Internet Learning Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 103

Beliefs Regarding Faculty Participation
overall measure of norms (Cronbach’s α =
0.69). Lower scores indicate more supportive
norms regarding completing the peer
review.
Direct measures of perceived behavioral
control were assessed by four
items, including “I am confident that I can
complete the peer review process” and “I
have full control over whether I complete
the process” rated as 1 (definitely true) to 7
(definitely false). One item assessed agreement
with the statement that “whether or
not I complete the peer review process is
completely up to me” 1 (strongly agree) to 7
(strongly disagree), and one item measured
whether completing the peer review process
is 1 (impossible) to 7 (possible) (reverse
scored). When examining the inter-item
reliability of these statements, the item
assessing how possible completion of the
peer review process was displayed low correlation
with the rest of the items and was
removed. The remaining three items were
averaged into an overall measure of perceived
control (Cronbach’s α = 0.72). Lower
scores indicate more perceptions of control
over completing the peer review process.
Intention to complete the peer review
process for one online course by the
end of the current semester was assessed by
four items. Participants rated the following
statements, “I plan to complete the process”
on a 1 (extremely likely) to 7 (extremely
unlikely) scale, “I will make an effort to
complete the process” on a 1 (definitely
will) to 7 (definitely will not) scale, “I intend
to complete the peer review process” on a
1 (strongly agree) to 7 (strongly disagree)
scale, and “I am going to complete the process”
on a 1 (definitely true) to 7 (definitely
false) scale. These items were averaged into
an overall measure of intention (Cronbach’s
α = 0.99). Lower scores indicate stronger
intentions to participate in the peer review
process.
Research participants’ past behavior
in the internal peer review process since its
inception was assessed with two open-ended
items requesting the number of courses
submitted and the number of courses
successfully completing the peer review
process. All but three participants had no
courses reviewed through the internal peer
review process prior to their participation
in this research. Research participants’ actual
behavior regarding peer review completion
was recorded at the end of the initial
round of peer reviews (i.e., 15 months after
the project was implemented) with a 0 (nonparticipant)
and 1 (participant) distinction.
All research participants who started the
peer review process successfully completed
it before the review process was closed.
Indirect measures of attitudes (i.e.,
behavioral beliefs and outcome evaluations),
norms (i.e., normative beliefs and
motivation to comply) and perceived behavioral
control (i.e., control beliefs and
power of control factors) were assessed with
the beliefs elicited from the pilot study presented
in Tables 1–3, respectively.
For the indirect measure of attitudes,
each behavioral belief listed in Table
1 was written as the conclusion to the
statement “Completing the TAMUCT peer
review process will” and was rated on a
7-point scale from 1 (extremely unlikely)
to 7 (extremely likely). The positive items
phrased in terms of benefits of participating
in the process (i.e., items 1 through 7)
were reverse scored. Each outcome evaluation
was adapted to fit as the conclusion to
“For me to” and was rated on a 7-point scale
from 1 (extremely good) to 7 (extremely
bad). Lower scores indicate more supportive
beliefs regarding completing the peer
review process. Consistent with the Theory
of Planned Behavior model, each behavioral
belief was multiplied by the corresponding
outcome evaluation prior to summing
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