The intellectual development of the technology acceptance model: A co-citation analysis

The goal of this paper is to present a visual mapping of intellectual structure in two-dimensions and to identify the subfields of the technology acceptance model through co-citation analysis. All the citation documents are included in the ISI Web of Knowledge database between 1989 and 2006. By using a sequence of statistical analyses including factor analysis, multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis, we identified three main trends: task-related systems, e-commerce systems, and hedonic systems. The findings yielded managerial implications for both academic and practical issues.     

Network effects in technology acceptance: Laboratory experimental evidence

This research analyzes network effects in technology acceptance. The hypothesis is that the size of the user network affects technology acceptance. Even today, empirical measurement of network effects is challenging and there is a lack of experimental evidence. In order to investigate and measure the relationship between network size (number of adopters) and user acceptance, technology acceptance research needs to broaden its scope and approaches. To overcome this limitation we reproduce a particular type of technology acceptance process in a laboratory experiment, controlling for user network size and testing its influence on user perceptions and, ultimately, on acceptance decisions. We measured user perceptions and analyzed the data using consolidated and tested technology acceptance models. The results confirm our hypothesis, showing a significant effect of user network size on user perceptions. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our approach and findings.     

Investigating effectiveness and user acceptance of semantic social tagging for knowledge sharing

Social tagging systems enable users to assign arbitrary tags to various digital resources. However, they face vague-meaning problems when users retrieve or present resources with the keyword-based tags. In order to solve these problems, this study takes advantage of Semantic Web technology and the topological characteristics of knowledge maps to develop a system that comprises a semantic tagging mechanism and triple-pattern and visual searching mechanisms. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and user acceptance of these mechanisms in a knowledge sharing context. The results show that the semantic social tagging system is more effective than a keyword-based system. The visualized knowledge map helps users capture an overview of the knowledge domain, reduce cognitive effort for the search, and obtain more enjoyment. Traditional keyword tagging with a keyword search still has the advantage of ease of use and the users had higher intention to use it. This study also proposes directions for future development of semantic social tagging systems.     

An extension of the technology acceptance model in the big data analytics system implementation environment

Research on the adoption of systems for big data analytics has drawn enormous attention in Information Systems research. This study extends big data analytics adoption research by examining the effects of system characteristics on the attitude of managers towards the usage of big data analytics systems. A research model has been proposed in this study based on an extensive review of literature pertaining to the Technology Acceptance Model, with further validation by a survey of 150 big data analytics users. Results of this survey confirm that characteristics of the big data analytics system have significant direct and indirect effects on belief in the benefits of big data analytics systems and perceived usefulness, attitude and adoption. Moreover, there are mediation effects that exist among the system characteristics, benefits of big data analytics systems, perceived usefulness and the attitude towards using big data analytics system. This study expands the existing body of knowledge on the adoption of big data analytics systems, and benefits big data analytics providers and vendors while helping in the formulation of their business models.     

社会规范对技术接受行为的影响机制研究

人们为什么会接受或拒绝某项信息技术呢?在先前提出的众多预测或解释变量中,社会规范是经常被提及的一类重要影响因素。针对目前相关研究暴露出来的混淆性、片面性、以及实证结论不一等问题,本文基于信息技术应用的特定背景,从界定社会规范的两种不同成分,即强制成分和内化成分入手,阐明了它们对用户外显行为和心理感知的两种影响机制———强制机制和内化机制,所提假设在两个实证调查案例中得到支持。     

Determinants of professionally autonomous end user acceptance in an enterprise resource planning system environment

To fully exploit the capabilities of complex technologies, businesses must deliberately foster technology acceptance by end users. This deliberate activity must recognize the complexity of factors that influence individuals’ perceptions, intentions, and usage of information technology. This study surveyed 66 professionally autonomous end users and gathered information on their perceptions related to several technology acceptance factors for a newly installed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system component. Study analyses focused on end user perceptions of ERP component usefulness, their intention to use the system, and self-reported usage of a system component. Valuable insights into the perceptions of professional end users toward a component of a complex technology were gained. Recommendations based upon the results of this study include: (a) clearly describe, early in the implementation process, an overall picture of the ERP system flow and visually show end users how the components they use “fit” into the whole system; (b) convert ERP-related “tech talk” to common end user language by either clear explanation of unique terms or associations of new terms to ones commonly understood by end users, and (c) provide adequate resources (financial, physical, human, etc.) to ensure that end users have access to timely support.     

