2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2008 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
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Core Determinants<br />
UTAUT contains four core determinants <strong>of</strong> intention and usage – performance<br />
expectancy, defined as “the degree to which an individual believes that using the system will<br />
help him or her to attain gains in job performance”; effort expectancy, defined as “the degree <strong>of</strong><br />
ease associated with the use <strong>of</strong> the system”; social influence, defined as “the degree to which an<br />
individual perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system”; and<br />
facilitating conditions, defined as “the degree to which an individual believes that an<br />
organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support use <strong>of</strong> the system” (Venkatesh et al.<br />
2003).<br />
Moderators<br />
UTAUT identifies four key moderating variables that were found to significantly<br />
influence intention and/or use behavior: gender, age, experience and voluntariness <strong>of</strong> use<br />
(Venkatesh et al. 2003). While age, experience and voluntariness are likely to exert similar<br />
moderating effects in this study, the effect <strong>of</strong> gender is more complex and may differ from<br />
previous research on technology acceptance. The subjects <strong>of</strong> prior technology acceptance<br />
research have been predominantly male, whereas the majority <strong>of</strong> public relations practitioners<br />
are female and work in a female-dominated environment. Thus it is possible that gender does not<br />
have the same influence as it has shown in male-dominated contexts.<br />
While the original study identified seven constructs as significant direct determinants <strong>of</strong><br />
intention or usage, only four constructs were theorized to play a significant role as direct<br />
determinants <strong>of</strong> user acceptance and usage behavior: performance expectancy, effort expectancy,<br />
social influence, and facilitating condition (Venkatesh et al. 2003). Attitude toward using<br />
technology, self-efficacy, and anxiety were theorized not to be direct determinants <strong>of</strong> intention.<br />
Conceivably, public relations practitioners, as a group, may exhibit characteristics that<br />
are different from other end users – such as business managers and students who have been the<br />
traditional subjects <strong>of</strong> technology acceptance research. For this reason the current research<br />
includes all seven constructs identified in the original research for empirical testing and<br />
validation in the public relations sector.<br />
Hypotheses<br />
Performance expectancy is defined as the degree to which an individual believes using<br />
blogs will help him or her attain gains in job performance. The performance expectancy<br />
construct within individual models <strong>of</strong> technology acceptance is show to be the strongest<br />
predictor <strong>of</strong> intention to use a particular technology (Compeau and Higgins 1995b; Davis et al.<br />
1992; Taylor and Todd 1995a; Venkatesh and Davis 2000). Moreover, prior research suggests<br />
the relationship between performance expectancy and intention to use blogs will be moderated<br />
by gender and age. Research on gender differences indicates that men tend to be highly taskoriented<br />
(Minton and Schneider, 1980) and therefore more assessable to the effects <strong>of</strong><br />
performance expectations. Further, research on job-related attitudes suggests that younger<br />
workers may place more importance on extrinsic rewards (Porter, 1963). Gender and age<br />
differences have been shown to exist in technology adoption contexts as well (Venkatesh et al.<br />
2003). Finally, given the demographics <strong>of</strong> public relations is heavily skewed toward women, the<br />
effects <strong>of</strong> gender and age could play an even greater role in moderating the effects <strong>of</strong><br />
performance expectation.<br />
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