Objective - As Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) begin to investigate how they can increase revenue and decrease costs, the Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) already implemented in most HEIs may be the solution. The opportunity for including advertisements on a VLE allows HEIs to minimise the significant financial implications associated with the development and use of a VLE, without reducing the value of the service provided. While incorporating advertisements onto VLEs makes sense financially, there is limited knowledge on how students will respond to the presence of advertisements on VLEs. Consequently, this research study reports on the findings from a pilot study conducted to determine the legitimacy and reliability of a measuring instrument being employed to investigate students' attitudes towards the use of a VLE with the presence of advertisements at a South African university of technology.

Methodology/Technique - A measuring instrument, including constructs of self-efficacy, technology experience, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, pre advert presence and post advert presence on a selected VLE was employed in this research study. A six-point Likert scale, ranging from 1= strongly disagree to 6= strongly agree was used to avoid the utilisation of a seventh scale item of neither agree nor disagree. After the initial pre-testing of the questionnaire, carried out to verify face and content validity, was completed, a non-probability, convenience, judgement sample of 50 students from a South African public higher education institution situated in the Gauteng province was taken. The gathered pilot data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), Version 25.0.

Findings - The findings indicate that the measuring instrument was deemed legitimate and reliable with regards to investigating students' attitudes towards the use of a VLE with the presence of advertisements.

Novelty - Only one previous study has been conducted with regards to evaluating students' attitudes towards advertising on HEI VLEs, which was conducted in the UK. In addition, other studies closely related are concerned with students' attitudes towards e-learning and do not evaluate students' attitudes towards the use of a VLE with the presence of advertisements. Attitudes contribute to understanding the perceptions of students towards a VLE. Consequently, if HEIs are to incorporate advertisements on the VLEs used within HEIs, then evaluating the attitudes of the students enrolled at these HEIs, towards the use of a VLE with the presence of advertisements, is paramount.

Type of Paper - Empirical.

Keywords: E-learning, attitudes, virtual learning environments, advertisements, students, higher education institutions, South Africa.

JEL Classification: I22, I23, M30, M31, M37

URI: http://gatrenterprise.com/GATRJournals/GJBSSR/vol9.2_6.html

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2021.9.2(6)

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