The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of the critical determinants for the adoption of learning analytics in higher education. A conceptual model was proposed to understand better the adoption of learning analytics in higher education by teaching staff. Structural equation modelling is used for testing and validating the proposed conceptual model based on the survey data collected from Australia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Five study hypotheses were statistically significant, while two were statically insignificant. A positive relationship was revealed between user preparedness, technology preparedness, perceived usefulness, and social influence with behavioural intentions to adopt learning analytics in higher education. Hypotheses between user preparedness and perceived usefulness as well as user preparedness and learning analytics adoption were rejected. This study contributes to the learning analytics adoption research by proposing and validating a research model for the adoption of learning analytics in higher education.