A UTAUT-based Study Of Computer-aided Translation Software Acceptance Model

Computer-aided translation(CAT)programs have proved expedient in improving the accuracy,efficiency,consistency and productivity of translators‘ work,and have thus attracted much attention of researchers from both the translation field and many other fields.While most of the researches focus on CAT software per se,with little or even no attention paid to translator‘s acceptance of such software.It is noticed that some translators choose to employ CAT programs to facilitate their work while others do not,that some programs are more widely accepted by translators than other programs.These phenomena are known as technology acceptance in information technology(IT).This project is intended to find out about the factors influencing translator‘s acceptance of CAT programs,by drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology(UTAUT)which is presented in the form of a model and is intended to explain and predict users‘ acceptance of new IT products.To understand the specific factors that significantly influence the translator‘s acceptance of CAT systems,a tentative model labeled as the Computer-aided Translation Software Acceptance Model(CATSAM),has been proposed in this study by borrowing six of the variables in UTAUT,namely,performance expectancy,effort expectancy,social influence,facilitating conditions,behavior intention,and actual usage.On the other hand,due to the fact that the UTAUT model has limited power in explaining end users‘ transition from behavior intention to actual usage,six other factors have been added to the tentative model: frequency of receiving similar tasks,frequency of receiving urgent tasks,frequency of receiving large workload,frequency of receiving cooperative tasks,frequency of receiving informative texts,and frequency of receiving tasks requiring terminology.The framework of CATSAM is consistently followed in the design of questionnaire.Following the administration of the internet-based questionnaire survey,data collection and statistical analysis by means of LISREL and SPSS,the results show that the model‘s Goodness-of-Fit Index is.81 which means the tentative model is a fine established one.Based on the structure model‘s path loadings,effort expectancy is believed to be the major factor influencing translator‘s intention of using CAT software while performance effort the second largest influential factor and social influence the lightest one.Meanwhile,one of the six exploratory variables-frequency of receiving tasks of large volume – is believed to be a moderating variable;three of them –frequency of receiving cooperative tasks,informative texts,and tasks requiring terminology– are believed to be independent variables which directly influence translator‘s actual usage of CAT software.It is also discovered that frequency of receiving similar tasks and frequency of receiving urgent tasks are not statistically significant factors and are thus excluded.A revised edition of the proposed model is presented as one of the important results of this study.Based on the diffusion of innovation theory,the thesis discussed and provided measures to help improve translator‘s adoption of CAT.This research has identified the most and least influential factors influencing translator‘s behavior intention.It is believed that CATSAM as proposed in this study is conducive to the understanding of translator‘s adoption of CAT technologies.Meanwhile,this study is both theoretically and practically significant in that it can enhance our understanding of translators‘ CAT software acceptance,enrich research topics in translation studies as well as improve CAT programs‘ adoption rate.