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H4: Computer self-efficacy will exert a positive
influence on affect toward using an information
technology.
H6: Social factors will exert a positive influ-
ence on perceived usefulness of an information
technology.
There are possible influences for social fac-
tors beyond a direct effect on intentions, as well.
Bandura (1997) argues that social persuasion is
an important source of information that can in-
fluence the formation of self-efficacy judgments
and expectations of outcomes. Encouragement
by others in the reference group to use technol-
ogy may carry with it a sense of encouragement
regarding one's skills; in other words, you should
use this technology
and you are capable of it
.
Even if unspoken, this evaluation is implied; after
all, why would a friend or colleague encourage
you to do something wholly outside your capa-
bilities? To the extent that this skills evaluation
is present, social factors would be expected to
influence self-efficacy. Compeau and Higgins
(1995b) observed a positive influence of social
persuasion on self-efficacy. These observations
lead to the following hypothesis:
Similarly, we anticipate that perceptions about
ease of use of a technology could be influenced
by social factors, especially in the absence of
direct experience. In a training environment, for
example, communication cues from the instruc-
tor regarding the relative ease (or difficulty) of
learning to become proficient with the technology
could influence initial perceptions on the part of
the individual. This leads us to propose that:
H7: Social factors will exert a positive influ-
ence on perceived ease of use of an information
technology.
Agarwal et al. (2000) argued for a direct in-
fluence of personal innovativeness on computer
self-efficacy. Their rationale was that, consistent
with the original formulation of social cognitive
theory (Bandura, 1986), individual personality
exerts an indirect influence on performance,
through self-efficacy. Their empirical test found
support for a positive influence of PIIT on gen-
eral computer self-efficacy. The corresponding
hypothesis is:
H5: Social factors will exert a positive influence
on computer self-efficacy.
Social factors also influence perceived useful-
ness. Klein and Sorra (1996) argue that social
influence operates through either a process of
compliance or one of internalization. Compliance
involves acting as the others desire because of
perceived pressure. Internalization involves tak-
ing on the views of the other for oneself. Thus,
an individual who feels persuaded to use technol-
ogy by his or her reference group attributes the
persuasion to a rational judgment on the part of
the group; the group is encouraging the use of the
technology because they see it as useful. Given
that, the individual also decides that the technol-
ogy is useful. Thus, through a process of inter-
nalization, the social factors result in increased
perceptions of perceived usefulness.
H8: Personal innovativeness will exert a positive
influence on computer self-efficacy.
We also anticipate that personal innovative-
ness will influence perceived ease of use. If I am
someone who is more innovative with respect to
technology use, I will tend to view new technolo-
gies as being easier to use, above and beyond any
indirect influence through self-efficacy. This is
supported by learning theory (Ford, Smith, Weiss-
bein, Gully, & Salas, 1998) that shows the ability
to generalize skills across related domains. This
hypothesis has also been verified in research based
on TAM (Lu, Yao, & Yu, 2005; Yi, Fiedler, &
Park, 2006). Since the underlying software struc-
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