Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology

By Fred D. Davis. 1989

Valid measurement scales for predicting user acceptance of computers are in short supply. Most subjective measures used in practice are unvalidated, and their relationship to system usage is unknown. The present research develops and validates new scales for two specific variables, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which are hypothesized to be fundamental determinants of user acceptance. Definitions of these two variables were used to develop scale items that were pretested for content validity and then tested for reliability and construct validity in two studies involving a total of 152 users and four application programs. The measures were refined and streamlined, resulting in two six-item scales with reliabilities of .98 for usefulness and .94 for ease of use. The scales exhibited hgih convergent, discriminant, and factorial validity. Perceived usefulness was significnatly correlated with both self-reported current usage r = .63, Study 1) and self-predicted future usage r = .85, Study 2). Perceived ease of use was also significantly correlated with current usage r = .45, Study 1) and future usage r = .59, Study 2). In both studies, usefulness had a signficnatly greater correaltion with usage behavior than did ease of use. Regression analyses suggest that perceived ease of use may actually be a causal antecdent to perceived usefulness, as opposed to a parallel, direct determinant of system usage. Implications are drawn for future research on user acceptance.

Subfields: Human-Computer Interaction, Social Sciences & Humanities

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Citations in the corpus

SELFEXPLAIN: A Self-Explaining Architecture for Neural Text Classifiers (2021, background): “considered to be an important criteria for acceptance of a model (Davis, 1989).”
But Who Protects the Moderators? The Case of Crowdsourced Image Moderation (2018, methodology): “We use an extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw 1989; Venkatesh and Davis 2000) to measure worker perceived ease of use (PEOU) and usefulness (PU) of our blurring.”
Automated rationale generation: a technique for explainable AI and its effects on human perceptions (2019, background): “Established fields such as information systems enjoy a robust array of technology acceptance models such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [14] and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model (UTAUT) [39]”
Experience Value Cocreation on Destination Online Platforms (2018, background): “According to the technology acceptance model (TAM), usefulness and ease of use are two factors that influence the adoption of technological innovation (Davis 1989).”
Mobile internet acceptance in Korea (2005, background): “Davis, who first introduced the TAM, argued that the research regarding behavioral intention for future technology acceptance needs to address how other constructs influence usefulness, ease of use and user acceptance ( Davis, 1989”
E-government success factors: Mapping practical tools to theoretical foundations (2005, background): “In making any kind of decision, including those in IT projects, public managers must take into account a large number of restrictive laws and regulations.34 For example, government agencies must often contend with one-year budget cycles.”
The Use of the UTAUT Model in the Adoption of E-Government Services in Kuwait (2008, background): “Many prior studies are based mainly on technology acceptance theories and models such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) [19], the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) [1], the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [15], the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) [31] and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Us”
Generative artificial intelligence in marketing: Applications, opportunities, challenges, and research agenda (2023, methodology): “First, many popular GAI tools such as ChatGPT perform well in terms of perceived ease of use, which is a major factor in a technology adoption decision (Davis, 1989).”
Student attitudes towards and use of ICT in course study, work and social activity: A technology acceptance model approach (2012, background): “Both these two constructs achieved a reliability measure of Cronbach’s Alpha (Cronbach, 1951) greater than 0.90 in two successive studies (Davis, 1989), suggesting high internal reliability within each scale.”
A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information Systems Research (2006, background): “One common example is the extensive work done on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by Davis (1989) and colleagues (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989; Venkatesh & Davis, 1996, 2000).”