Venkatesh, Davis - 2000 - A Theoretical Extension of The Technology Acceptance Model Four Longitudinal Field Studies
Venkatesh, Davis - 2000 - A Theoretical Extension of The Technology Acceptance Model Four Longitudinal Field Studies
Venkatesh, Davis - 2000 - A Theoretical Extension of The Technology Acceptance Model Four Longitudinal Field Studies
Introduction
Information technology adoption and use in the workplace remains a central concern of information systems research and practice. Despite impressive advances in hardware and software capabilities, the
troubling problem of underutilized systems continue.
Low usage of installed systems has been identified as
a major factor underlying the productivity paradox
surrounding lackluster returns from organizational
investments in information technology (Sichel 1997).
Understanding and creating the conditions under
which information systems will be embraced by the
human organization remains a high-priority research
issue.
Management Science 2000 INFORMS
Vol. 46, No. 2, February 2000 pp. 186 204
187
Figure 1
Voluntariness and Compliance with Social Influence. A contingency underlying the mixed findings
regarding subjective norm was identified by Hartwick
and Barki (1994): After separating their respondents
into mandatory and voluntary usage contexts, they
found that subjective norm had a significant effect on
intention in mandatory settings but not in voluntary
settings. We refer to the causal mechanism underlying
this effect as compliance. In general, the direct compliance effect of subjective norm on intention is theorized to operate whenever an individual perceives
that a social actor wants him or her to perform a
specific behavior, and the social actor has the ability to
reward the behavior or punish nonbehavior (French
and Raven 1959, Kelman 1958, Warshaw 1980). TAM2
theorizes that, in a computer usage context, the direct
compliance-based effect of subjective norm on intention over and above perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use will occur in mandatory, but not
voluntary, system usage settings. To distinguish between mandatory and voluntary usage settings, our
model posits voluntariness as a moderating variable,
188
189
to system development, the effect became nonsignificant three months after system implementation. Their
interpretation of this pattern is that, before a system is
developed, users knowledge and beliefs about a system are vague and ill-formed, and they must therefore rely more on the opinions of others as a basis for
their intentions (Hartwick and Barki 1994, pp. 458
459). After implementation, when more about the
systems strengths and weaknesses are known
through direct experience, the normative influence
subsides. A similar pattern of results was obtained by
Agarwal and Prasad (1997), who found that mandating the use of a system can increase initial system
utilization, enabling users to overcome the hurdle of
first-time use, but that such pressure seems to erode
over time (p. 575). Research outside the domain of
information systems also indicates that normative
pressure attenuates over time (Ram and Jung 1991).
Therefore, TAM2 theorizes that the direct effect of
subjective norm on intentions for mandatory usage
contexts will be strong prior to implementation and
during early usage, but will weaken over time as
increasing direct experience with a system provides a
growing basis for intentions toward ongoing use.
Similarly, we expect the effect of subjective norm on
perceived usefulness (internalization) to weaken over
time, since greater direct experience will furnish concrete sensory information (Doll and Ajzen 1992, Fazio
and Zanna 1981, Tybout and Scott 1983), supplanting
reliance on social cues as a basis for usefulness perceptions. In contrast, we do not expect the influence of
image on perceived usefulness (identification) to
weaken over time since status gains from system use
will continue as long as group norms continue to favor
usage of the target system.
Hypothesis 4a. The positive direct effect of subjective
norm on intention for mandatory systems will attenuate
with increased experience.
Hypothesis 4b. The positive direct effect of subjective
norm on perceived usefulness will attenuate with increased
experience for both mandatory and voluntary systems.
Cognitive Instrumental Processes
Beyond the social influence processes affecting perceived usefulness and usage intention discussed
190
above, we theorize four cognitive instrumental determinants of perceived usefulness: job relevance, output
quality, result demonstrability, and perceived ease of
use. As we argue below, people form perceived usefulness judgments in part by cognitively comparing
what a system is capable of doing with what they need
to get done in their job. To develop the theoretical
basis for these instrumental determinants, we draw
from recent developments in the reference paradigms
upon which TAMs perceived usefulness construct
was originally formulated. These theoretical underpinnings come from three main areas: work motivation theory (e.g., Vroom 1964), action theory from
social psychology (e.g., Fishbein and Ajzen 1975), and
task-contingent decision making from behavioral decision theory (e.g., Beach and Mitchell 1978). Recent
work in these areas has converged on a view of
behavior being driven by a mental representation that
links higher-level goals to specific actions that are
instrumental for achieving those goals.
