Elena Karahanna

Trust and TAM in online shopping: an integrated model

A separate and distinct interaction with both the actual e-vendor and with its IT Web site interface is at the heart of online shopping. Previous research has established, accordingly, that online purchase intentions are the product of both consumer assessments of the IT itself-specifically its perceived usefulness and ease-of-use (TAM)-and trust in the e-vendor. But these perspectives have been examined independently by IS researchers. Integrating these two perspectives and examining the factors that build online trust in an environment that lacks the typical human interaction that often leads to trust in other circumstances advances our understanding of these constructs and their linkages to behavior. n nOur research on experienced repeat online shoppers shows that consumer trust is as important to online commerce as the widely accepted TAM use-antecedents, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Together these variable sets explain a considerable proportion of variance in intended behavior. The study also provides evidence that online trust is built through (1) a belief that the vendor has nothing to gain by cheating, (2) a belief that there are safety mechanisms built into the Web site, and (3) by having a typical interface, (4) one that is, moreover, easy to use.

Time flies when you're having fun: cognitive absorption and beliefs about information technology usage 1

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 multi-dimensional construct labeled cognitive absorption and defined as a state of deep involvement with software. Cognitive absorption, theorized as being exhibited through the five dimensions of n ntemporal 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

Information technology adoption across time: a cross-sectional comparison of pre-adoption and post-adoption beliefs

The process of information technology adoption and use is critical to deriving the benefits of information technology. Yet from a conceptual standpoint, few empirical studies have made a distinction between individuals pre-adoption and post-adoption (continued use) beliefs and attitudes. This distinction is crucial in understanding and managing this process over time. The current study combines innovation diffusion and attitude theories in a theoretical framework to examine differences in pre-adoption and post-adoption beliefs and attitudes. The examination of Windows technology in a single organization indicates that users and potential adopters of information technology differ on their determinants of behavioral intention, attitude, and subjective norm. Potential adopter intention to adopt is solely determined by normative pressures, whereas user intention is solely determined by attitude. In addition, potential adopters base their attitude on a richer set of innovation characteristics than users. Whereas pre-adoption attitude is based on perceptions of usefulness, ease-of-use, result demonstrability, visibility, and trialability, post-adoption attitude is only based on instrumentality beliefs of usefulness and perceptions of image enhancements.

The psychological origins of perceived usefulness and ease-of-use

Abstract The technology acceptance model has identified the role of the perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use constructs in the information technology adoption process. Whereas past research has been valuable in explaining how such beliefs lead to system use, it has not explored how and why these beliefs develop. To extend the theory of technology acceptance, this paper offers an explanation for the psychological origins of usefulness and ease-of-use. Based on social presence theory, social influence theory, and Triandis modifications to the theory of reasoned action, causal relationships between the proposed antecedents and perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use are examined. To test the theory, data were gathered from 100 users of an E-mail system and tested using LISREL . Findings indicate that system use is affected by perceptions of the mediums usefulness which are, in turn, affected by perceptions of the ease-of-use of the medium, the degree of social influence exerted by supervisors, and perceptions of the social presence of the medium. Accessibility of the medium influences perceptions of the ease-of-use of the medium. Surprisingly, facilitating conditions such as the availability of training and support for the use of information technology had no impact on perceptions of ease-of-use or usefulness of E-mail.

The role of espoused national cultural values in technology acceptance

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 individual level of analysis, we argue that individuals espouse national cultural values to differing degrees. These espoused national cultural values of masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance are incorporated into an extended model of technology acceptance as moderators. We conducted two studies to test our model. Results indicated that, as hypothesized, social norms are stronger determinants of intended behavior for individuals who espouse feminine and high uncertainty avoidance cultural values. Contrary to expectations, espoused masculinity/femininity values did not moderate the relationship between perceived usefulness and behavioral intention but, as expected, did moderate the relationship between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention.

Inexperience and experience with online stores: the importance of TAM and trust

An e-vendors 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-a-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.

