| This dissertation reports the findings of a study concerning the adoption and usage of the Internet/WWW by the mature life-segment consumer in North America. This dissertation investigated volitional Internet/WWW adoption and usage within the context of consumers and users that are 45 years of age and older, and the research framework was based on the Triandis Model of Interpersonal Behavior (TIB). Technology acceptance research is a constantly evolving and developing field of study. Previous research has contributed to the understanding of technology acceptance, and these studies have primarily been either beliefs focused or system focused. TIB provides both by offering a foundational account of the interpersonal interaction between various factors, such as Attitude (ATT), Perceived Consequences (PC), Social Factors (SF), Affect (AFF), Habits (HAB), and Facilitating Conditions (FC) and their influence on Behavior Intention (BI), and Actual Behavior (AB). Results show that ATT, PC, SF, AFF, HAB, and FC significantly influence a mature life-segment consumer's BI to use the Internet/WWW. The research demonstrated that interpersonal behavior factors play an important role in Internet/WWW adoption. It also demonstrated that TIB, an intention-behavior model generally used in behavior prevention research, could be used to evaluate the intention-behavior relationship in other fields of research. |
