An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model to Determine the Intention to Use Biometric Devices - End User Computing Challenges and Technologies: Emerging Tools and Applications - page 58

intention to use security devices, more specifically biometrics, across a wide variety of organizational
contexts. Due to the use of physiological characteristics, biometrics present unique adoption concerns.
The extension of the technology acceptance model for biometrics is useful, as biometrics encompass
many of the same adoption concerns as traditional security devices, but include a level of invasiveness
that is obvious to the user. Through the use of vignettes, this study encompasses a systematically varied
set of usage contexts for biometric devices to provide a generalizable view of the factors impacting in-
tention to use over all categories of situational contexts of the device's use. The technology acceptance
model is extended in this study to include constructs for perceived need for privacy, perceived need for
security, and perceived physical invasiveness of biometric devices as factors that influence intention to
use. The model is shown to be a good predictor of intention to use biometric devices and implications
of the results for biometric and security technology acceptance is discussed.

introduCtion

the growing number of threats and the increasing
number of vulnerabilities that exist in traditional
methods of security. A method of identification
that has been growing in popularity is the use of
physical or behavioral traits, such as fingerprints
or DNA, to identify and authenticate individuals.
Certain physical and behavioral traits are unique
to each individual and therefore may provide
methods of identification that are more successful
than traditional approaches. Technological devices
that utilize these unique traits to identify and au-
thenticate an individual are known as biometrics.
These devices have the obvious advantage of not
falling prey to many of the well known vulner-
abilities of traditional methods. Since a biometric
device uses a unique biological trait to distinguish
an individual, it is very difficult and often impos-
sible for the identifier to be lost, stolen, duplicated,
or given away (Liu & Silverman, 2001). This
advantage makes biometric devices an appealing
option for individuals and corporations that wish
to adopt a new security technology.
The technology acceptance model (TAM) has
received wide acceptance for studying the usage
behavior of new technologies (Davis, 1989). We
extend TAM to determine the intention to use
security technologies, specifically biometric de-
vices. We utilize a vignette based survey design
to study the user behavior towards biometrics and
the intention to use these devices. This approach
provides a general overview of individual's per-

Property theft, violent crimes, theft, and misuse
of digital information, terrorism, and threats to
privacy, including identity fraud, in today's digi-
tally connected, mobile society necessitate the
development of tools to protect digital informa-
tion and physical assets by both individuals and
corporate entities. According to findings from the
National Crime Victimization Survey, approxi-
mately 23 million U.S. residents were victims of
crime in 2005, including both property crime and
violent criminal acts (Bureau of Justice, 2005).
The 2006 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security
Survey reported that 52% of their participants
reported unauthorized computer use. Out of the
respondents that were willing or could quantify
the financial implications, the amount of losses
reported exceeded $52 million (Gordon, Loeb,
Lucyshyn, & Richardson, 2006). The Federal
Trade Commission reported 246,035 identity theft
complaints in 2006 which accounted for 36% of
all FTC complaints for the year (Federal Trade
Commission, 2007). The most common form of
identity theft reported was credit card fraud which
accounted for 25% of the complaints, followed by
phone or utilities fraud, bank fraud, and employ-
ment fraud (Federal Trade Commission, 2007).
The need to secure both digital and physical
assets is apparent from these statistics, yet it is
often difficult for technology to keep pace with