Facilitating the application of the technology acceptance model: An experimental evaluation of alternative protocols for technology introduction

With the accelerated pace of change, new information technologies (IT) have to be introduced to organizations with increasing frequency. As enormous amount of investment in financial and human resources are required for each new IT introduction, risk of failure have serious ramifications for the organization's operational, managerial and strategic thrust. Therefore, it is very important to understand what influence people's acceptance or rejection of new information technology.; Several research streams are related to this study. Prior research in Technology Acceptance Model showed that people's computer use can be predicted reasonably well from their intentions to use the technology which, in turn are determined by their perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the technology. Research in computer self-efficacy (CSE) indicates that CSE has significant impacts on individual's outcome expectation and performance. Also, social influence from peers strongly affects individual's attitude and behavioral intention to adopt a new information technology. In addition, behavioral modeling in IS training demonstrates the effects of achieving higher levels of retention and skill transfer.; This dissertation integrates these research streams to better understand and predict, consequently enhance uses' intention to use new IT. This is accomplished by extending the established research tradition in TAM and seeking new ways to increase perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of IT. Four protocols are developed to enhance potential users' perception of new IT in user pre-training technology introduction. A 2 x 2 framework is developed to classify these protocols as Technology Introduction Protocols (TIP) along two dimensions---the 'focus of introduction' dimension and the 'source of influence' dimension. While the 'focus of introduction' centers on "what approaches do we use to deliver the information regarding the new technology", the source of influence dimension concentrates on "who delivers the information regarding the new technology". For the focus dimension, this dissertation includes featured-focused protocols and application-focused protocols. For the source dimension, this dissertation includes expert-centered protocols and peer-supported protocols.; A set of research hypotheses were developed and tested via a laboratory experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of the four alternative protocols. Results of the study indicate that feature- focused and peer-supported approach generates the best results in subjects' computer self-efficacy, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use in most cases. In addition, computer self-efficacy could be an antecedent to both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Results of this study can be applied in training and educational practice to facilitate the acceptance of new technologies by members of organizations.