A cross-cultural comparison of gender differences in computer attitudes and anxieties: the United Kingdom and Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examined the computer attitudes and anxieties of 207 United Kingdom nationals and 286 Hong Kong nationals to determine the factorial structure for each sample and any gender differences. Both samples share a comparable educational environment and level of technological sophistication. The United Kingdom sample, however, reported more computer-related experience, less anxiety and more positive attitudes. There was a large degree of overlap between the factorial structure for computer anxiety and attitudes between the two samples which is consistent with previous research. For the United Kingdom sample, there were no gender differences in computer anxiety but males held more positive attitudes than females. For the Hong Kong sample, there were no gender differences in computer attitudes but males reported greater computer anxiety than females. This is the first sample in which males have been found to be more computer anxious than females, despite Hong Kong males reporting more computer experience than females. An item-by-item analysis identifies Hong Kong males are more anxious when anticipating using computers (rather than when actually using computers).