User Acceptance of Information Technology:Theories and Models
Andrew Dillon and Michael G. Morris
This item is not the definitive copy. Please use the following citation when referencing this material: Dillon, A. and Morris, M. (1996) User acceptance of new information technology: theories and models. In M. Williams (ed.) Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 31, Medford NJ: Information Today, 3-32.
OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
THE CONCEPT OF ACCEPTANCE
INNOVATION DIFFUSION THEORY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHOLOGY OF USER ACCEPTANCE
The Theory of Reasoned Action and Its Derivatives in User Acceptance
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
Theory of Planned Behavior
Related work
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE DESIGN OF ACCEPTABLE TECHNOLOGY
Socio-Technical Systems Theory of Acceptance
Related theories of acceptance
Human-Computer Interaction and the Usability Engineering Approach to Acceptance
Related work
CONCLUSION
keywords: user acceptance; user-centered design; human-computer interaction; socio-technical systems; technology acceptance; innovation diffusion; usability; utility; acceptability; computers; models.
ABSTRACT
Understanding the factors that influence user acceptance of information technology is of interest both to researchers in a variety of fields as well as procurers of technology for large organizations. The present chapter reviews literature which demonstrates the nature of technological acceptance is mediated by distinct factor groups related to the psychology of the users, the design process of information technology, and the quality of the technology in user terms. It is concluded that current research offers insights that can support the derivation of reliable predictions of user acceptance. However, potentially overlapping theories seem to exist independently of each other and there exists scope for a unifying framework to extend innovation diffusion concepts and systems design models (particularly user-centered design) into a formal theory of user acceptance of information technology.
INTRODUCTION
While millions of dollars have been spent on information technology in the US over the last 30 years, there has been recent debate over the extent to which such expenditures have produced benefits to business and academia (LANDAUER). At least part of this debate revolves around the issue of whether information technology is actually accepted by its intended users. Without acceptance, discretionary users will seek alternatives, while even dedicated users will likely manifest dissatisfaction and perform in an inefficient manner, negating many, if not all, the presumed benefits of a new technology (EASON). In the present chapter, we will review the treatment of the issue of user acceptance and its corollary-resistance-as it applies to information technology design and implementation. In so doing, we will draw on literature in the distinct areas of innovation diffusion, technology design and implementation, human-computer interaction (HCI) and information systems (IS) where the concept of acceptance has been explicitly tackled.
While much published material addresses issues of design and evaluation of systems to enhance usability, this is not our primary focus, and no attempt is made in the present chapter to produce design guidelines or review user interface evaluation studies. (SHNEIDERMAN offers an excellent introduction.) Instead, the review will concentrate on the determinants of user acceptance and resistance as these concepts have been addressed theoretically and empirically in the scientific literature on information technology design and use. Specifically, the present review will emphasize literature that seeks to indicate how researchers and developers may predict the level of acceptance any information technology will attain.
THE CONCEPT OF ACCEPTANCE
For present purposes, user acceptance is defined as the demonstrable willingness within a user group to employ information technology for the tasks it is designed to support. Thus, the concept is not being applied to situations in which users claim they will employ it without providing evidence of use, or to the use of a technology for purposes unintended by the designers or procurers (e.g., using an Internet connection for personal entertainment in a work situation). Obviously there is a degree of fuzziness here since actual usage is always likely to deviate slightly from idealized, planned usage, but the essence of acceptance theory is that such deviations are not significant; that is, the process of user acceptance of any information technology for intended purposes can be modeled and predicted.
Lack of user acceptance is a significant impediment to the success of new information systems (GOULD ET AL; NICKERSON). In fact, users are often unwilling to use information systems which, if used, would result in impressive performance gains (e.g., ALAVI HENDERSON; SWANSON, 1988). Therefore, user acceptance has been viewed as the pivotal factor in determining the success or failure of any information system project (DAVIS, 1993).
Both practitioners and researchers have a strong interest in understanding why people accept information technology so that better methods for designing, evaluating, and predicting how users will respond to new technology can be developed. Although practically intertwined, design and evaluation are logically independent issues, as noted by DILLON, and it remains an open question in many instances how to translate usability evaluation results to specific interface design improvements. Acceptance theory seeks to extend the traditional model of user-centered design espoused in usability engineering approaches (e.g., NIELSEN) from questions of interface improvement towards predictions of likely usage.
Historically, developers and procurers of new technology may have been able to rely on authority to ensure that technology was used, at least in industrial/organizational contexts, though even the much maligned scientific management of TAYLOR appealed to the motivational power of financial reward in encouraging workers to use the tools designed for them in the way in which they were told. However, current working practices, as well as the leisure and educational applications of information technology, render the search for predictive measures of acceptance more acute. As technological use spreads across society and organizations become more dependent on information technologies, the concern with designing information systems that will be used appropriately grows.
