| Searching for and purchasing personal goods and services on the Internet, termed hereafter as "Web Shopping", has seen tremendous growth over the past 2--3 years. With the advent of the Internet and accompanying technologies such as broader bandwidth modems, more robust browsers and multimedia, growth for Web Shopping should explode, sustained only by consumer's perceptions of this new market channel and their subsequent adoption behavior based on these perceptions. Surprisingly, no research has empirically tested an adoption model to this technology to determine critical factors that may influence adoption decisions at the consumer level.; The Technology Acceptance Model, first introduced in 1986 by F. Davis, enjoys a rich base of academic acceptance. Many subsequent studies have proven reliability of the measures and validity of the constructs and overall model. Recently, however, researchers have found it necessary to augment the TAM in an attempt to find even greater nomological validity. Consistent with this evolving research stream, this paper used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), while adding technology specific constructs, developed and validated from prior research.; In addition to TAM's original Perceived Ease of Use and Usefulness constructs, two unique factors were proposed compared to previous TAMs. These are playfulness and perceived information privacy. As a voluntary technology, intrinsic motivation, like playfulness, should be an important explanatory variable. In addition, since most Web Shopping applications are ported on a large public network, the Internet, concerns about information security should evolve as a contributory explanatory factor as well.; The constructs of System Quality, Computer Experience, and Social Pressure were added to the TAM to achieve greater explanatory power. Demographic variables (age, income, education) were also added for further possible explanatory power of the model. Structural Equation Modeling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were employed to test reliability, validity, and relationships of the constructs. Where prior research exists, comparisons of findings were made.; The results showed that an augmented TAM as described produced measurement and structural models with adequate fits. High construct validities were observed. SEM tests, employed over three distinct aspects of use (Browsing, Ordering, Paying), all revealed good model fits (all superior to TAM alone). In addition the attitudinal factors of perceived usefulness, intrinsic motivation and perceived information privacy played a significant role in the model. Interestingly, perceived ease of use, system quality and social pressure showed only indirect effects toward usage. Computer experience, age and education showed no effects.; The research provides a base to build on for other studies, specifically targeting acceptance models of business-to-consumer electronic commerce models. The research can also add to the expanding base of research investigating technology adoption models outside industrial and organizational settings. |