Within work motivation theory, Locke and Latham
(1990) discuss task-specific plans, which are cognitive
mechanisms by which acts are selected, combined,
and sequenced in order to achieve goals. Task-specific
plans guide behavior through a conception-matching
process (see also Bandura 1986) linking instrumental
acts to goals. Within social psychology, action identification theory (Vallacher and Wegner 1987, p. 4)
posits an organized cognitive representation of action,
called the identity structure, which links lower-level
identities regarding specific actions to higher-level
identities indicating why the action is done or what its
effects or implications are. This identity structure is
seen as a fundamental mechanism by which people
cognitively regulate their behaviors in the furtherance
of higher-level goals (Vallacher and Kaufman 1996).
Within behavioral decision theory, recent work in
image theory (Beach and Mitchell 1996, 1998) has
embraced the concepts of a trajectory image, which is
a mental representation of adopted goals and the ideal
future state, and a strategic image, which is a mental
representation of possible action sequences that can
guide behavior toward the goal states of the trajectory
image. When deciding among alternative instrumental action sequences (called the adoption decision),
191
in which, given a choice set containing multiple relevant systems, one would be inclined to choose a
system that delivers the highest output quality.
Hypothesis 6. Output quality will have a positive
effect on perceived usefulness.
Result Demonstrability. Even effective systems
can fail to garner user acceptance if people have
difficulty attributing gains in their job performance
specifically to their use of the system. Therefore,
TAM2 theorizes that result demonstrability, defined by
Moore and Benbasat (1991, p. 203) as the tangibility
of the results of using the innovation, will directly
influence perceived usefulness. This implies that individuals can be expected to form more positive perceptions of the usefulness of a system if the covariation
between usage and positive results is readily discernable. Conversely, if a system produces effective jobrelevant results desired by a user, but does so in an
obscure fashion, users of the system are unlikely to
understand how useful such a system really is. Empirically, Agarwal and Prasad (1997) found a significant correlation between usage intentions and result
demonstrability. The relationship between result demonstrability and perceived usefulness is also consistent with the job characteristics model, which emphasizes knowledge of the actual results of work activities
as a key psychological state underlying work motivation (Hackman and Oldham 1976, Loher et al. 1985).
Hypothesis 7. Result demonstrability will have a positive effect on perceived usefulness.
Perceived Ease of Use. TAM2 retains perceived ease
of use from TAM as a direct determinant of perceived
usefulness (Davis et al. 1989), since, all else being
equal, the less effortful a system is to use, the more
using it can increase job performance. There is extensive empirical evidence accumulated over a decade
that perceived ease of use is significantly linked to
intention, both directly and indirectly via its impact on
perceived usefulness (e.g., Davis et al. 1989, Venkatesh
1999). Although beyond the scope of the present
extension of TAM, other research has begun to model
the antecedents of perceived ease of use. For example,
Venkatesh and Davis (1996) model perceived ease of
192
Method
193
194
Procedure
Although the specific initial training in each organization was different, the process of questionnaire administration followed was very similar. Following the
training (T1), the subjects filled out a questionnaire
with the above measurement scales regarding the new
system for which they just received training. The
questionnaire was administered online and each subjects log-in ID was captured and used to create a
barcode (for subsequent administrations in T2, T3, and
T4) to help track individual responses over time. To
preserve privacy and confidentiality, only the researchers had access to specific respondent information and only summarized responses were shared
with the organization. One of the authors observed the
process of questionnaire administration at T1 to ensure no biases were introduced. At T2 and T3, in
addition to user reactions, self-reported usage was
also measured. In each of these cases, a paper version
of the questionnaire was delivered to subjects mailboxes with a request that it be returned directly to the
researchers within a one-week time window. At T4,
only self-reported usage was measured using a procedure similar to T2 and T3. Intention measured in T1
was used to predict usage in T2, intention measured in
T2 was used to predict usage in T3, and intention
measured in T3 was used to predict usage in T4,
respectively.
Results
Psychometric Properties of Measures
The measurement scales exhibited strong psychometric properties. All measurement scales showed high
reliability, with Cronbach alpha coefficients for all
four studies and three time periods exceeding 0.80 (see
Appendix 1). Construct validity was strongly supported both by principal components analysis with
direct oblimin rotation (Appendix 2), in which all
cross-loadings were lower than 0.30, and by an analysis of the multitrait-multimethod matrix. This pattern
of high reliability and validity is consistent with much
prior research (e.g., Davis 1989, Davis and Venkatesh
1996, Mathieson 1991, Taylor and Todd 1995). Appendix 3 presents cross-sectional correlations among these
constructs at each of the three points of measurement.
