AN ASSESSMENT OF E-LEARNING READINESS AT GREEK MUNICIPALITIES

This paper investigates the levels of e-readiness amid municipality officials, regarding the employment of online learning environments for training/educational purposes. In particular, this research examined whether the aforementioned employees are ready/willing to receive online training/education on work-related disciplines. The sample involved employees from fifty-eight ( 58) Greek municipalities, which were selected by utilizing a snowball sampling technique. Research data included responses from 202 employees that were invited by email to fill in an online questionnaire. To this end, the following parameters were measured: employees' technical skills, self-efficacy, learning preferences and intrinsic motivation. These factors were analysed in relation to the demographic characteristics of municipality officials, such as gender, age, education level and previous online learning experience. The results depict that e-readiness of municipality officials is influenced by age, education level and former experience; albeit, not by gender. In particular, education level was found to have a significant effect on learning preferences, whereas age determines the level of technical skills and self-efficacy in using a personal computer. On the other hand, online learning experience was found to have a significant effect on technical skills, self-efficacy in using a personal computer and intrinsic motivation of municipality employees. In conclusion, the findings of this research reveal that the e-readiness of municipality officials is affected by technical skills, self-efficacy, learning preferences and intrinsic motivation.