Moderation of the Dimensions of Innovativeness in the Usability of Services Based on Intelligent Personal Assistants

Abstract

The technology acceptance model (TAM) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) originating from the theory of diffusion of Innovation seek to understand the use and adoption of technological products, however none of them is focused on understanding behavioral aspects and personal traits of the consumer innovativeness. Research studies that investigate the effect of domain-specific innovativeness (DSI) and innate innovativeness (II) on the perception of usability from innovative behavior (IB) with services such as intelligent personal assistants (IPA) that is get activated based on voice commands are scarce. Also, the extent to which DSI and II have affected consumer’s perception of usability services across different genders has been largely unexplored. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the effect of DSI and II on consumer perception of usability services and how such perceptions differ across consumers genders. The data for the study were gathered via a survey conducted among 101 users of IPA across smartphones from Brazil. It is concluded that there is moderation of DSI in relation to perceived usability and this moderation is significant in males. When II is low there is moderation in perceived usability, however, DSI and II together do not moderate the perceived usability.