Business Commons^™

Electronic Textbooks: An Empirical Study Of Adoption Potential, Kendrick W. Brunson

Kendrick W. Brunson

Mounting conflict brews between collegiate textbook publishers and their end users, college students. Currently, issuing a new textbook edition every 2-3 years provides the only primary revenue source for publishers and authors while escalating prices have spawned alternative outlets of new and used textbooks for students seeking lower prices. A popular publisher solution focuses on electronic textbooks, however, will college students adopt that technology? Research in this study of almost 800 Liberty University residential students reveals a strong reluctance to embrace e-books, and provides insightful rationale for such avoidance behavior.