No abstract

Extant explanations of why users behave in particular ways toward information technologies have tended to focus predominantly on instrumental beliefs as drivers of individual usage intentions. Prior work in individual psychology, however, suggests that holistic experiences with technology as captured in constructs such as enjoyment and flow are potentially important explanatory variables in technology acceptance theories. In this paper, we describe a multidimensional construct labeled cognitive absorption and defined as a state of deep involvement with software. Cognitive absorption, theorized as 'Cynthia Beath was the accepting senior editor for this paper. being exhibited through the five dimensions of temporal dissociation, focused immersion, heightened enjoyment, control, and curiosity, is posited to be a proximal antecedent of two important beliefs about technology use: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. In addition, we propose that the individual traits of playfulness and personal innovativeness are important determinants of cognitive absorption. Based on the conceptual definition of this construct, operational measures for each dimension are developed. Using the World Wide Web as the target technology, scale validation indicates that the operational measures have acceptable psychometric properties and confirmatory factor analysis supports the proposed multi-dimensional structure. Structural equation analysis provides evidence for the theorized nomological net of cognitive absorption. Theoretical and practical implications are offered.

No abstract

Prior research has examined age, gender, experience, and voluntariness as the main moderators of beliefs on technology acceptance. This paper extends this line of research beyond these demographic and situational variables. Motivated by research that suggests that behavioral models do not universally hold across cultures, the paper identifies espoused national cultural values as an important set of individual difference moderators in technology acceptance. Building on research in psychological anthropology and cultural psychology that assesses cultural traits by personality tests at the

Abstract-An e-vendor's website inseparably embodies an interaction with the vendor and an interaction with the IT website interface. Accordingly, research has shown two sets of unrelated usage antecedents by customers: 1) customer trust in the e-vendor and 2) customer assessments of the IT itself, specifically the perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use of the website as depicted in the technology acceptance model (TAM). Research suggests, however, that the degree and impact of trust, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use change with experience.Using existing, validated scales, this study describes a free-simulation experiment that compares the degree and relative importance of customer trust in an e-vendor vis-à-vis TAM constructs of the website, between potential (i.e., new) customers and repeat (i.e., experienced) ones. The study found that repeat customers trusted the e-vendor more, perceived the website to be more useful and easier to use, and were more inclined to purchase from it. The data also show that while repeat customers' purchase intentions were influenced by both their trust in the e-vendor and their perception that the website was useful, potential customers were not influenced by perceived usefulness, but only by their trust in the e-vendor. Implications of this apparent trust-barrier and guidelines for practice are discussed.Index Terms-Disposition to trust, e-commerce, familiarity, perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), trust, technology acceptance model (TAM).