Institutional e-learning policy in Chinese academic higher education: an integrative perspective on financial, human, and technical factors

Education Informatization 2.0 is rapidly transforming Chinese academic higher education, yet how institutional e-learning policies are formed and enacted remains unclear. Extant studies rarely explain how national directives interact with institutional realities, creating gaps between policy intentions and practice. Few studies take an integrative perspective that considers financial, human, and technical factors together. This study addresses these gaps by answering the question about how institutional e-learning policies hinder or support e-learning in teaching and learning from an integrative perspective at Chinese academic HEIs. The study aims to uncover how e-learning policies are constructed, interpreted, and enacted within Chinese HEIs. It seeks to explore the interaction between policy, human, financial, and technical factors in e-learning implementation, uncovering the complex dynamics among stakeholder, financial resources, and technical support systems. Employing a mixed qualitative approach, i.e document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups, the study interviewed 124 participants across four types of universities. Data were examined through an integrated analytical framework combining Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Stakeholder Theory, and Activity Theory. This enabled systematic observation of policy narratives, stakeholder engagement, and implementation dynamics. Four contradictions were discovered. They are misaligned expectations among stakeholders; gaps between financial resources and institutional needs; mismatches between training programs and faculty needs; and inadequate technical support for faculty and students. Institutional e-learning policies remain transitional and fragmented, marked by uneven technology adoption, limited innovation, and faculty disengagement. The study contributes a policy-centered, cross-dimensional conceptual framework that integrates discourse, stakeholders, and activity systems to explain why e-learning implementation diverges from policy intentions. Theoretically, it extends CDA, Stakeholder Theory, and Activity Theory by showing how these perspectives intersect in technology integration. Practically, it offers insights for designing more coherent, context-sensitive e-learning policies that better align financial resources, human capacities, and technological infrastructures.