Diffusion of Innovation: A Preliminary Assessment of the Perception and Use of Technology in Complex Social Environments

摘要

It is clear from current literature that information communication technologies (ICT) will continue to evolve at a rapid pace. Ax a result, ICT will diffuse into new domains and he used in innovative ways by new groups of people. The research described in this paper presents a point of departure from previous studies because this research was conducted on a new population in a social setting that is unfamiliar to the majority of information systems (IS) researchers and practitioners. In particular, faith-based organizations have become viable economic community enterprises that can truly benefit from ICT. However, these complex social environments have often been overlooked. In order to make a preliminary assessment of the factors that inhibit or facilitate the adoption and use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in these complex social environments, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to form the intellectual basis of this study. The results revealed that the research population is interested in adopting ICT. However, faith-based organizations lack the financial resources and technical expertise necessary to implement ICT solutions.