Multi-Perspectives of Cloud Computing Service Adoption Quality and Risks in Higher Education

Introduction

Recently, cloud computing (CC) has become a major player in education (Sultan, 2010). CC is a ubiquitous computing paradigm that enables users to access a host of cloud services. These computing paradigms are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) (see Sultan, 2010). Software applications, for instance, virtualized by CC, can be distributed over the Internet rather than deploying them on computers or workstations (Rindos et al., 2010). As such, CC has been integrated into e-learning systems, mobile learning and online distance learning (Cvetkovic et al., 2017; Rao and Selvamani 2015; Doelitzscher et al., 2011; Round, 2011; Al-Zoube et al., 2010). In particular, Higher education institutions (HEIs), including Universities and colleges are now starting to implement three types of CC models; public, private and hybrid clouds, with private clouds being the most prevalent among colleges to establish their own CC environment (Schaffer et al., 2009). In addition, Universities also purchase CC services from a third party service providers (Shakeabubakor et al., 2015). Willcocks et al., summarises the aforementioned CC components as follows (see Fig.1):

Figure 1.

CC components (Willcocks et al., 2014)

In this research, HEIs refer to university level institutions that provide a wide range of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and teaching and research services. Quality in the context of this study is defined as the quality elements or characteristics, which make CC a powerful and viable technology for Universities to adopt. Whereas, the risks refer to the potential barriers or dangers that may dissuade Universities from adopting CC. Adoption refers to stakeholders’ acceptance of CC, whereas non-adoption refers to the rejection of CC (outcome). Adoption of the cloud among Universities has fluctuated over the years due to the quality (or perhaps, the benefits) (Sultan et al., 2010) and risks (challenges) (Okai et al., 2014) of the cloud.

Although there is a clear understanding about the specific components related to the cloud (Fig.1), the problem under investigation is a limited understanding of the quality and risks associated with CC that influence HEIs’, namely Universities’ adoptive decision. Currently, CC is widely accepted among various firms, industries, businesses and even government agencies (Alassafi et al., 2017; Chang, 2015; Ammurathavalli & Ramesh, 2014; Hoberg et al., 2012; Low et al., 2011). There is limited research to support the quality and risks associated with CC, particularly with emphasis on UK Universities. Therefore, this paper sought to explore the quality and risks associated with CC from a multiple perspective in the context of UK Universities.

Background

This paper explores the quality and risks of CC adoption in HEIs from multiple perspectives. The study focuses on CC service quality in terms of the characteristics, which will add value to the stakeholders needs in HEIs. Looking at the quality and risks of the cloud through a multi-perspective lens, this research contributes a new dimension of cloud adoption that previous research has ignored.