A meta-analysis of the impact of trust on technology acceptance model: Investigation of moderating influence of subject and context type

The technology acceptance model (TAM) has proven to be one of the most powerful theories to explain user's technology adoption. Among many external variables incorporated into TAM, trust is considered to be an important factor that influences the user's online behavior, especially in the e-commerce context. This study conducts a meta-analysis based on the previous TAM studies in an attempt to make well-grounded statements on the role of trust. Furthermore, the paper examines those TAM studies by considering moderating effects of subject type (students or non-students) and context type (commercial or non-commercial). Results indicate a significant influence of trust on TAM constructs. Moderating effects are found for most pair-wise relationships. The findings yield implications for both researchers and service providers.     

High technology start-up innovation and the role of guanxi: an explorative study in China from an institutional perspective

This study explores the influences of institutions on high technology start-up innovation in China by taking into account both formal and informal institutions. Our research settings are two high technology parks in Wuxi and Shanghai, respectively. Drawing upon the theoretical lenses of North’s institutional framework and the guanxi literature, we propose an integrative framework to help understand the factors influencing high technology start-up innovation in China. By contrasting different formal institutional settings in Wuxi and Shanghai (in particular, local government interventions), our study shows the positive effect played by local government on innovation and the overarching influence of guanxi. Based on a qualitative research method, nine in-depth semi-structured interviews with the CEOs of high technology start-ups were conducted between August 2009 and September 2010. Additional interviews with government officials and managers of government-owned venture capital funds were performed. We offer evidence to support the dual influence of formal and informal institutions (guanxi). International guanxi triggers government intervention, which in turn facilitates the acquisition of local guanxi. As a multidimensional construct, guanxi has a positive influence on high technology start-up innovation. We contribute to the understanding of the effect of institutions on high technology start-up innovation by disentangling formal and informal institutions. Furthermore, government intervention may have a positive impact on high technology start-up innovation in China, which might shed some light on development in other emerging economies.     

Determinants of proactive and reactive technology licensing: A contingency perspective

Industrial firms increasingly attempt to license their technologies apart from applying them in their own products. Because of the imperfections in technology markets, an active approach towards technology licensing does not automatically result in licensing transactions. To balance prior research, which has focused on licensing transactions as the outcome of licensing intentions, we take a contingency view to analyze how characteristics of a firm's innovation ecosystem determine different strategic types of licensing. Specifically, we distinguish proactive licensing, which refers to identifying recipients for technology transactions, and reactive licensing, which relates to offering licenses to infringers of a firm's intellectual property. Survey data show that environmental antecedents concerning appropriability, i.e., patent protection and technological turbulence, and determinants regarding technology markets, i.e., transaction frequency and competitive intensity, have different effects on proactive and reactive licensing. On this basis, the article has major implications for research into technology licensing, markets for technology, and open innovation.     

The role of academic technology transfer organizations in improving industry science links

The transfer of scientific and technological know-how into valuable economic activity has become a high priority on many policy agendas. Industry Science Links (ISLs) are an important dimension of this policy orientation. Over the last decades, multiple insights have been gained (both theoretical and empirical) as to how “effective” ISLs can be fostered through the design and the development of university-based technology transfer organizations (TTOs). In this paper, we document and analyze the evolution of “effective” university-based technology transfer mechanisms. We describe how decentralized organizational approaches and incentives that stimulate the active involvement of the research groups in the exploitation of their research findings might be combined with specialized central services offering intellectual property management and spin-off support. More particularly, we analyze how the creation of:

(1)

an appropriate balance between centralization and decentralization within academia;

(2)

the design of appropriate incentive structures for academic research groups;

(3)

the implementation of appropriate decision and monitoring processes within the TTO

has brought about critical elements in fostering an “effective” commercialization of the academic science base.     