Based on measures of voluntariness (where 1 mandatory and 7 voluntary), we confirmed that employees in Studies 1 and 2 perceived system use to be
voluntary (across companies and time periods, mean
voluntariness ratings ranged from 6.2 to 6.7, and
standard deviations ranged from 0.4 to 0.6), whereas
employees in Studies 3 and 4 perceived system use to
be mandatory (across companies and time periods,
mean voluntariness ratings ranged from 1.2 to 1.5, and
standard deviations ranged from 0.3 to 0.6). Further,
correlations between measures of voluntariness across
the three time periods exceeded 0.80 in all four
studies.
Explaining Intention and Usage
Table 1 shows the effects of perceived usefulness,
perceived ease of use, and subjective norm on intentions. Consistent with much prior research, perceived
usefulness was a strong determinant of intention to
use, and perceived ease of use was a significant
secondary determinant. The effect of subjective norm
on intention (compliance) was consistent with our
expectations. That is, when usage was mandatory
(Studies 3 and 4), subjective norm did have a direct
effect on intention at T1 and T2 (supporting HypothTable 1
Time of Measurement
R2
Preimplementation (T1)
Perceived Usefulness
Perceived Ease of Use
Subjective Norm
0.39
0.44
0.42
Mandatory Settings
Study 2 (n 39)
R2
0.37
0.58***
0.18*
0.11
R2
0.44
0.51***
0.27**
0.10
0.34
0.55***
0.17*
0.06
Study 4 (n 36)
R2
0.47
0.52***
0.18*
0.28**
0.42
0.54***
0.15*
0.26**
0.39
0.64***
0.16*
0.02
0.52
0.48***
0.13*
0.31**
0.50***
0.21*
0.08
0.42
0.63***
0.14*
0.11
Study 3 (n 43)
0.44***
0.11*
0.24**
0.39
0.57***
0.17*
0.10
0.50***
0.22*
0.08
* p 0.05, ** p 0.01, *** p 0.001. Adjusted R 2 s are shown. : standardized regression coefficients.
195
Table 2
Time of Measurement
R2
Preimplementation (T1)
Subjective Norm
Image
Job Relev. Quality
Result Demonstrability
Perceived Ease of Use
One month postimpl. (T2)
Subjective Norm
Image
Job Relev. Quality
Result Demonstrability
Perceived Ease of Use
Three month postimpl. (T3)
Subjective Norm
Image
Job Relev. Quality
Result Demonstrability
Perceived Ease of Use
0.60
Mandatory Settings
Study 2
R2
Study 3
0.60
0.50***
0.19*
0.40***
0.27**
0.23**
0.48
0.55
0.31**
0.36***
0.33**
0.22**
0.20**
0.46
0.27**
0.28**
0.30**
0.30**
0.38***
0.43
0.08
0.19*
0.36***
0.26**
0.34***
0.50
0.51
0.40
R2
0.38***
0.31**
0.32**
0.30**
0.23**
0.34***
0.18*
0.38***
0.26**
0.35***
0.20*
0.17*
0.38***
0.34**
0.28**
0.51
0.47***
0.21*
0.38***
0.30**
0.24**
0.39***
0.22*
0.32**
0.24*
0.26**
0.44
R2
Study 4
0.21*
0.27**
0.33***
0.30**
0.29**
0.40
0.16*
0.27**
0.36***
0.21*
0.35***
0.10
0.25**
0.32**
0.30**
0.35***
Note: Main effects of task importance and output quality were included in regressions but omitted from table due to noninterpretability in the presence of the
interaction term.
* p 0.05; ** p 0.01; *** p 0.001. Adjusted R 2 s are shown. : standardized regression coefficients.
196
The influence of image on perceived usefulness (identification) was significant at all three points of measurement (supporting Hypothesis 3a). Also, as hypothesized, the effect of subjective norm on image was
significant at all points of measurement (supporting
Hypothesis 3b). As discussed earlier, the interaction of
job relevance and output quality was significant in all
four studies at all points of measurement (supporting
Hypotheses 5 and 6, respectively). Note that the main
effects of job relevance and output quality were found
to be significant before the interaction term was introduced into the regression model. After the interaction
term was included, the main effects were included in
the model for parameter estimation, but they were
omitted from Table 2 because main effects should not
be interpreted in the presence of the interaction term
under interval scale measurement. As theorized, result demonstrability and perceived ease of use were
significant across all four studies and three time peri-
Figure 2
197
and voluntariness (supporting Hypothesis 1c), mirroring the more detailed findings reported in Table 1 that
subjective norm significantly affects intention directly
only when usage is mandatory and experience is in
the early stages. Also consistent with TAM2, the
subjective norm-usefulness relationship (internalization) was significantly moderated by experience (supporting Hypothesis 4b), whereas the image-usefulness
relationship (identification) was not. Consistent with
Table 2, the effect of job relevance and output quality
on perceived usefulness was interactive. Thus, all
hypotheses were supported by all studies at all points
of measurement.
