Thinking outside of the book: The adoption of search engine web sites.

摘要

The purpose of the present study was to develop a model for explaining end users' acceptance of search engine Web sites. To conceptualize the model, three behavioral theories were used: the theory of reasoned action (TRA; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), the technology acceptance model (TAM; Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989, Davis, 1992) and Iwasaki and Havitz's (2004) framework of involvement, commitment, and loyalty. Two psychological scales, the personal involvement inventory (PII; Zaichkowsky, 1985, 1994), and a modified psychological commitment to a team scale (PCT; Mahony et al., 2000, Hur, 2007) were also used. The model incorporated constructs related to end users' perceptions, Internet involvement, and psychological commitment. Data analysis was performed on results obtained from 119 end users who were members of the LinkedIn social networking Web site, and were members of the AIGA Professional Design Association's online community of interest. Structural equation modeling analysis was used to investigate the structural and measurement aspects and to identify causal relationships between eight constructs within the model. Both the measurement and structural models contained goodness-of-fit indexes that were found to be acceptable. The hypothesis test found that three of nine hypotheses were supported. Additionally, the moderating effects of gender on the model were observed and found differences across men's and women's groups when considering perceived ease of use and psychological commitment. Implications for academia and practitioners were presented, and recommendations for future research were suggested.