Internet adoption by the elderly: employing IS technology acceptance theories for understanding the age-related digital divide

Abstract

Information technology (IT) allows members of the growing elderly population to remain independent longer. However, while technology becomes more and more pervasive, an age-related underutilisation of IT remains observable. For instance, elderly people (65 years of age and older) are significantly less likely to use the Internet than the average population (see, for instance, European Commission, 2011). This age-related digital divide prevents many elderly people from using IT to enhance their quality of life through tools, such as Internet-based service delivery. Despite the significance of this phenomenon, the information systems (IS) literature lacks a comprehensive consideration and explanation of technology acceptance in general and more specifically, Internet adoption by the elderly. This paper thus studies the intentions of the elderly with regard to Internet use and identifies important influencing factors. Four alternative models based on technology acceptance theory are tested in the context of comprehensive survey data. As a result, a model that explains as much as 84% of the variance in technology adoption among the elderly is developed. We discuss the contribution of our analyses to the research on Internet adoption (and IT adoption in general) by the elderly, on the digital divide, and on technology acceptance and identify potentially effective paths for future research and theoretical development.

A conceptual framework concerning education as factor of elders’ acceptance for smart assistive technologies

“…-"Performance Expectancy" is the most moderated factor by education then "Facilitating conditions", "Social influence" and "Design issues" being neutral to education. (Niehaves & Plattfaut, 2014) Aim: Internet adoption by the elderly (65+) based on modified UTAUT model. Methods: Literature review survey +interviews (150 resp.)…”

“…Most of the analysed papers conclude that the level of education has a significant influence on the acceptance of digital technology by the elderly: persons with higher education HE are 3.1 times more likely to use a PC as those with a lower educational level (Heart & Kalderon, 2013), HE senior using Internet have rates exceeding the general population (Fischer, David, & et al, 2014), (Nayak, Priest, & White, 2010) and (Niehaves & Plattfaut, 2014). (Berry, 2011) even declares that the education level should be incorporated as a map of reasons for digital exclusion.…”

“…(Niehaves & Plattfaut, 2014) mentions that from the 113 identified relevant empirical studies concerning elders' adoption of digital technologies based on UTAUT model, only 8% use education as variable.…”

Determinants of e-resource usage by open distance learning university students

“…However, unlike those in conventional universities who share a more homogeneous age range, ODL students often comprise of working adults with more diverse age groups. In such cases, the age factor has been identified as a barrier to technology adoption, whereby older individuals are often less receptive towards technology compared to younger persons who place a higher emphasis on the extrinsic values of technology uptake (Claar, Dias and Shields 2014;Niehaves and Plattfaut 2014;van Deursen and van Dijk 2014). Hence, it is hypothesised that older (young) individuals may be less (more) likely to indulge in e-resource usage.…”

Older Adults Use of Online Health Information - Do They Even Try?

“…Moreover, given our focus on individuals' health factors, we neglected other variables that might account for health information usage. In this respect, further research could examine the influence of individual IT-related factors, such as computer selfefficacy, computer anxiety, or Personal Innovativeness in IT, which have been found to be important factors of older adults' IT behavior [26,35,65,66]. Organizational research revolving around exploratory IT behavior has shown that environmental factors can stimulate employees' attempts to find novel purposes for the target system.…”