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Following the COVID-19 pandemic, most higher education institutes shifted to online learning as the sole alternative to continuing education while mitigating the risks imposed by the pandemic. This has raised several concerns regarding students’ learning experience, satisfaction and academic achievement, particularly in countries where students have restrained technological resources (i.e. developing nations). The current research aims to investigate the key factors influencing students’ attitudes, satisfaction and academic achievement among university students in an emerging market context (i.e. Morocco). The moderating effect of students’ motivation to study online was also scrutinized.

The authors propose an integrated conceptual framework that combines the technology acceptance model (TAM) with the outcomes of prior literature related to online learning. Based on data collected from 850 Moroccan university students, the authors empirically tested the conceptual model using a partial least squares (PLS) estimation.

First, attitude toward online learning and satisfaction positively impact university students’ academic achievement; at the same time, attitude positively impacts students’ satisfaction with online learning. Second, students’ satisfaction and attitude toward online learning were found to be mainly influenced by instructor performance, ease of use of the online learning platform, information quality, interactivity and perceived usefulness (PU). Finally, student motivation acts as a moderator, e.g. students with higher motivation to learn online are more likely to develop a favorable attitude toward online learning and can, therefore, accomplish better academic performance.

The current study makes a considerable contribution to the literature by contributing to the on-going debate about the potentials and challenges of online learning, particularly in an emerging country where education remains a considerable challenge. The study findings can help higher education institutes gauge the quality of online education programs and design efficient strategies to develop high-quality online learning for students. Our findings have implications not only for educational institutions and instructors in developing markets but also for the vendors of online course delivery software.