Understanding the Relations Between Self-concept and Causal Attributions Regarding Computer Use

Abstract

This study examines the correlations between self-concept and causal attributions regarding computer use. The computer-related self-concept is a psychological construct that describes computer-related experiences, interests, motivations, attitudes, and competencies. Computer-related causal attributions are subjective causal explanations for successful and unsuccessful computer-related outcomes that are known to influence users’ behavior, motivation, and emotions. The goal is to shed more light on computer-related attitudes, behaviors, and cognitive characteristics of computer users. Two standardized questionnaires were used to measure the participants’ computer-related self-concept and their computer-related causal attributions. The tests were conducted in a laboratory study with N = 64 participants. Relations between computer-related self-concept and attributional dimensions (locus, stability, controllability, globality) as well as attributional patterns (ability, effort, luck, and task difficulty) were examined. In contrast to other research domains (e.g., education), it was found that users with a positive computer-related self-concept attribute causes for successes and failures predominantly to external reasons. With respect to the attributional patterns in situations of failure, correlation and post-hoc analyses showed results compared to findings in other research domains: Users that attribute causes of failures to their own abilities (internal-stable) showed a significantly more negative computer-related self-concept than users that attribute causes of failures to factors such as effort, task difficulty, or luck. In situations of success, no significant correlations were found.