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teChnology aCCeptanCe
model
easy to use we assume that they will be likely to
submit to the use of the device. We also expect the
perceived ease of use of the technology to impact
the perceived usefulness of the technology.
Determining the factors influencing acceptance
of technologies provides useful insight for entities
both wishing to market a technology or those at-
tempting to successfully adopt a technology. An
understanding of possible barriers to successful
adoption and usage of a technology can enable
parties to put in place techniques that will aid the
process, thus lessening possible financial losses
from an unsuccessful adoption attempt. There
have been significant advances in predicting us-
age and determining factors influencing adoption.
The technology acceptance model, developed by
Davis (1989), has gained much popularity in the
literature due to its success in determining inten-
tion to use and usage of technologies (Venkatesh
& Davis, 2000).
The TAM model is an adaptation of the theory
of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) in-
tended to focus on acceptance and usage behavior
specifically for information systems. TAM pos-
tulates that the two most important determinants
of user acceptance of computing technologies are
ease of use and usefulness (Davis, 1989; Davis,
Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989). The TAM model
looks at these two determinants and their rela-
tionship to behavioral intention to use and actual
system usage. Significant empirical research has
shown positive results in using TAM to predict
acceptance and usage behavior of end users in
several areas. Application areas include end-user
software adoption (Szajna, 1994), e-commerce
(Chen, Gillenson, & Sherrell, 2002; Koufaris,
2002), digital libraries (Hong, Thong, Wong,
& Tam, 2002), telemedicine technologies (Hu,
Chau, Sheng, & Tam, 1999), smart cards (Plouffe,
Hulland, & Vandenbosch, 2001), and building
management systems (Lowry, 2002).
As has been shown in previous TAM studies,
we expect perceived usefulness and perceived ease
of use to positively impact intention to use. If an
individual believes the device to be useful and
Hypothesis 1: The perceived usefulness of the
security technology will have a positive impact an
individual's intention to use the technology.
Hypothesis 2: The perceived difficulty/ease of
use of the security technology will have a posi-
tive impact an individual's intention to use the
technology.
Hypothesis 3: The perceived ease of use of the
security technology will have a positive impact on
the perceived usefulness of the technology.
The current research extends and adapts the
original technology acceptance model to study
security technology implemented as biometric
devices. As the purpose of security technologies
is to protect physical assets and digital informa-
tion, the perception of the importance of securing
digital and physical assets should influence the
beliefs and behaviors of the participants. To study
biometric technology, we need to extend the TAM
model to account for the level of physical inva-
siveness that is not included in the original TAM
model. While we focus on biometric technology,
physical invasiveness is not completely unique to
biometrics but also applicable to other security
technologies such as microchip implantation.
Approaches such as biometric identification and
microchip implantations are technologies that
avoid some of the well-known vulnerabilities
in identification and authentication methods.
Physical invasiveness adds a new dimension to
the acceptance and use of security devices.
This study extends the TAM model with the ad-
dition of constructs for perceived need for security
and privacy as well as perceived invasiveness to
provide a robust model of technology acceptance
for biometrics which could be easily adapted for
any class of security device. These added con-
structs take into account the user's perceptions
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