MY PAPERS

While technology adoption in the workplace has been studied extensively, drivers of adoption in homes have been largely overlooked. This paper presents the results of a nation-wide, two-wave, longitudinal investigation of the factors driving personal computer (PC) adoption in American homes. The findings revealed that the decisions driving adoption and non-adoption were significantly different. Adopters were driven by utilitarian outcomes, hedonic outcomes (i.e., fun), and social outcomes (i.e., status) from adoption. Non-adopters, on the other hand, were influenced primarily by rapid changes in technology and the consequent fear of obsolescence. A second wave of data collection conducted six months after the initial survey indicated an asymmetrical relationship between intent and behavior, with those who did not intent to adopt a PC following more closely with their intent than those who intended to adopt one. We present important implications for research on adoption of technologies in homes and the workplace, and also discuss challenges facing the PC industry.

The present research develops and tests a theoretical extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that explains perceived usefulness and usage intentions in terms of social influence and cognitive instrumental processes. The extended model, referred to as TAM2, was tested using longitudinal data collected regarding four different systems at four organizations (N = 156), two involving voluntary usage and two involving mandatory usage. Model constructs were measured at three points in time at each organization: preimplementation, one month postimplementation, and three months postimplementation. The extended model was strongly supported for all four organizations at all three points of measurement, accounting for 40%-60% of the variance in usefulness perceptions and 34%-52% of the variance in usage intentions. Both social influence processes (subjective norm, voluntariness, and image) and cognitive instrumental processes (job relevance, output quality, result demonstrability, and perceived ease of use) significantly influenced user acceptance. These findings advance theory and contribute to the foundation for future research aimed at improving our understanding of user adoption behavior.

Much previous research has been established that perceived ease or use is an important factor influencing user acceptance and usage behavior of information technologies. However, very little research has been conducted to understand how that perception forms and changes over time. The current work presents and tests an anchoring and adjustment-based theoretical model of the determinants of the system-specific perceived ease of use. The model proposes control (internal and external-conceptualized as computer self-efficacy and facilitating conditions, respectively), intrinsic motivation (conceptualized as computer playfulness), and emotion (conceptualized as computer anxiety) as anchors that determine early perceptions about the ease of use of a new system. With increasing experience, it is expected that system-specific perceived ease of use, while still anchored to the general beliefs regarding computers and computer use, will adjust to reflect objective usability, perceptions of external control specific to the new system environment, and system-specific perceived enjoyment. The proposed model was tested in three different organizations among 246 employees using three measurements taken over a three-month period. The proposed model was strongly supported at all points of measurement, and explained up to 60% of the variance in system-specific perceived ease of use, which is twice as much as our current understanding. Important theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this research investigated gender differences in the overlooked context of individual adoption and sustained usage of technology in the workplace. User reactions and technology usage behavior were studied over a five-month period among 342 workers being introduced to a new software system. At all three points of measurement, compared to women, men's technology usage decisions were more strongly influenced by their perceptions of usefulness. In contrast, women were more strongly influenced by perceptions of ease of use and subjective norm, although the effect of subjective norm diminished over time. These findings were robust even after statistically controlling for key confounding variables identified in prior organizational behavior research (i.e., income, occupation, and education levels), and another possible confound from technology research, prior experience with computers in general. Thus, in addition to identifying key boundary conditions in the role of the original TAM constructs (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use), this research provides the basis for the integration of subjective norm into the model. In light of these findings, implications for theory and practice are discussed.

This research investigated gender differences in the overlooked context of individual adoption and sustained usage of technology in the workplace using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). User reactions and technology usage behavior were studied over a 5-month period among 355 workers being introduced to a new software technology application. When compared to women's decisions, the decisions of men were more strongly influenced by their attitude toward using the new technology. In contrast, women were more strongly influenced by subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. Sustained technology usage behavior was driven by early usage behavior, thus fortifying the lasting influence of gender-based early evaluations of the new technology. These findings were robust across income, organization position, and computer self-efficacy levels.

There is a growing need for research examining the effective implementation and management of teleworking as it is increasingly being used as an organizational work structure. The enhanced functionality of many information technologies facilitates the completion of work across geographically dispersed teleworkers while simultaneously providing a vehicle to overcome social isolation that has been viewed as an inhibitor of teleworker effectiveness. This research assesses two training methods that can be used to help teleworkers develop skill sets for using these technologies. The results suggest that using a game-based training method facilitates the training process by increasing users' intrinsic motivation resulting in increased intention to use the technology. This can be particularly important in enhancing the effective completion of team and individual telework while at the same time providing a mechanism to minimize teleworkers social isolation.

This research investigated age difference in individual adoption and sustained usage of technology in the workplace using the theory of planned behavior. User reactions and technology usage behavior were studied over a 5-month period among 118 workers being introduced to a new software system. At 2 points of measurement, compared to older workers, younger workers' technology usage decisions were more strongly influenced by attitude toward using the technology. In contrast, older workers were more strongly influenced by subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, although the effect of subjective norm diminished over time. These findings were robust, even after controlling for key confounding variables identified in prior organizational behavior research (i.e., income, occupation, and education levels). Theoretical and practical implications for understanding the effects of aging on technology adoption and usage in the workplace are discussed.

A key issue facing information systems researchers and practitioners has been the difficulty in creating favorable user reactions to new technologies. Insufficient or ineffective training has been identified as one of the key factors underlying this disappointing reality. Among the various enhancements to training being examined in research, the role of intrinsic motivation as a lever to create favorable user perceptions has not been sufficiently exploited. In this research, two studies were conducted to compare a traditional training method with a training method that included a component aimed at enhancing intrinsic motivation. The results strongly favored the use of an intrinsic motivator during training. Key implications for theory and practice are discussed.

How does a person's mood during technology training influence motivation, intentions, and, ultimately, usage of the new technology? Do these mood effects dissipate or are they sustainable over time? A repeated-measures field study (n = 316) investigated the effect of mood on employee motivation and intentions toward using a specific computer technology at two points in time: immediately after training and 6 weeks after training. Actual usage behavior was assessed for 12 weeks after training. Each individual was assigned to one of three mood treatments: positive, negative, or control. Results indicated that there were only short-term boosts in intrinsic motivation and intention to use the technology among individuals in the positive mood intervention. However, a long-term lowering of intrinsic motivation and intention was observed among those in the negative mood condition.

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been widely used to predict user acceptance and use based on perceived ease of use and usefulness. However, in order to design effective training interventions to improve user acceptance constructs. In this research, we focus on understanding the determinants of perceived ease of use. Data from three experiments spanning 108 subjects and six different systems supported our hypothesis that an individual's perception of a particular system's ease of use is anchored to her or his general computer self-efficacy at all times, and objective usability has an impact on ease of use perceptions about a specific system only after direct experience with the system. In addition to being an important research issue in user acceptance research, understanding antecedents of perceived ease of use is also important from a practical standpoint since several systems in which millions of dollars are invested are rejected because of poor user interfaces. Moreover, the actual underlying problem might be low computer self-efficacy of the target user group. In such cases, training interventions aimed at improving computer self-efficacy of users may be more effective than improved interface design for increasing user acceptance.