Technology transfer revisited from the perspective of the knowledge-based economy

This contribution proposes a revised framework for understanding and analyzing the process of technology transfer in the perspective of the knowledge-based economy (KBE). The underlying hypothesis is that the context of the knowledge-based economy introduces a major shift in the way technology transfer is conceived. The traditional model of technology transfer was based on the vision of technology moving from one well-defined economic unit to another well-defined unit. We suggest that in the new perspective technology transfer is essentially considered as a specific knowledge-transfer process that depends on the ways firms and other institutions manage knowledge, in particular the co-evolution of their absorptive capabilities and their knowledge-transmission strategies. To support the theoretical analysis, we analyze the business case of Nortel Networks over the past 50 years.     

Creative adaptation: the role of new technology based firms in Portugal

This paper reviews two recent research studies on Portuguese New Technology Based Firms (NTBFs). Attention is given to the role and contribution of NTBFs to innovation. The main argument is that, by and large, NTBFs are less concerned with the introduction of major innovations and more with creative adaptive improvements to products and services based upon new technologies first introduced elsewhere. The empirical research found that Portuguese NTBFs are a recent phenomenon associated with diffusion of Electronics and Information Technologies (EIT) during the late 1980s. They perform a wide variety of knowledge-intensive activities, which enhance local users' adoption processes and they are associated with different forms of technology transfer through external linkages. Overall, NTBFs undertake a frequently unobserved role as technology searchers and acquirers that, pushed by idiosyncratic local niche market opportunities, selectively choose among and enhance technologies developed elsewhere, introducing them into the local market.     

Big TAM in Oman: Exploring the promise of on-line banking,its adoption by customers and the challenges of banking in Oman

Information and communication technology (ICT) developments and trends in recent years have had great impact on the banking sector worldwide. In many developed and developing countries, the use of disruptive innovation technologies has accelerated change in the way banking business is conducted, consumers being swept along with such change. However, in many countries, such as Oman, there are deep routed cultural and religious factors that cause consumers to question the acceptance of such changes. Through the use of a theoretical framework built on technology acceptance frameworks and models, and empirical evidence from key market segments of the Omani banking market, the research explores the factors that influence Omani consumer acceptance of on-line banking. The findings are significant in that trust, usability and perceived quality are deemed key drivers. This is probably not unexpected, however, what is interesting is that the market profile is skewed to middle aged users, with social standing and “herd” mentality does not affect the adoption of the technology. This, combined with the emerging mobile savvy younger generation poses an interesting challenge for the future of the banking sector in Oman and implies a need for the sector to rethink the strategic use of, and approach to, implementation of on-line banking in a way that is complementary to the cultural and ethological dimension of the market. In effect, the banking sector will need to manage the covert tension between technology driving “fast time”, and the Omani culture, religion and tradition demanding face to face “slow time”.     

Understanding the Internet banking adoption: A unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and perceived risk application

Understanding the main determinants of Internet banking adoption is important for banks and users; our understanding of the role of users’ perceived risk in Internet banking adoption is limited. In response, we develop a conceptual model that combines unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) with perceived risk to explain behaviour intention and usage behaviour of Internet banking. To test the conceptual model we collected data from Portugal (249 valid cases). Our results support some relationships of UTAUT, such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence, and also the role of risk as a stronger predictor of intention. To explain usage behaviour of Internet banking the most important factor is behavioural intention to use Internet banking.     

社会研究视角中的科技政策

随着科学社会研究视角的转变,我们越来越清楚地看到科学与政府之间相互参与的复杂性与多样性,这也表明了科技与政策关系的传统图式是成问题的。不可否认,建构论的观点与方法不仅拓展了科技政策研究的空间,而且从根本上转换了我们看问题的角度。在这种转变的视角中,我们认为科技与政策更表现为一种内生关系,科技政策的制定不具有固定的模式,它是在具体情景中被建构的,同时它也成为科学与技术知识生成和辩护中的构成性条件。     