Cross-Temporal Correlations of Intention
Determinants
In a post hoc analysis performed to better understand
how preimplementation user evaluations of a system
relate to postimplementation evaluations, we examined the cross-temporal correlations of usage intention
and its direct determinants, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective norm (Table 3).
Perceived usefulness was the most stable of the three
Table 3
Study 1
Study 2
Study 3
Study 4
0.68***
0.26*
0.56***
0.68***
0.56***
0.23*
0.54***
0.78***
0.76***
0.12
0.59***
0.70***
0.60***
0.28*
0.50***
0.66***
0.71***
0.30*
0.61***
0.76***
0.66***
0.17
0.60***
0.82***
0.79***
0.26*
0.57***
0.71***
0.62***
0.37**
0.65***
0.61***
0.66***
0.14
0.58***
0.69***
0.62***
0.19
0.57***
0.71***
0.71***
0.28*
0.51***
0.63***
0.69***
0.36***
0.52***
0.68***
198
Mandatory Settings
Discussion
TAM2 was strongly supported across four organizations and three points of measurement (preimplementation, one month postimplementation, and three
months postimplementation). Encompassing both social influence processes (subjective norm, voluntariness, and image) and cognitive instrumental processes
(job relevance, output quality, result demonstrability,
and perceived ease of use), TAM2 provides a detailed
account of the key forces underlying judgments of
perceived usefulness, explaining up to 60% of the
variance in this important driver of usage intentions.
Moreover, TAM2 extends TAM by showing that subjective norm exerts a significant direct effect on usage
intentions over and above perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use for mandatory (but not voluntary) systems.
The effects of social influence processes were consistent with TAM2. Subjective norm significantly influenced perceived usefulness via both internalization,
in which people incorporate social influences into
their own usefulness perceptions, and identification,
in which people use a system to gain status and
influence within the work group and thereby improve
their job performance. Beyond these two indirect
effects via perceived usefulness, subjective norm had a
direct effect on intentions for mandatory, but not
voluntary, usage contexts. This may explain previous
research that found a nonsignificant role for social
199
200
1
The authors thank Professors Gordon Davis and Shawn Curley at
the University of Minnesota and Ruth Kanfer and Phillip Ackerman
at Georgia Institute of Technology for their many useful comments
and suggestions on earlier versions of the paper. They also thank
Tracy Ann Sykes for her excellent editorial work and assistance in
data collection. Part of this research was done while the second
author was on the visiting faculty of Salisbury State University. The
authors contributed equally to this research; order of authorship
was determined by a coin flip.
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.82 to 0.97 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.87 to 0.98 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.86 to 0.98 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.81 to 0.94 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.82 to 0.91 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.80 to 0.93 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.80 to 0.95 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.82 to 0.98 across studies and time periods)
(Cronbachs ranged from 0.80 to 0.97 across studies and time periods)
Note. All items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale, where 1 strongly disagree, 2 moderately disagree, 3 somewhat disagree, 4 neutral (neither
disagree nor agree), 5 somewhat agree, 6 moderately agree, and 7 strongly agree.
201
Appendix 2. Principal Components Analysis with Oblimin Rotation: Pooled Across Studies and Time
Periods (n 468)
Construct Loadings
Item
Intent to Use
Perc Usef
Perc EOU
Subj Norm
Image
Reslt Demon
Output Qual
Job Rel
Intention to Use 1
Intention to Use 2
0.91
0.93
0.03
0.06
0.09
0.12
0.04
0.28
0.03
0.07
0.03
0.05
0.03
0.01
0.11
0.02
Perc.
Perc.
Perc.
Perc.
Usefulness
Usefulness
Usefulness
Usefulness
0.11
0.13
0.05
0.22
0.89
0.88
0.93
0.91
0.07
0.02
0.11
0.04
0.09
0.22
0.04
0.00
0.01
0.04
0.01
0.11
0.00
0.18
0.12
0.06
0.06
0.22
0.03
0.08
0.06
0.02
0.05
0.12
Perc.
Perc.
Perc.
Perc.