Researchers have studied a range of issues related to this topic, from individual user characteristics such as cognitive style (HUBER) to internal beliefs and their impact on usage behavior (e.g., DESANCTIS; FUERST CHENEY; GINZBERG; IVES ET AL; SRINIVASAN; SWANSON, 1987). Acceptance has been viewed as a function of user involvement in systems development (BARKI HARTWICK; FRANZ ROBEY; HARTWICK BARKI) or as a measure of the political climate in an organization (MARKUS). The type of system development process used (e.g., ALAVI) and the process by which technology is implemented and diffused (e.g., BRANCHEAU WETHERBE; FICHMAN; MOORE BENBASAT) have also been explored. None of these variables can account for sufficient variance in acceptance to enable a researcher, procurer, or designer to predict user acceptance reliably.
The search for a single-variable answer is unlikely to yield an explanation of the level of acceptance any information technology will receive among its intended users. However, there are distinct trends in the literature that suggest the issue is not intractable, and several clusters of determining variables have been proposed. This literature is diverse and emerging from distinct disciplines. Though THOMPSON covered tangentially related work under the heading of "technology utilization" in Vol. 10, this is the first ARIST chapter on information technology acceptance. Thus it is appropriate to tackle this topic in a manner that affords the reader some insight into the range of perspectives that converge on this problem as well as the precise empirical findings to date.
At the highest level, acceptance has been subsumed under the theoretical analysis of innovation diffusion, and it is appropriate to start coverage of the topic here. However, precise analysis of user acceptance has now become a central concern of disciplines studying information technology in particular rather than general technological innovations. This work concentrates more directly on the determinants and importance of user acceptance, rather than the broad issues of social diffusion, and is the major focus of the present chapter. More than one theoretical approach is necessary for our complete understanding of the issues involved, and, for clarity, approaches are treated independently at the outset.
INNOVATION DIFFUSION THEORY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Perhaps the principal theoretical perspective on technology acceptance is innovation diffusion theory, which has been applied at both individual (e.g., ROGERS) and organizational (e.g., ZALTMAN ET AL.,) levels of analysis. Its primary intention is to provide an account of the manner in which any technological innovation moves from the stage of invention to widespread use (or not). Though not concerned with information technology exclusively, diffusion theory offers a conceptual framework for discussing acceptance at a global level.
Diffusion theory posits five characteristics of innovations that affect their diffusion: relative advantage (the extent to which a technology offers improvements over currently available tools), compatibility (its consistency with social practices and norms among its users), complexity (its ease of use or learning), trialability (the opportunity to try an innovation before committing to use it), and observability (the extent to w
User Acceptance of Information Technology:Theories and Models
Andrew Dillon and Michael G. Morris
This item is not the definitive copy. Please use the following citation when referencing this material: Dillon, A. and Morris, M. (1996) User acceptance of new information technology: theories and models. In M. Williams (ed.) Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 31, Medford NJ: Information Today, 3-32.
OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
THE CONCEPT OF ACCEPTANCE
INNOVATION DIFFUSION THEORY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHOLOGY OF USER ACCEPTANCE
The Theory of Reasoned Action and Its Derivatives in User Acceptance
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
Theory of Planned Behavior
Related work
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE DESIGN OF ACCEPTABLE TECHNOLOGY
Socio-Technical Systems Theory of Acceptance
Related theories of acceptance
Human-Computer Interaction and the Usability Engineering Approach to Acceptance
Related work
CONCLUSION
keywords: user acceptance; user-centered design; human-computer interaction; socio-technical systems; technology acceptance; innovation diffusion; usability; utility; acceptability; computers; models.
ABSTRACT
Understanding the factors that influence user acceptance of information technology is of interest both to researchers in a variety of fields as well as procurers of technology for large organizations. The present chapter reviews literature which demonstrates the nature of technological acceptance is mediated by distinct factor groups related to the psychology of the users, the design process of information technology, and the quality of the technology in user terms. It is concluded that current research offers insights that can support the derivation of reliable predictions of user acceptance. However, potentially overlapping theories seem to exist independently of each other and there exists scope for a unifying framework to extend innovation diffusion concepts and systems design models (particularly user-centered design) into a formal theory of user acceptance of information technology.
INTRODUCTION
While millions of dollars have been spent on information technology in the US over the last 30 years, there has been recent debate over the extent to which such expenditures have produced benefits to business and academia (LANDAUER). At least part of this debate revolves around the issue of whether information technology is actually accepted by its intended users. Without acceptance, discretionary users will seek alternatives, while even dedicated users will likely manifest dissatisfaction and perform in an inefficient manner, negating many, if not all, the presumed benefits of a new technology (EASON). In the present chapter, we will review the treatment of the issue of user acceptance and its corollary-resistance-as it applies to information technology design and implementation. In so doing, we will draw on literature in the distinct areas of innovation diffusion, technology design and implementation, human-computer interaction (HCI) and information systems (IS) where the concept of acceptance has been explicitly tackled.
