Digital Library Adoption and the Technology Acceptance Model: A Cross‐Country Analysis

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, we examine, through the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), some of the features that inform user acceptance of a digital library system implementation at agricultural universities in two developing countries: Kenya and Peru. This is a study not only examining factors contributing to adoption of this offline digital library, but also a cross‐site comparison, meant to examine the functionality in the developing world of a theoretical model developed in and based on conditions in the developed world. As we unravel predictors of technological acceptance of a digital library implementation in the developing world, we simultaneously investigate a broader question: not just questions regarding improved researchinthe developing world, butonit as well.We analyze data from both sites on overall measures of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (two constructs of the TAM), and on individual measures making up the overall measures. We found the TAM to work well in describing factors that affect usage of digital libraries in developing countries, with perceived usefulness as the main predictor of intent to use this system (The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library, or TEEAL), and with relevance as the major constituent driver of perceived usefulness. Overall, we also found particular predictors of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use that are consistent across cultures (relevance, trust, and ease of access), while other constructs (social norm, domain knowledge, visibility, and self‐efficacy) demonstrated predictive power in only one setting. While post‐hoc analyses gave several clues as to drivers of these differences, this study cannot definitively address what causes differences in predictive power between sites. What is clear, however, is that application of the TAM to IT implementation in developing countries must be guided more by the specificities of local circumstances than by the performance of the TAM in highly‐developed countries.