HOW MANY TECHNOLOGY TYPES ARE THERE? PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE LITERATURE

摘要

To investigate a generalizable moderating effect of the type of technology tested upon its acceptance, a classification of technologies is needed. This study aims to develop a preliminary framework to describe information technologies based upon 200 randomly selected technology descriptions taken from a comprehensive TAM meta-analysis effort currently in progress. We report on the use of a classification method involving both human judgment and statistical techniques. A manual sorting process is followed by multidimensional scaling (MDS) and cluster analysis to aggregate the individual interpretations of the sorters into hierarchical cluster structures. The results of this method reveal several potential technology grouping solutions, one of which was selected for further discussion. Limitations and future research are also discussed.