While much published material addresses issues of design and evaluation of systems to enhance usability, this is not our primary focus, and no attempt is made in the present chapter to produce design guidelines or review user interface evaluation studies. (SHNEIDERMAN offers an excellent introduction.) Instead, the review will concentrate on the determinants of user acceptance and resistance as these concepts have been addressed theoretically and empirically in the scientific literature on information technology design and use. Specifically, the present review will emphasize literature that seeks to indicate how researchers and developers may predict the level of acceptance any information technology will attain.
THE CONCEPT OF ACCEPTANCE
For present purposes, user acceptance is defined as the demonstrable willingness within a user group to employ information technology for the tasks it is designed to support. Thus, the concept is not being applied to situations in which users claim they will employ it without providing evidence of use, or to the use of a technology for purposes unintended by the designers or procurers (e.g., using an Internet connection for personal entertainment in a work situation). Obviously there is a degree of fuzziness here since actual usage is always likely to deviate slightly from idealized, planned usage, but the essence of acceptance theory is that such deviations are not significant; that is, the process of user acceptance of any information technology for intended purposes can be modeled and predicted.
Lack of user acceptance is a significant impediment to the success of new information systems (GOULD ET AL; NICKERSON). In fact, users are often unwilling to use information systems which, if used, would result in impressive performance gains (e.g., ALAVI HENDERSON; SWANSON, 1988). Therefore, user acceptance has been viewed as the pivotal factor in determining the success or failure of any information system project (DAVIS, 1993).
Both practitioners and researchers have a strong interest in understanding why people accept information technology so that better methods for designing, evaluating, and predicting how users will respond to new technology can be developed. Although practically intertwined, design and evaluation are logically independent issues, as noted by DILLON, and it remains an open question in many instances how to translate usability evaluation results to specific interface design improvements. Acceptance theory seeks to extend the traditional model of user-centered design espoused in usability engineering approaches (e.g., NIELSEN) from questions of interface improvement towards predictions of likely usage.
Historically, developers and procurers of new technology may have been able to rely on authority to ensure that technology was used, at least in industrial/organizational contexts, though even the much maligned scientific management of TAYLOR appealed to the motivational power of financial reward in encouraging workers to use the tools designed for them in the way in which they were told. However, current working practices, as well as the leisure and educational applications of information technology, render the search for predictive measures of acceptance more acute. As technological use spreads across society and organizations become more dependent on information technologies, the concern with designing information systems that will be used appropriately grows.
Researchers have studied a range of issues related to this topic, from individual user characteristics such as cognitive style (HUBER) to internal beliefs and their impact on usage behavior (e.g., DESANCTIS; FUERST CHENEY; GINZBERG; IVES ET AL; SRINIVASAN; SWANSON, 1987). Acceptance has been viewed as a function of user involvement in systems development (BARKI HARTWICK; FRANZ ROBEY; HARTWICK BARKI) or as a measure of the political climate in an organization (MARKUS). The type of system development process used (e.g., ALAVI) and the process by which technology is implemented and diffused (e.g., BRANCHEAU WETHERBE; FICHMAN; MOORE BENBASAT) have also been explored. None of these variables can account for sufficient variance in acceptance to enable a researcher, procurer, or designer to predict user acceptance reliably.
The search for a single-variable answer is unlikely to yield an explanation of the level of acceptance any information technology will receive among its intended users. However, there are distinct trends in the literature that suggest the issue is not intractable, and several clusters of determining variables have been proposed. This literature is diverse and emerging from distinct disciplines. Though THOMPSON covered tangentially related work under the heading of "technology utilization" in Vol. 10, this is the first ARIST chapter on information technology acceptance. Thus it is appropriate to tackle this topic in a manner that affords the reader some insight into the range of perspectives that converge on this problem as well as the precise empirical findings to date.
At the highest level, acceptance has been subsumed under the theoretical analysis of innovation diffusion, and it is appropriate to start coverage of the topic here. However, precise analysis of user acceptance has now become a central concern of disciplines studying information technology in particular rather than general technological innovations. This work concentrates more directly on the determinants and importance of user acceptance, rather than the broad issues of social diffusion, and is the major focus of the present chapter. More than one theoretical approach is necessary for our complete understanding of the issues involved, and, for clarity, approaches are treated independently at the outset.
INNOVATION DIFFUSION THEORY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Perhaps the principal theoretical perspective on technology acceptance is innovation diffusion theory, which has been applied at both individual (e.g., ROGERS) and organizational (e.g., ZALTMAN ET AL.,) levels of analysis. Its primary intention is to provide an account of the manner in which any technological innovation moves from the stage of invention to widespread use (or not). Though not concerned with information technology exclusively, diffusion theory offers a conceptual framework for discussing acceptance at a global level.
Diffusion theory posits five characteristics of innovations that affect their diffusion: relative advantage (the extent to which a technology offers improvements over currently available tools), compatibility (its consistency with social practices and norms among its users), complexity (its ease of use or learning), trialability (the opportunity to try an innovation before committing to use it), and observability (the extent to w
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