User Acceptance of Information Technology: A Critical Review of Technology Acceptance Models and the Decision to Invest in Information Security

Abstract

In today’s fast changing world, technology is increasingly influencing and having a major impact on all aspect of our daily life. For decades, the user acceptance of technology has been a vital field of study. Despite numerous models being proposed to explain and predict the use of a system or to assist in decision making to invest in information security, the latest models and theories are still not been able to fully capture the complexity of the relationship between humans and technology. This paper provides a historical overview and a critical review of technology acceptance models (TAM) and theories. It also explores external variables influencing information security investment. It is concluded that although TAM and associated theories are well-established concepts in the information systems community, further research will be required to capture other important elements influencing public acceptance of technology which are not currently represented in existing models.