Information Technology Reference
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introduCtion
recognizing the myriad forces involved. Agarwal
and Karahanna (2000) make a similar argument
with respect to the focus on instrumental beliefs.
They argue that a more holistic assessment of
technology adoption is necessary, incorporating
elements more related to intrinsic than extrinsic
motivation. In part, they suggest this is necessary
because of the nature of modern information
technologies. What is also apparent, however, is
the need to examine holistic perceptions in order
to improve our understanding of the phenomenon
of technology acceptance.
The purpose of this study, then, is to build on
existing technology adoption theory in a more
holistic and integrative fashion. Specifically, we
seek to extend the Decomposed Theory of Planned
Behavior (DTPB) (Taylor & Todd, 1995a). This
theory was chosen as it represents a broader per-
spective, yet has enjoyed less ongoing development
than TAM. Our extensions focus on three areas.
First, we seek to explore the linkages among the
independent variables proposed by Taylor and
Todd (1995a). Second, we extend DTPB to be
consistent with TAM. Third, we incorporate the
trait of personal innovativeness with information
technology (Agarwal & Prasad, 1998) into the
model. This is a small step towards broadening
our view from the more instrumental focus that
has guided us to date. Finally, we seek, as have
others (Agarwal, Sambamurthy, & Stair, 2000;
Karahanna, Straub, & Chervany, 1999; Venkatesh
& Davis, 2000) to understand the influence of
experience within our model. While several previ-
ous authors have examined the role of experience
within the context of TAM, to our knowledge,
only one study (Taylor & Todd, 1995b) has done
so within the TPB perspective. Before discussing
the research design in more detail, we turn to the
theoretical background and the research model
to be tested.
Understanding the process by which individuals
adopt and use information technologies in the
workplace and the factors that influence their
decisions about what technologies to use to aid
in the performance of their work tasks remains
an important focus of IS research (Venkatesh,
Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). While our ultimate
interest is often in the achievement of organiza-
tional benefits from technology, the behavior of
the individual represents a critical prerequisite for
achieving these larger goals (Seddon, 1997).
Our review of current research on individual
technology acceptance reveals, among other
things, two overarching themes in the models.
The first theme reflects the importance of pursuing
parsimonious models. Parsimony is an important
element in the development of theory and is one
of the key contributions of the Technology Accep-
tance Model (TAM) (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warsaw,
1989). The second theme reflects the dominance
of what we will refer to as an instrumental view
of technology adoption decisions. Under this per-
spective, the dominant influences on intentions
to use technologies are those involving beliefs
about the degree to which using an information
technology will result in objective improvements
in performance.
The pursuit of parsimony and the focus on in-
strumental determinants have served the technol-
ogy adoption stream well. The relative simplicity
of TAM has made it a fertile ground for extensive
study (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). Similarly, the
focus on an instrumental view of technology
adoption has allowed us to explore this aspect
of the influences on adoption in relatively deep
fashion. On the other hand, both characteristics
have had a limiting effect in other respects. Plouffe,
Hulland, and Vandenbosch (2001) argue that an
exclusive focus on parsimony, while sufficient if
the research goal is prediction, may produce a
narrower understanding of the phenomenon and
perhaps limit our ability to influence it by not
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