Academic student satisfaction and perceived performance in the e-learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence across ten countries

Damijana Keržič^{1

2}, Jogymol Kalariparampil Alex³, Roxana Pamela Balbontín Alvarado⁴, Denilson da Silva Bezerra⁵, Maria Cheraghi⁶, Beata Dobrowolska⁷, Adeniyi Francis Fagbamigbe⁸, MoezAlIslam Ezzat Faris⁹, Thais França¹⁰, Belinka González-Fernández¹¹, Luz Maria Gonzalez-Robledo¹², Fany Inasius¹³, Sujita Kumar Kar¹⁴, Kornélia Lazányi¹⁵, Florin Lazăr¹⁶, Juan Daniel Machin-Mastromatteo¹⁷, João Marôco¹⁸, Bertil Pires Marques¹⁹, Oliva Mejía-Rodríguez²⁰, Silvia Mariela Méndez Prado²¹, Alpana Mishra²², Cristina Mollica²³, Silvana Guadalupe Navarro Jiménez²⁴, Alka Obadić²⁵, Daniela Raccanello²⁶, Md Mamun Ur Rashid²⁷, Dejan Ravšelj¹, Nina Tomaževič¹, Chinaza Uleanya²⁸, Lan Umek¹, Giada Vicentini²⁶, Özlem Yorulmaz²⁹, Ana-Maria Zamfir³⁰, Aleksander Aristovnik¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Public Administration, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
² Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
³ Faculty of Educational Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa.
⁴ Faculty of Education and Humanities, University of Bío Bío, Concepción, Chile.
⁵ Department of Oceanography and Limnology, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil.
⁶ Social Determinant of Health Research Center, Department of Public Health, School of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁷ Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
⁹ Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
¹⁰ Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, Cies-Iscte, Portugal.
¹¹ Department of Sciences and Engineering, Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla/Red Citeg, Mexico City, Mexico.
¹² Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Morelos, Mexico.
¹³ Faculty of Economic and Communication, Bina Nusantara University, West Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India.
¹⁵ John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Obuda University, Budapest, Hungary.
¹⁶ Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania.
¹⁷ Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.
¹⁸ William James Centre for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal.
¹⁹ Higher Institute of Engineering of Porto, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
²⁰ División de Investigación Clínica, Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Michoacán, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico, Mexico.
²¹ Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
²² Faculty of Community Medicine, KIMS, Bhubaneswar, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India.
²³ Department of Statistical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
²⁴ DTI-CUCEA & Instituto de Astronomía y Meteorología-CUCEI, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico.
²⁵ Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
²⁶ Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
²⁷ Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Barisal, Bangladesh.
²⁸ Business Management, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa.
²⁹ Department of Econometrics, Faculty of Economics, University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey.
³⁰ National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, Bucharest, Romania.

PMID: 34669757
PMCID: PMC8528294
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258807

Academic student satisfaction and perceived performance in the e-learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence across ten countries

Damijana Keržič et al. PLoS One. 2021.

. 2021 Oct 20;16(10):e0258807.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258807. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Public Administration, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
² Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
³ Faculty of Educational Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa.
⁴ Faculty of Education and Humanities, University of Bío Bío, Concepción, Chile.
⁵ Department of Oceanography and Limnology, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil.
⁶ Social Determinant of Health Research Center, Department of Public Health, School of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁷ Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
⁹ Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
¹⁰ Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, Cies-Iscte, Portugal.
¹¹ Department of Sciences and Engineering, Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla/Red Citeg, Mexico City, Mexico.
¹² Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Morelos, Mexico.
¹³ Faculty of Economic and Communication, Bina Nusantara University, West Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India.
¹⁵ John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Obuda University, Budapest, Hungary.
¹⁶ Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania.
¹⁷ Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.
¹⁸ William James Centre for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal.
¹⁹ Higher Institute of Engineering of Porto, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
²⁰ División de Investigación Clínica, Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Michoacán, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico, Mexico.
²¹ Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
²² Faculty of Community Medicine, KIMS, Bhubaneswar, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India.
²³ Department of Statistical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
²⁴ DTI-CUCEA & Instituto de Astronomía y Meteorología-CUCEI, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico.
²⁵ Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
²⁶ Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
²⁷ Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Barisal, Bangladesh.
²⁸ Business Management, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa.
²⁹ Department of Econometrics, Faculty of Economics, University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey.
³⁰ National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, Bucharest, Romania.

PMID: 34669757
PMCID: PMC8528294
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258807

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shaped higher education and seen the distinct rise of e-learning as a compulsory element of the modern educational landscape. Accordingly, this study highlights the factors which have influenced how students perceive their academic performance during this emergency changeover to e-learning. The empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 10,092 higher education students from 10 countries across 4 continents during the pandemic's first wave through an online survey. A structural equation model revealed the quality of e-learning was mainly derived from service quality, the teacher's active role in the process of online education, and the overall system quality, while the students' digital competencies and online interactions with their colleagues and teachers were considered to be slightly less important factors. The impact of e-learning quality on the students' performance was strongly mediated by their satisfaction with e-learning. In general, the model gave quite consistent results across countries, gender, study fields, and levels of study. The findings provide a basis for policy recommendations to support decision-makers incorporate e-learning issues in the current and any new similar circumstances.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

**Fig 1. Conceptual model of the perceived student performance in e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.**

**Fig 2. Research model results under the e-learning regime motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic (all path coefficients at p < .001).**

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Academic student satisfaction and perceived performance in the e-learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence across ten countries

Affiliations

Academic student satisfaction and perceived performance in the e-learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence across ten countries

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical