In recent years, smartphone has become the most popular products, the literature for smartphone is relatively less, most of using Technology Acceptance Model ¡]TAM¡^ as the main research framework to explore. Influencing the consumer intension is concept of cognition ¡]perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use¡^, thereby affecting subsequent behavioral intentions, but what kind of product characteristics affect consumer¡¦s perceiving are seldom addressed. This study proposes "Involvement - Brand Loyalty Model" as the theoretical basis, with the "involvement" concept applied to smartphone users in order to explore the brand loyalty. Involvement antecedent focuses on "product utility", and explores what kind of product characteristics affect the product utility from the past literature, and then is combined with the social influence to investigate smartphone usage. Finally, the study will also compare different groups based on with or without owning a smartphone, and then provide the final analysis of the research results. The final results show that user involvement does affect the brand loyalty of the smartphone, and if the users are highly involved, regardless of whatever the user experience may be, product involvement will affect the brand involvement. Comparison with previous studies finds the similarity and the differences between those two groups. The common is the high involvement of smartphone. The differences lie in the user experience that does affect the user for the demand of products characteristics, and the impact of the social influence. The three products characteristics: convergence, innovation and network externality will definitely affect the product utility for someone who has smartphone, but we can understand that the user experience will impact convergence by analyzing the groups without smartphone. It is difficult to measure the value of convergence for someone who doesn¡¦t have smartphone, so in the study show that the convergence does not significantly affect the product utility, while the other two product characteristics ¡]innovation, network externalities¡^ are significant impact the product utility. For people who have usage experience, the social influence can directly affect their brand judgment, nevertheless without the usage experience, the social influence has impact on the brand involvement only through the product involvement.

This study examines the online shopping behaviour of 142 international university students (IUSs) within the context of a modified version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Results indicate that perceived entertainment outweighs the impact of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived self-efficacy (PSE) on attitude towards online shopping (ATT). Perceived risk (PR) was not related to ATT and ATT and behavioural intentions (BI) did not influence actual behaviour. Experience was strongly related to ATT, but demographics have little influence on TAM measures. Entertainment and usefulness were the primary motives for IUSs to shop online. The findings of this study could help universities and e-retailers develop guidelines to ensure a safe and attractive e-shopping experience for IUSs.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how teachers use computer based assessment in their work and what user barriers they experience while working with computer based assessments. The result of the thesis is meant to provide an understanding of which factors affect the use of computer based assessments and how a company who provide computer based assessments applications can increase the rate of use amongst teachers.To investigate this, the author examined a company in Sweden who provide a computer based assessment application for both universities and high schools. The study was carried out at two different schools, a university and a high school, both located in Stockholm. In total nine teachers were interviewed. The author also conducted observations at the company whose computer based assessment application was examined.The author’s findings suggest that a lack of functions within the application and lack of costumer support from the company all negatively impacted the teacher’s use of the application. There were also findings that could suggest that a lack incentive to use the application may have negatively impacted teacher’s rate of use.To increase the rate of use, the author suggest that companies must work closer with teachers to understand their routines and develop applications accordingly. Companies should also be using teachers who already are using computer based assessment to develop incentives so that other teachers may start to use computer based assessments applications more frequently

The ever-evolving information technology gives users more opportunities, but also put higher demands on them. The digital agenda of the state and society clarifies the objectives and effects academic libraries’ development. E-books influence the development of organizational, economic, legal and political perspectives.   At the University Library in Gävle work is ongoing. The process is controlled by the acquisition policy which makes it clear that e-books should be purchased if possible. By offering e-books including textbooks it expands the availability for student demands. It is one of University Libraries fundamental tasks.   The curiosity about how this work is received by students is the purpose of this thesis and addresses the questions concerning what affects students' acceptance, perception, attitude and usage of e-books in studies at the University of Gävle?   Through an online questionnaire based on a theoretical foundation developed to be used in tests of new information technology, Technology Acceptance Model, students' perceptions of e-books is mapped. Important variables are perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use which influence the attitude, the intention to use and actual use.   The thesis concluded that students accept e-books as a supplement to printed books. The factor students’ value as most important is availability and that it is easy to find. The main goal of students' reading is to gain access to required literature of the course and perceived usefulness of e-books is primarily to its being available which affects studying and learning.

Problem: E-commerce is a rapidly growing business sector across the world and provides interesting expansion opportunities for retail businesses. However, differing consumer attitudes across borders create barriers for expansion, and subsequently there is a need to study these differences. Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to examine potential differences between Chinese and Swedish consumer’s attitudes and online shopping intentions when purchasing apparel online. The secondary purpose of this study is to contribute to the TAM by adding constructs that facilitate a cross-cultural examination in an e-commerce context. Methodology: This study is explorative and descriptive and has applied a qualitative research approach. The data has been collected primarily by conducting focus groups in both China and in Sweden. Findings: Differences in consumer’s attitudes and intentions toward online shopping between China and Sweden were identified. The main differences were the perceived overall usefulness of online shopping and the level of risk that consumers perceived in online shopping. Risk related constructs added to the TAM were found to be relevant, while the relevance of certain culturally related dimensions added were questionable.

Three studies were conducted to examine the role of psychosocial factors in the prediction of health innovation uptake. A health innovation is a device, treatment or altered food product intended to improve the health of an individual or group and considered new by the population of interest. Health innovations may be used to address current health problems in individuals but also play a key role in preventative health efforts. Encouraging individuals to adopt appropriate health innovations is often an important strategy in improving the general health and minimising the social cost of illness of a population. The current program of research examined the influence of predictors from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1991), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM; Davis, 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989), and risk technology literature (Fischhoff, Slovic, Lichtenstein, Read, & Combs, 1978; Slovic, 1987; Slovic, Fischhoff, & Lichtenstein, 1980) on health innovation decision-making. Additionally, the study examined the background factors of previous experience with the innovation, age, and gender. Guided by the overall conceptualisations of change presented in the Stages of Change Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997) and the Innovation Decision Model (Rogers, 1958, 2003), the three studies aimed to examine the role of the proposed predictors for a number of different innovations at various stages of diffusion. Study 1 (N = 358) employed a correlational design to predict people's intentions and willingness to use the four health innovations of functional foods, vitamin supplements, alternative therapies and pedometers. Participants completed questionnaires based on the TPB examining attitude (favourability towards the innovation), subjective norms (pressure from others for innovation uptake) and perceived behavioural control (PBC; sense of control over adopting the innovation). In addition, participants completed items assessing the constructs of usefulness of the innovation and ease of use of the innovation from the TAM and familiarity of risks and dread of risks associated with the innovation, adapted from the risk literature. Background factors, such as previous innovation use and age and gender of the participants, were also examined. The underlying behavioural, normative, and control belief constructs of the TPB were examined to differentiate between those participants who reported that they were intending to or willing to adopt the health innovation and those who were not intending to or willing to adopt the health innovation. Overall, the results of Study 1 supported the TPB constructs, perceived usefulness from the TAM, and risk familiarity. Study 2 (N = 102) utilized an experimental design where usefulness of the four innovations examined in Study 1 and the familiarity of risks associated with them were manipulated in a 2 x 2 scenario based study. As in Study 1, participants completed measures of the TPB factors, an assessment of the dread of risk and reported background factors such as previous innovation use, and their age and gender. Participants read reports of 'recent research' that contained information about the innovations' usefulness in relation to health benefit and familiarity of risk in comparison to traditional health products. As in Study 1, people's intentions and willingness to use the health innovations were examined, as was a third outcome measure; participant predicted future use of each innovation. The results of Study 2 provided support for the TPB constructs of attitude and subjective norms. The study also provided limited support for the TAM factor of usefulness, as well as for the risk dimensions of familiarity of risks and dread of risks. The TPB construct of PBC and the background factors of age and gender were not supported. Study 3 (N = 116) employed a 2 x 2 between-subjects design where usefulness and dread of risks were manipulated for a previously unavailable health innovation, calcium enriched mints. Study 3 also involved a within-subjects measurement of two behaviour measures (estimated consumption, and a diary recorded measure of consumption) over three time periods. Intention was retained as a third uptake measure of innovation uptake. Participants were presented with manipulated information about the usefulness and dread of risks associated with calcium enriched mints. Study 3 examined the role of the manipulated constructs, the TPB factors, familiarity of risk, and demographics in the prediction of the enriched mints uptake. The design of this study addressed limitations identified in the literature and mirrored a number of authentic health innovation uptake situations. The results of Study 3 strongly supported the role of attitude and subjective norms as influential predictors of intention to consume the calcium enriched mints, and intention as a predictor of estimated and diary recorded measures of consumption. The study offered limited support for the risk factors of familiarity of risks and dread of risks and did not support the TAM construct of usefulness as a predictor of calcium enriched mint uptake. Taken together, the results of this research provided strong support for the role of the TPB factors of attitude and subjective norms, but not PBC, as predictors of health innovation intentions and willingness. The results also supported the role of intention as a predictor of health innovation adoption behaviour. Limited support was found for the risk dimensions of familiarity of risks and dread of risks, suggesting that another conceptualisation of risk may be more appropriate for health innovation decision-making. The results found little support for the TAM variables of usefulness and ease of use, or the influence of demographic characteristics of age and gender. These findings indicate that the general decision-making model of the TPB, with the exception of the role of PBC, provides a useful framework to understand people's health innovation decision-making. Given the limited support for PBC in the prediction of intentions and behaviour in this context, the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), with some consideration of risk factors, may be an appropriate approach to adopt to facilitate an understanding the factors underlying people's decision to use innovations designed to improve their health.