Toward a Theory-Based Measurement of Culture

In reviewing the history of the conceptualization and measurement of “culture,†one quickly realizes that there is wide-ranging and contradictory scholarly opinion about which values, norms, and beliefs should be measured to represent the concept of “culture.†We explore an alternate theory-based view of culture via social identity theory (SIT), which suggests that each individual is influenced by plethora of cultures and sub-cultures–some ethnic, some national, and some organizational. In IS research, the culture of subjects and respondents is problematic because it is typically an overly simplistic categorization. IS research nearly always assumes that an individual living in a particular place and time belongs to a single “culture,†e.g., someone living in Egypt is automatically classified as being a member of the Egyptian culture, or, more broadly, the Arab culture. This dearth of clear concepts and measures for “culture†may explain why cross-cultural research has been so exceedingly difficult to conduct. It may also explain why it has been hard to develop and refine theories. Moreover, it may give insight into why reasonable explained variance in predictive models has not been higher. Finally, it is very possible that much cross-cultural business research could be rightly accused of advancing an “ecological fallacy†by not recognizing the individual makeup of persons with respect to culture. Using SIT (or other theory bases) as grounding for cultural research programs implies the use of certain methodological approaches. Each study would have to establish the salient “cultures†in each individual’s background and include these different “cultures†as independent variables in positivist research. In qualitative research, there would need to be an equally rigorous assessment of the cultural identifiers of each individual.

Reconceptualizing compatability beliefs in technology acceptance research

Theoretical and empirical research in technology acceptance, while acknowledging the importance of individual beliefs about the compatibility of a technology, has produced equivocal results. This study focuses on further conceptual development of this important belief in technology acceptance. Unlike much prior research that has focused on only a limited aspect of compatibility, we provide a more comprehensive conceptual definition that disaggregates the content of compatibility into four distinct and separable constructs: compatibility with preferred work style, compatibility with existing work practices, compatibility with prior experience, and compatibility with values. We suggest that the form of the multidimensional compatibility construct is best modeled as a multivariate structural model. Based on their conceptual definitions, we develop operational measures for the four compatibility variables. We assess the nomological validity of our conceptualization by situating it within the technology acceptance model. In contrast to prior research, which has regarded beliefs of compatibility as an independent antecedent of technology acceptance outcomes, we posit causal linkages not only among the four compatibility beliefs, but also between compatibility beliefs and usefulness, and ease of use. We test our theoretical model with a field sample of 278 users of a customer relationship management system in the context of a large bank. Scale validation indicates that the operational measures of compatibility developed in this study have acceptable psychometric properties, which support the existence of four distinct constructs. Results largely support the theorized relationships.

Levels of Culture and Individual Behavior: An Investigative Perspective

In an organizational setting, national culture is not the only type of culture that influences managerial and work behavior. Rather, behavior is influenced by different levels of culture ranging from the supranational (regional, ethnic, religious, linguistic) level through the national, professional, and organizational levels to the group level. The objective of this study is to integrate these different levels of culture by explicitly recognizing that individuals’ workplace behavior is a function of all different cultures simultaneously. It is theorized that the relative influence of the different levels of culture on individual behavior varies depending on the nature of the behavior under investigation. Thus, for behaviors that include a strong social component or include terminal and moral values, supranational and national cultures might have a predominant effect. For behaviors with a strong task component or for those involving competence values or practices, organizational and professional cultures may dominate. These propositions are illustrated with examples from the IS field. This paper is a conceptual study and therefore extends theory and the current understanding of how culture is examined by not only explicitly recognizing that behaviors are simultaneously influenced by multiple levels of culture but by also specifying conditions under which certain levels of culture dominate. Such an approach has the potential to inform researchers and practitioners about the generalizability or universality of theories and techniques across national, organizational, and professional borders.

Shackled to the status quo: the inhibiting effects of incumbent system habit, switching costs, and inertia on new system acceptance

Given that adoption of a new system often implies fully or partly replacing an incumbent system, resistance is often manifested as failure of a user to switch from an incumbent technology to a newly introduced one. Thus, a potential source of resistance to adopting a new system lies in the use of an incumbent system. Using the status quo bias and habit literatures as theoretical lenses, the study explains how use of an incumbent system negatively impacts new system perceptions and usage intentions. We argue that habitual use of an incumbent system, rationalization due to perceived transition costs, and psychological commitment due to perceived sunk costs all encourage development of inertia. Inertia in turn fully mediates the impact of these incumbent system constructs on constructs related to acceptance of the new system via psychological commitment based on cognitive consistency and by increasing the importance of normative pressures. Specifically, we hypothesize that inertia leads to decreased perceptions of the ease of use and relative advantage of a newly introduced system and has a negative impact on intentions to use the new system, above and beyond its impact through perceptions. Finally, we hypothesize that inertia moderates the relationship between subjective norm and intention, such that normative pressures to use a new system become more important in the presence of inertia. Empirical results largely support the hypothesized relationships showing the inhibiting effect of incumbent-system habit, transition and sunk costs, and inertia on acceptance of a new system. Our study thus extends theoretical understanding of the role of incumbent system constructs such as habit and inertia in technology acceptance, and lays the foundations for further study of the interplay between perceptions and cognition with respect to the incumbent system and those with respect to a new system.