Providing industry 4.0 technologies: The case of a production technology cluster

The concept of industry 4.0 (i4.0) encompasses the integration of different technologies into an autonomous, knowledge- and sensor-based, self-regulating production system. Our objective is to synthesize which are the challenges and opportunities of adopting i4.0 from the perspective of technology provider companies. A single-case research was conducted with ten companies at the Portuguese Production Technologies Cluster. Based on i4.0 technologies – Augmented reality; Additive Manufacturing; Big Data; Cloud Computing; Cyber-Physical Systems; Cybersecurity; Smart Robotics; Simulation; and System Integration – interviewees mentioned that the main adoption challenges are the analysis of data generated, integration of new technologies with available equipment and workforce, and computational limitations. The main opportunities are improvements in: efficiency; flexibility; productivity; cybersecurity; quality of products and services; and decision process due to data analysis. Interviewees have also foreseen changes in company's business model through the integration of internal resources with complementary activities of their partners and other cluster companies.     

Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: What we can learn from the past

The science-technology-innovation system is one that is continuously and rapidly evolving. The dramatic growth over the last 20 years in the use of science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators appears first and foremost to be the result of a combination of, on the one hand, the ease of computerized access to an increasing number of measures of STI and, on the other hand, the interest in a growing number of public policy and private business circles in such indicators. Such growing interest might be expected in societies that increasingly use organised science and technology to achieve a wide variety of social and economic objectives and in which business competition is increasingly based on innovation. On the basis of 40 years of indicators work, we argue that frontiers and characteristics of STI indicators that were important last century may no longer be so relevant today and indeed may even be positively misleading.     

Investigating the role of in-situ user expectations in Web search

Pre-adoption expectations often serve as an implicit reference point in users’ evaluation of information systems and are closely associated with their goals of interactions, behaviors, and overall satisfaction. Despite the empirically confirmed impacts, users’ search expectations and their connections to tasks, users, search experiences, and behaviors have been scarcely studied in the context of online information search. To address the gap, we collected 116 sessions from 60 participants in a controlled-lab Web search study and gathered direct feedback on their in-situ expected information gains (e.g., number of useful pages) and expected search efforts (e.g., clicks and dwell time) under each query during search sessions. Our study aims to examine (1) how users’ pre-search experience, task characteristics, and in-session experience affect their current expectations and (2) how user expectations are correlated with search behaviors and satisfaction. Our results with both quantitative and qualitative evidence demonstrate that: (1) user expectation is significantly affected by task characteristics, previous and in-situ search experience; (2) user expectation is closely associated with users’ browsing behaviors and search satisfaction. The knowledge learned about user expectation advances our understanding of users’ search behavioral patterns and their evaluations of interaction experience and will also facilitate the design, implementation, and evaluation of expectation-aware user models, metrics, and information retrieval (IR) systems.     

Paths of technology upgrading in the BRICS economies

This paper explores technology upgrading of BRICS economies based on a three-pronged approach, which distinguishes between the intensity of technology upgrading, structural change and global interaction. We develop a statistical framework based on patent indicators to measure technological upgrading and apply it to BRICS economies in the period 1980–2015. The paper shows that there is no single path of technology upgrading. Instead, we find several unique paths with different trade-offs between intensity, structural change and the nature of the global interaction. All BRICS economies display increased generation of frontier technological activities, while China and Russia have also increased the intensity of behind frontier technological activities. China has also diversified its technology knowledge base and entered into dynamic frontier areas. With increasing intensity of frontier technology activities of the BRICS, the relative, but not absolute, the importance of foreign actors and international collaboration has declined. However, BRICS economies seem to lack the organisational and complementary capabilities to match the extent of technology sourcing from abroad, observed in high-income countries. Our result represents the application of a new conceptual framework and contributes to assessing the sustainability of innovation-based growth among BRICS.     

Participation in technology standards development: A decision model for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry

This study presents a framework to guide managers in the ICT industry in assessing the factors that inform the decision to participate in the development of technology standards. Using multi-criteria decision analysis and judgment data from panels of experts, a robust model is developed that comprehends the essential criteria and outcomes within the context of computer interconnect technologies. The resultant, generalizable model is validated against the case of the extant Universal Serial Bus (USB) interconnect standard and found to be congruent with the assessment of the experts.