Ease
Ease
Ease
Ease
0.10
0.11
0.15
0.09
0.09
0.11
0.09
0.04
0.91
0.93
0.96
0.82
0.03
0.11
0.12
0.02
0.08
0.19
0.12
0.17
0.03
0.09
0.02
0.08
0.11
0.17
0.10
0.02
0.12
0.05
0.07
0.02
Subjective Norm 1
Subjective Norm 2
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
0.27
0.22
0.14
0.04
0.11
0.03
0.20
0.05
0.06
0.11
0.11
0.18
0.21
0.13
0.10
0.90
0.91
0.02
0.04
0.01
0.09
0.06
0.86
0.89
0.91
0.00
0.04
0.09
0.11
0.16
0.05
0.08
0.08
0.13
0.21
0.07
0.02
0.21
0.17
0.12
Result
Result
Result
Result
0.01
0.10
0.16
0.12
0.15
0.17
0.09
0.01
0.08
0.16
0.11
0.10
0.00
0.11
0.14
0.19
0.05
0.02
0.08
0.09
0.90
0.91
0.88
0.84
0.07
0.18
0.00
0.12
0.05
0.12
0.17
0.12
Output Quality 1
Output Quality 2
0.19
0.02
0.00
0.03
0.06
0.05
0.00
0.01
0.13
0.14
0.13
0.12
0.88
0.85
0.09
0.14
Job Relevance 1
Job Relevance 2
0.13
0.15
0.04
0.13
0.12
0.17
0.07
0.08
0.16
0.12
0.11
0.04
0.07
0.02
0.91
0.92
Cronbachs
0.91
0.93
0.93
0.90
0.91
0.89
0.88
0.90
of
of
of
of
1
2
3
4
Use
Use
Use
Use
Demonst.
Demonst.
Demonst.
Demonst.
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
Note. The same simple factor structure was found within each time period in each of the four studies and when data were separately pooled across time and across
mandatory versus voluntary settings.
202
0.27***
0.21*
0.26**
0.30***
0.28***
0.28**
0.45***
EOU
0.12
0.13
0.21*
0.22**
0.13
0.25**
0.45***
0.27**
0.12
0.22*
0.13
IMG
0.11
0.20*
0.13
0.24**
JR
0.31***
0.16*
0.27***
QUAL
0.24**
0.21**
RD
0.20*
BI
U
EOU
SN
IMG
JR
QUAL
RD
BI
EOU
SN
IMG
JR
QUAL
RD
0.28***
0.40***
0.25**
0.32***
0.29**
0.30***
0.47***
0.21*
0.16
0.23*
0.25**
0.18
0.23**
0.43***
0.20*
0.19*
0.28***
0.20*
0.14
0.19*
0.20**
0.27***
0.29**
0.15
0.25**
0.30***
0.31***
0.29***
BI
Appendix 3
(Continued)
EOU
0.27***
0.16*
0.30**
0.29***
0.22*
0.29**
0.50***
0.15
0.11
0.20*
0.21*
0.11
0.25**
SN
IMG
0.40***
0.11
0.13
0.23**
0.09
JR
0.13
0.22*
0.04
0.26**
QUAL
0.30***
0.12
0.20*
0.22*
0.23**
RD
BI
U
EOU
SN
IMG
JR
QUAL
RD
BI
0.21*
U
EOU
SN
IMG
JR
QUAL
RD
BI
0.31***
0.19*
0.27***
0.30***
0.21*
0.23*
0.46***
EOU
0.23*
0.13
0.20*
0.23**
0.14
0.20*
SN
0.40***
0.12
0.21*
0.12
0.18*
EOU
0.30***
0.33***
0.26**
0.28***
0.24**
0.33***
0.44***
SN
0.15
0.19*
0.20*
0.29**
0.9
0.20*
IMG
0.40***
0.22*
0.21*
0.22*
0.13
JR
0.19*
0.22**
0.16
0.23*
QUAL
0.22*
0.13
0.26***
0.28***
0.21*
RD
BI
0.24**
0.13
0.14
0.19*
0.31***
JR
0.33***
0.06
0.20*
QUAL
0.23*
0.23**
RD
BI
0.20*
U
EOU
SN
IMG
JR
QUAL
RD
BI
EOU
SN
IMG
JR
QUAL
RD
0.33***
0.27**
0.21**
0.31***
0.29***
0.36***
0.48***
0.15
0.19*
0.20*
0.29**
0.9
0.28**
0.40***
0.22*
0.21*
0.22*
0.07
0.19*
0.22**
0.16
0.26**
0.22*
0.13
0.21*
0.28***
0.22*
0.24***
BI
Note. U perceived usefulness; EOU perceived ease of use; SN subjective norm; IMG image; JR job relevance; QUAL output quality; RD result
demonstrability; BI behavioral intention to use; * p 0.05; ** p 0.01; *** p 0.001.
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Accepted by John C. Henderson; received April 24, 1997. This paper has been with the author 15 months for 2 revisions.
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