April 13, 2011

CNM’s Hichang Cho explores how social influences affect our willingness to adopt new technology. This study has important implications for technology companies and how they enter new markets.

New technologies are constantly being introduced to consumers, one recent introduction being 3rd Generation (3G) mobile services to the Singapore market. While the introduction of such new technologies may benefit individuals, these benefits will only hold if consumers decide to adopt them. This decision making process is a complex interplay between cognitive instrumental factors and social influence.

In this paper, the author found that individuals’ perceived usefulness of the technology coupled with the amount of effort they perceived to be needed for using the new technology predicts their intention of accepting the new technology. However in order to predict intention of usage more precisely, individuals’ perceptions about a new technolgy are also shaped by social influence. Social influence can be categorized as either subjective norms (socially accpetable conduct) or perceived critical mass (the perception that a new technolgy will be adpoted by sufficient users).

The results of the study demonstrate the need for a combination of different theoretical approaches to explain the intersections between beliefs, social influence and intentions pertaining to new communication technologies.

Journal of Communication 61 (2011) 283–306