for people. E-learning places the student as the protagonist of the training process, but these modern methods will not be fully effective if users are inclined to not accept these technologies. Although studies have been dedicated to investigating the adoption of e-learning in formal educational institutions - basic to higher education - research that has focused on the factors of its acceptance in the corporate environment, especially tourism, is rare. In this context, this thesis aims to integrate theories from the areas of organizational management, psychology and education to analyze the acceptance factors of e-learning in the hotel industry, namely: Competitive Values Framework; Psychological Empowerment; and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Therefore, the central objective is to investigate the relationships between organizational culture and psychological empowerment for the acceptance and use of e-learning in the hotel industry. This is a hypothetical-deductive research, with a quantitative approach, descriptive and explanatory. The field of study was made up of hotel chains that promote online training and operate in the Brazilian context, while the responding subjects were employees from different functions in the hotels. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire, from a sample of 312 employees who had online learning experiences in the workplace. Data processing and analysis occurred via descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), supported by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results showed that the organizational culture profile that predominates in the hotel industry is Clan and Innovative, with no statistically significant differences between them. Competence was the most prominent dimension of empowerment, showing that people have enough self-efficacy to complete the courses. Furthermore, Effort Expectancy also stood out among the e-learning acceptance dimensions, which shows that people see online learning platforms as easy to use. After testing hypotheses, the research resulted in a structural model of relationships that explains 57% of the antecedents of hotel employees' intention to use e-learning. The path taken from Social Influence, through Clan Culture and Empowerment proved to be the most effective in the hotel context. Finally, it is possible to conclude that there are cause-effect relationships between organizational culture, empowerment and acceptance of e-learning in the hotel industry and the proposed model can help managers in making decisions regarding the effective implementation of e-learning practices.