THE ROLE OF AFFECT IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH - Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations - page 302

different aspects, affective reaction variables have significant influence on cognitive reaction vari-
ables. Similar to the principle of mood-congruence, there is likely to be a natural propensity to
overlook the affective aspects of an activity by attributing instrumental value (Agarwal and
Karahanna, 2000). Users may rationalize that they are “voluntarily spending a lot of time on this
activity and enjoying it, therefore, it must be useful” (Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000, p. 676).
Venkatesh et al. (2002) also hypothesized and lately confirmed that intrinsic motivation increases
the deliberation and thoroughness of cognitive processing and leads to enhanced perceptions of
extrinsic motivation conceptualized as perceived usefulness. Similarly, Yi and Hwang (2003)
tested and confirmed the effects of enjoyment on perceived usefulness. Perceived enjoyment also
has a very strong effect on perceived ease of use. Actually researchers argued that it may be the
strongest antecedent of perceived ease of use (Sun and Zhang, 2004). Computer anxiety is also
confirmed to negatively influence PU (Brosnan, 1999). Generally speaking, less anxious computer
users are more likely to perceive IT to be useful (Brosnan, 1999).
There are, however, some exceptions. Karahanna et al.'s research (2002) attributed the insignifi-
cant influence of computer anxiety on PU to users' experience, which makes the computer anxiety
“not a significant consideration in their evaluation” (p. 337). The insignificant link between com-
puter anxiety and computer self-efficacy in Rozell and Gardner's research (2000) may be due to
the complexity of the proposed model used in their studies.
Affective reactions also influence PEOU. All articles (Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000; Sun and
Zhang, 2004; Venkatesh, 2000; Venkatesh et al., 2002; Yi and Hwang, 2003) that discussed the
effects of affective reaction variables on PEOU also empirically confirmed this relationship (Table
14.7). Positive affective reactions encourage more mental resources to be allocated to the task or to
the interaction with the technologies of interest. High arousal, usually with “temporal dissocia-
tion,” as suggested in flow theory, makes individuals perceive themselves as possessing ample time
to complete a task, which in turn reduces the perception of workload associated with using the
technologies (Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000). The above discussion indicates that both dimen-
sions of affect, arousal and valence, lead to perceived ease of use. In Venkatesh et al.'s research
(Venkatesh et al., 2002), intrinsic motivation is supposed to make individuals “underestimate” the
difficulty associated with using the technologies since they enjoy the process itself and do not per-
ceive it to be arduous compared to those people with less intrinsic motivation. Computer anxiety,
negative affective state, also has influence on PEOU (Brosnan, 1999; Hackbarth et al., 2003;
Venkatesh, 2000). Users with lower levels of computer anxiety tend to regard IT as being easier to
use. Resource allocation theory argues that lower levels of computer anxiety can also be seen as
a result of anxiety reduction by directing some of the attentional resources to an off-task activity,
which usually increases the effort required to accomplish tasks (high PEOU) (Venkatesh, 2000).
Affective reaction factors are also related to CSE. Although not studied frequently, the impacts
of affective reaction factors such as fun (Brosnan, 1999) and enjoyment (Yi and Hwang, 2003) on
CSE are empirically found to be significant. Computer anxiety is also confirmed to have signifi-
cant impacts on CSE (Coffin and MacIntyre, 1999; Durndell and Haag, 2002; Thatcher and
Perrewe, 2002). Bandura's theory of self-efficacy argues that self-efficacy beliefs are strength-
ened by anxiety reduction (Bandura, 1977).
It is noteworthy that the literature review yields an impression that PEOU is more related to
affect than PU. While PU is generally viewed as an extrinsic motivation, PEOU, together with
affective factors, is viewed as an intrinsic motivation (Atkinson and Kydd, 1997). PEOU and affec-
tive reaction factors—e.g., enjoyment—show similar patterns that are different from that of PU.
Specifically, Atkinson and Kydd's research (1997) indicated that intrinsic motivation variables,
PEOU and enjoyment, are important in predicting use of the Web for entertainment purposes,