Mobile Marketing is a critical marketing strategy and a foundation of competitive advantage for small to medium enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry in South Africa. While many studies focus on mobile marketing, this study focuses on the adoption of mobile marketing innovations by small to medium enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Analysing the adoption of Awesome South Africa mobile application, as a marketing strategy among SMEs in the Western Cape tourism and hospitality industry was therefore imperative to understand the factors that influence mobile marketing adoption. The objective was to find out the factors that contribute to the adoption of mobile marketing as well as the factors that would impede the adoption of mobile marketing by the SMEs in this industry. The research employed the Technology Acceptance Model as a theoretical framework as well as a guide in ascertaining the factors that affect the adoption of mobile marketing innovations among SMEs. There is certainty that the Awesome South Africa mobile travel application could partly solve the information asymmetry problem as well as the marketing challenges of the SMEs in the Western Cape Tourism and hospitality industry. An exploratory design was deployed in this study, resulting in the application of a qualitative research approach for data collection, analysis and interpretation. Both content and thematic data analyses were used in this study because data was collected from multiple sources that included reports and face-toface interviews. The research findings showed that the TAM provides a reasonable explanation of the factors that influence technology acceptance amongst SMEs. Perceived usefulness, perceived cost, perceived competitive pressure and perceived employee capability emerged as the significant factors that simultaneously influenced mobile marketing adoption among SMEs. Factors impeding the adoption of mobile marketing application by the SMEs included perceived high cost of adoption, lack of managerial support, employee incompetence, limited financial resources and perceived complexity of the mobile marketing innovations. The recommendation was that the Awesome South Africa mobile application innovators should capitalise on the TAM constructs in order to realise the adoption of their mobile application among SMEs in the Western Cape tourism and hospitality industry.

Gruvindustrin är en bransch som är välkänd för att innehålla riskfyllt arbete. Ett sätt att öka säkerheten och hälsan hos de anställda är att använda sig av exempelvis positioneringsteknik och teknik som registrerar hälsan. Denna typ av teknik kan dock orsaka bland annatintegritetsproblematik vilket i sin tur kan påverka hur man ställer sig till den. Syftet med denna rapport var därför att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar acceptansen hos gruvarbetare för denna typ av teknik. Detta undersöktes genom att använda en modifierad version av TAM-modellen innehållande upplevd nytta, säkerhet, integritet och tillit. Utöver detta undersöktes även om det fanns någon åldersskillnad i acceptansen. Studien är utförd i ett samarbete mellan SIMS och LTU där en enkät skapades och besvarades av 275 gruvanställda vid LKAB. Resultatet visade att gruvarbetarnas acceptans för teknik generellt var positiv och att den modifierade TAM-modellen till stor del kunde förklara gruvarbetarnas acceptans. De faktorer som visat sig påverka acceptansen negativt var om gruvarbetarna upplevde att integriteten hotades, medan acceptansen påverkades positivt om de upplevde nytta av att se specifika personer i en kartvy. Utöver detta påvisade resultatet även att om gruvarbetarna såg en nytta med tekniken ur ett säkerhetsperspektiv påverkades acceptansen positivt. Den faktor som inte visades ha prediktivt värde från den modifierade TAM-modellen var tillit. En åldersskillnad kunde också fastställas i vissa aspekter av acceptansen.

This research study examined the acceptance of the intranet in restaurant franchise systems. The widely accepted Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis (1986, 1989) was the basis for this study. TAM is an excellent model to predict information technology (IT) usage and is based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Therefore, TAM was adopted in this study of intranet acceptance. Furthermore, this study attempted to see if the earlier results of TAM are still valid. The original model was modified to include one external variable, franchise support. Data were collected from franchise restaurant systems throughout the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Of 3,500 questionnaires distributed to individual users of intranet, 161 contained usable responses. The results of regression analysis confirm that TAM is valid for additional applications such as evaluating the intranet in restaurant franchise systems. / Ph. D.

Cloud computing can be used as a way to access services and resources for many organizations; however, hackers have created security concerns for users that incorporate cloud computing in their everyday functions. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies used by cloud security managers to implement secure access methods to protect data on the cloud infrastructure. The population for this study was cloud security managers employed by 2 medium size businesses in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area and that have strategies to implement secure access methods to protect data on the cloud infrastructure. The technology acceptance model was used as the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews of 7 security managers and review of 21 archived documents that reflected security strategies from past security issues that occurred. Data analysis was performed using methodological triangulation and resulted in the identification of three major themes: implementing security policies, implementing strong authentication methods, and implementing strong access control methods. The findings from this research may contribute to positive social by decreasing customers' concerns regarding personal information that is stored on the cloud being compromised.