Perception of New Technologies: Constructing an Innovation Openness Index

Abstract

Rapid technological progress is one of the basic processes in the modern world. It is an integral part both in the field of labor and employment and in leisure and recreation. The request for an accelerated implementation of digital technologies in the economy and social sphere, which is inherent in one of the national development goals of the Russian Federation, makes this topic more important. In the presence of technological challenges, people have to adapt to constantly emerging innovations. Meanwhile the perception of innovations together with other individual characteristics and socioeconomic characteristics of different social groups could be considered determinants of openness to technological innovations. Based on this assumption, the authors of this article set the following objectives: they evaluate the openness of the population to innovation (through the construction of the index), examine the perception of innovation (by identifying factors of the perception of new technologies), and test the relationship between openness to innovation and the perception of new technologies. The multi-domain index of openness to innovation combines assessments of individual attitude, acceptance, and trust in innovations related to various spheres of the population’s life. The perception of innovation is revealed through the Technology Acceptance Model and includes: perceived ease of use of new technologies; the perceived usefulness of new technologies; perceived security and reliability of new technologies; and perceived elitist features of new technologies. This study demonstrates that openness to innovation depends upon the perception of new technologies and is differentiated among population groups.