Abstract
A conceptual framework based on theory of planned behavior is developed to examine the impacts of social and psychological variables on Internet non-users' adoption intention and adoption behavior. A two-wave revolving panel design is adopted in the study based on the data collected from a longitudinal telephone survey conducted in Hong Kong. The study finds incongruence between individuals' attitude toward the Internet and adoption behavior and congruence between adoption intention and adoption behavior, which are, respectively, known as ‘evaluative inconsistency’ and ‘literal consistency’ in social psychology. Internet non-users' perceived popularity of the Internet is a significant predictor of their subsequent behavior, whose impact is mediated by adoption intention. Internet non-users' subsequent adoption behavior is only influenced by their perceived capacity to adopt the Internet (i.e. self-efficacy) and not influenced by external constraints (i.e. time availability and facilitating resources).
Acknowledgements
The study has been funded by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong SAR (CityU 1456/06H), City University of Hong Kong Strategic Research Grant (7001506 and 7001882) and City University of Hong Kong Centre for Communication Research, respectively. The work was conducted while Tai-Quan Peng, Jing-Jing Tong, and Shu-Jun Jiang were doctoral students at City University of Hong Kong.
Notes
Based on diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers Citation1995), Agarwal and Prasad (Citation1997) focus on individuals' perception about the characteristics of the target technology as explanatory variables for technology acceptance behavior. Visibility refers to the extent to which potential adopters see the innovation as being visible in the adoption context. Compatibility refers to the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being consistent with the existing values, needs, and past experiences of potential adopters. Trialability refers to the extent to which potential adopters perceive that they have a chance to experiment with the innovation prior to committing to its usage. Relative advantage refers to the extent to which potential adopters view the innovation as offering an advantage over previous ways of performing the same task. Result demonstrability refers to the tangibility of the results of using an innovation.