| This research adapted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) to investigate the role of twelve trust constructs in supply chain agreements. Specifically this project considered the decision to use a new automated order-promising system because this decision is typical of those concerning supply chain agreements. The original TAM posits that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness lead to behavioral intention to use. Later studies show perceived ease of use leads to perceived usefulness that in turn influences behavioral intent to use (Szajna, 1996). This study examined six trust constructs taken from the work of Butler (1991) and Booth (1998), at both the personal and organizational levels. The hypotheses for this study were that integrity trust, reputation trust, competency trust, consistency trust, promise fulfillment trust, and overall trust would positively affect behavioral intention to use a new order-promising system.; Perceived usefulness mediated the relationship between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention to use as expected. Perceived usefulness explained about 80% of the variance in the model. Individually the twelve trust variables had minimal effect. Significant direct effects were discovered for organizational overall trust and personal overall trust. Moderating effects were suspected for these two variables, along with organizational integrity trust and personal integrity trust, but this suspicion was not supported by interaction among variables. High multicollinearity among the trust variables may have been the reason moderation could not be verified.; These findings suggest that overall trust at the personal level and overall trust at the organizational level are the most important trust variables in the decision to use an automated order promising system, and likely the most important in the formation of any supply chain agreements. |
