Intention to Use and Actual Use of Electronic Information Resources: Further Exploring Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

摘要

Following up a previous study that examined public health students’ intention to use e-resources for completing research paper assignments, the present study proposed two models to investigate whether or not public health students actually used the e-resources they intended to use and whether or not the determinants of intention to use predict actual use of e-resources. Focus groups and pre- and post-questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive analysis, data screening, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques were used for data analysis. The study found that the determinants of intention-to-use significantly predict actual use behavior. Direct impact of perceived usefulness and indirect impact of perceived ease of use to both behavior intention and actual behavior indicated the importance of ease of use at the early stage of technology acceptance. Non-significant intention-behavior relationship prompted thoughts on the measurement of actual behavior and multidimensional characteristics of the intention construct.