Determinants of Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use in Individual Adoption of Social Network Sites

A large-scale online survey (n=1327) was utilized to investigate determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as well as other effects on the formation of a behavioral intention to use social network sites (SNS). Findings show that need-based motivations such as social deficit, communication need, and community need do positively impact perceived usefulness while hedonic need and contribution need do not. Additionally, perceived ease of use was affected by technologyoriented self-efficacy. Trust and privacy considerations impacted perceived usefulness as well, while external threats to security did not. Finally, age and gender effects on the underlying technology acceptance model constructs were also explored

Antecedentes de continuidade de utilização de aplicações móveis na saúde

Mestrado Bolonha em Gestão e Estratégia IndustrialNos últimos anos, o número de aplicações móveis de saúde cresceu significativamente, face à evolução no desenvolvimento de tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) e ao interesse crescente da população em formas de gerir a saúde mais conveniente e eficazes. No entanto, após a adoção inicial de aplicações móveis de saúde, a sua utilização apenas persiste por um curto período de tempo. A presente dissertação tem como principal objetivo estudar quais os antecedentes que afetam a intenção de continuidade de utilização de aplicações móveis de saúde, bem como analisar o efeito da identidade tecnológica móvel e da autoeficácia na facilidade de uso e na utilidade percebida. O efeito da facilidade de uso na utilidade percebida foi também analisado neste modelo. O modelo conceptual foi testado a partir de 278 respostas, obtidas através de um questionário disponibilizado online nas redes sociais e através da partilha do link por email. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a identidade tecnológica móvel influencia positivamente e diretamente a utilidade percebida, mas não tem qualquer influencia na facilidade de uso. O efeito da autoeficácia na facilidade de uso mostrou-se positivo e significativo. O efeito direto da autoeficácia na utilidade percebida não é significativo. No entanto, existe um efeito indireto significativo através da facilidade de uso. Por sua vez, a facilidade de uso tem um impacto positivo direto na utilidade percebida e na satisfação e influencia indiretamente a intenção de continuidade de uso através da satisfação. Em relação à utilidade percebida esta apresenta um efeito direto na satisfação e um efeito indireto na intenção de continuidade através da satisfação. No que concerne à satisfação concluiu-se que esta tem um impacto positivo e significativo na intenção de continuidade de uso. Por fim, verificou-se que a qualidade percebida do serviço influencia positivamente e diretamente a satisfação e indiretamente a intenção de continuidade de uso da aplicação.In recent years, the number of mobile healthcare applications has grown significantly, due to the evolution in the development of information and communication technologies and the growing interest of the population in ways to manage healthcare more conveniently and effectively. However, after the initial adoption of mobile healthcare applications, their use only persists for a short period of time. The main objective of this dissertation is to study which antecedents affect the continuance intention to use mobile health Apps, as well as to analyze the effect of mobile technological identity and self-efficacy on ease of use and perceived usefulness. The effect of ease of use on perceived usefulness was also analyzed in this model. The conceptual model was tested from 278 responses, obtained through a questionnaire available online on social networks and shared by email. The results obtained show that mobile technology identity, positively and directly influences perceived usefulness but has no influence on ease of use. The effect of selfefficacy on ease of use was positive and significant. The direct effect of self-efficacy on perceived usefulness is not significant. However, there is a significant indirect effect through ease of use. On the other hand, ease of use has a direct positive impact on perceived usefulness and satisfaction and indirectly influences the continuance intention to use through satisfaction. When it comes to perceived usefulness, this has a direct effect on satisfaction and an indirect effect on the continuance intention through satisfaction. Regarding to satisfaction, it was concluded that this has a positive and significant impact on continuance intention. Finally, it was found that the perceived quality of the service, positively and directly influences satisfaction and indirectly the continuance intention to use the application.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Social Networking and Individual Performance: Examining Predictors of Participation

This dissertation addresses relationships between social networking and individual performance. The act of social networking is a process and practice by which people and organizations are drawn together by family, work or hobby to interact via websites. The explosion of these new network connections in the workplace suggests the need for an exploration of the various ways organizations can affect and improve performance and productivity. This dissertation suggests a social networking participation model that may help organizations predict and understand the value proposition that affects acceptance or rejection of participation. Innovation adoption, governing by network and social capital are important theories in developing an understanding of social networking behavior. Performance may be influenced when people are presented with evidence of a return on the investment of their time. Even if there is simply a perception of benefit, users may be more inclined to participate, or they may be moved to increase their participation levels. Therefore, this study explores the extent to which individual perceptions of usefulness and type of use predict social networking levels of participation. This dissertation explores a theoretical framework promoting effective measurement of concepts to predict social networking adoption and participation. A review of the constructs of perceived usefulness, perceived improvement potential, perceived ease of use, perceived encouragement, intraorganizational trust, and type of use provides a potential benefit to understanding social networking in organizations. The perceived impact of social networking is widely supported, but much research is still needed to identify the psychological process of participating in these activities. This dissertation is an important first step in adding to the current body of literature. Theoretical arguments about social networking and individual perceptions of performance are explored in this study. These arguments are tested using structural equation modeling. Data from 191 social networking participants are collected using a survey instrument of 37 questions. The research results show that perceived usefulness, perceived improvement potential, perceived ease of use, intra-organizational trust, and type of use are predictors of social networking participation. The study validates the survey instrument through model fit, and suggests future research to improve the instrument. Further, this dissertation urges organizations to ask questions about relationships between social networking and individual performance much earlier in the process than is now the case