Ask me no questions: increasing empirical evidence for a qualitative approach to technology acceptance

Abstract

The Technology Acceptance Model and its derivatives position Perceived Ease of Use, sometimes mediated by Perceived Usefulness, as the primary indicator of an intention to adopt. However, an initial study cast doubt on such a causal relationship: poor ease-of-use scores using a standard instrument did not necessarily correspond to poor usefulness comments from users. We follow up in this paper to explore reproducibility and generalizability. Using secondary review of results from testing and validation activities, we find confirmation that the post hoc measurement of Perceived Ease of Use is less important to participants than their concern for task-oriented usefulness. An ambivalent relationship obtains, therefore, between quantitative measures of Perceived Ease of Use and qualitative review of comments on Perceived Usefulness across three sites in Italy, Spain and the UK. Participants seem to prioritize their professional responsibilities and focus on how the technology under test might support them in their role. We therefore offer an explanation based on psychological theories of work and suggest a controlled follow-on study exploring the narrative content of technology acceptance.

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ORCID for Brian Pickering: orcid.org/0000-0002-6815-2938

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