Practically Applying the Technology Acceptance Model in Information Systems Research

Abstract

Explaining the factors that lead to use and acceptance of Information Technology (IT), both at individual and organizational levels, has been the focus of Information Systems (IS) researchers since the 1970s. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is known as such an explanatory model and has increasingly gained recognition due to its focus on theories of human behaviour. Although this model has faced some criticism in terms of not being able to fully explain the social-technical acceptance of technology, TAM is still known as one of the best IS methodologies that contribute greatly to explain IT/IS acceptance. It has been widely used in different areas of IS studies, such as e-commerce, e-business, multimedia, and mobile commerce. This chapter discusses, describes, and explains TAM as one of the well-known information system research models and attempts to demonstrate how this model can be customised and extended when applyied in practice in IS research projects. In order to illustrate this, the chapter presents and discussed two case studies, respectively, applying TAM in the areas of mobile banking and mobile campus in the UK. It is also proposed that comparing with the traditional questionnaire approach, mixed-methods designs (that contain both a quantitative and a qualitative component) can generate more meaningful and significant findings in IS studies that apply the TAM model. The practical guidance provided in this chapter is particularly useful and valuable to researchers, especially junior researchers and PhD students, who intend to apply TAM in their research.