The Determinants of Electronic Textbook Use among College Students

Electronic books are a fast-growing component of the publishing industry. Sales of electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) are growing, but at a slower rate. In this research we use data from an undergraduate student survey to estimate the determinants of e-textbook use. We find that students who are you...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCornell Higher Education Research Institute
Main Authors Miller, Jon R, Nutting, Andrew W, Baker-Eveleth, Lori
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published Cornell Higher Education Research Institute 01.04.2012
Subjects
College Faculty
Computer Uses in Education
Correlation
Costs
Educational Technology
Electronic Publishing
Idaho
Influence of Technology
Influences
Information Technology
Predictor Variables
Publishing Industry
Questionnaires
Student Characteristics
Student Surveys
Teacher Attitudes
Textbooks
Undergraduate Students
Idaho
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Summary:Electronic books are a fast-growing component of the publishing industry. Sales of electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) are growing, but at a slower rate. In this research we use data from an undergraduate student survey to estimate the determinants of e-textbook use. We find that students who are younger, lower-income, and from larger high schools are more likely to use e-textbooks. E-textbooks are more likely to be used by students in the more technically-oriented colleges and especially in the college of Business and Economics, where electronic materials are often required. An environment of continued growth in student technical competence with information technology, continued increases in college cost and a reduction in professor resistance to e-textbooks would bode well for growth in the use of them. (Contains 3 tables and 6 footnotes.)